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Posting from a Vintage Computer?

G

Great Hierophant

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Does anyone post to this forum through what this forum would deem a vintage computer? I assume it could be done. In my case, I would use a DOS based browser on the 486 PC I am building, of which there are two, Lynx (text-based) and Arachne (graphical). Alternatively I could use a browser supported in Windows 3.11, but as my system only has 8MB of RAM, that would be pushing it. Would I encounter any insurmountable obstacles trying to post?

What about other people? I know that Contiki is a choice for 8-bit systems, has anyone posted to this forum recently using it or another browser. It would kind of a shame for a vintage computer forum to be inaccessible to most, if not all vintage computers within the definition of the site (at least for now.)
 
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I've never gotten the opportunity to post from a real vintage machine, but as far as low-power systems go, Linux/Links on a Nintendo DS (33MHz & 66MHz ARM, shackled to a 16-bit bus) has been perfectly usable; I'd assume that a decent 486 system is more than enough to handle Lynx.
 
I've posted here from Windows 3.11 on a 486 and Windows 95. And on my All-In-One Performa 5260 using iCab.

I'd like to post on an older computer too, but with limited browser support (and probably older browsers) for old systems, how slow would the forum load?
 
I used to IRC from a 386/40 a few years back, but since people liked to post web links that would drive a vintage machine insane I gave that up. The problem is worse for older macs because there isn't a good browser for anything pre G3.
 
Unknown_K said:
The problem is worse for older macs because there isn't a good browser for anything pre G3.
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I use iCab for that purpose. It'll load Google well, but there's too much Javascript stuff on other sites, that it just freezes the computer up. IE5 for Mac isn't better either.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
I use iCab for that purpose. It'll load Google well, but there's too much Javascript stuff on other sites, that it just freezes the computer up. IE5 for Mac isn't better either.
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Yeah, no 68k browsers can handle java or other scripting worth crap.

Oldest computer I have browsed/posted here with was a 486 (with Cyrix 5x86-100GP CPU) and 64mb ram running NT4 and Firefox 2. EDIT: It was slow as crap for anyone wondering ;-)
 
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I am posting from Lynx. The vBulletin interface is unfortunately just as amateurish and broken as it is with a GUI. This does show, however that it is possible to post on Vintage kit - at least that which will run Lynx. This is a PI, but I think any 386 should do it.
 
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Ole Juul said:
I am posting from Lynx. The vBulletin interface is unfortunately just as amateurish and broken as it is with a GUI. This does show, however that it is possible to post on Vintage kit - at least that which will run Lynx. This is a PI, but I think any 386 should do it.
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Believe it or not lynx actually does better than any Mac 68k native browser, lynx is actually pretty decent.
 
RWallmow said:
Believe it or not lynx actually does better than any Mac 68k native browser, lynx is actually pretty decent.
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Yes, Lynx rocks. The problem is that some sites like this one, are very poorly organized. We're at the mercy of vBulletin.

The other thing is that I did an edit of the above and, although it shows an edit, the text didn't send or get received. I also did a second post to say all that, but didn't take either.

So anyway, it seems that it is possible to log in and send a simple form, now can anybody figure out some software that does even just that and will run on pre 386 hardware?
 
RWallmow said:
Oldest computer I have browsed/posted here with was a 486 (with Cyrix 5x86-100GP CPU) and 64mb ram running NT4 and Firefox 2. EDIT: It was slow as crap for anyone wondering ;-)
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Saying you ran Firefox 2 and it was slow is like saying you went to the ocean and it was wet... ;)
 
Not on a regular basis, but I have browsed and posted using iCab on a 68040 Mac, and even via an original Macintosh and Apple IIc via a serial connection to a Linux box using Lynx. Also have done so from a Newton via WiFi, and if I ever get one of my early PCs up and running on a network, probably use it.
 
Anonymous Freak said:
Not on a regular basis, but I have browsed and posted using iCab on a 68040 Mac, and even via an original Macintosh and Apple IIc via a serial connection to a Linux box using Lynx. Also have done so from a Newton via WiFi, and if I ever get one of my early PCs up and running on a network, probably use it.
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I've never tried iCab and don't know Mac stuff, but does it run on older gear?

As for Lynx, the best functioning version that I've found uses CWSDPMI and will not run on less than a 386. It takes a bit of disk space too. The executable is 1.5Meg and that's without the DPMI, so it will need a hard drive or other mass storage. I would assume that Aracne can do it though, but it is large as well. Given more than a floppy, my guess is that the only off-the-shelf DOS software that could do it on less than a 386 is Nettamer which has two versions.
 
Browsing from a barely-capable machine would make a good kind of retrochallenge. It could go along the lines of.."Who can browse to this very simple HTML 1.0 page and successfully view it, go through to another page from it and post form contents from it".

The test page could be setup on a server and contain nothing beyond very simple HTML 1.0. No javascript, no css. The only thing allowed in the page would be a hyperlink to another page (which needed to be clicked through to), a 256 colour image, and a simple form. In other words, the basic ingredients of web pages when they first appeared

To enter, people would have to submit photographs of their vintage screens showing the main page, click through page, and an email from the form as proof it actually worked for them. People could cheat by seprately loading the second page rather than clicking from the first so click through success would need to be verfied from server logs, that the judge(s) would have access to.

The prize (i.e. Kudos) would go to that person was successful with the oldest machine.

Of no practical use whatsoever of course, but it could be kinda fun.

Tez
 
tezza said:
Browsing from a barely-capable machine would make a good kind of retrochallenge. It could go along the lines of.."Who can browse to this very simple HTML 1.0 page and successfully view it, go through to another page from it and post form contents from it".

The test page could be setup on a server and contain nothing beyond very simple HTML 1.0. No javascript, no css. The only thing allowed in the page would be a hyperlink to another page (which needed to be clicked through to), a 256 colour image, and a simple form. In other words, the basic ingredients of web pages when they first appeared

To enter, people would have to submit photographs of their vintage screens showing the main page, click through page, and an email from the form as proof it actually worked for them. People could cheat by seprately loading the second page rather than clicking from the first so click through success would need to be verfied from server logs, that the judge(s) would have access to.

The prize (i.e. Kudos) would go to that person was successful with the oldest machine.

Of no practical use whatsoever of course, but it could be kinda fun.

Tez
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I like that idea ;-)
 
Funny... Aren't there vintage computer fans that use ONLY vintage computers ? It would be sad to know that none of them got here because their computer/browser was too vintage to handle the Vintage Computer Forum...
 
Would it be cheating to use some sort of proxy to strip out the complicated stuff and view/post to the forum with your VinComp in a text-only interface? Kind of like hitching your donkey to the USS Enterprise, but I like when you can actually do real tasks with the donkey..
 
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