12 ms·

My Favourite Computer, an Old Mac

390 points by BizarreByte 4y ago

cpsns 4y ago
Hi HN, I've been ruminating of this a little bit and figured I'd write and post my thoughts (I'm not a good writer, sorry in advance). I don't expect this to get much traffic, but if it somehow does my cable line probably won't handle it well so here's an archive: https://archive.ph/VIbMD https://archive.ph/VIbMD I really like this little computer and I'm sure some of you enjoy (or enjoyed) them too. :)
- janfoeh 4y ago
  > I'm not a good writer, sorry in advance I found your writing style to be concise, pleasant to read and certainly nothing to apologize for.
- wainstead 4y ago
  Ah memories. My first machine was a Classic ii. I think it might be in a friend's garage in Ohio, will have to check with him. Thanks for the great post!
- e-_pusher 4y ago
  Love this stuff! What is the tablet that is standing to the left of the Mac? Shameless plug to a blog post I wrote a while back, where I sung the praise of my old laptop that is running Windows 3.1. https://iskender.ee/2022/05/16/Laptop-1992.html https://iskender.ee/2022/05/16/Laptop-1992.html
  - cpsns 4y ago
    It’s not actually a tablet, it’s a blindingly bright white LED, one of the lights that is supposed to help with seasonal affective disorder. I’m still not sure if it’s pseudoscience or not, but as we head into the dark half of the year I’ll try anything at this point. I have no affiliation with Canadian Tire, but this is the exact product: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ottlite-clearsun-led-light-therapy-lamp-0525910p.html https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ottlite-clearsun-led-ligh...
    - joshspankit 4y ago
      As someone who’s been using f.lux and refining sleep hygiene for over a decade, if this helps you please take it: - Chewable Vit. D3 can help, especially if taken in enough dose (studies showed minimal downside from “overdoses” of 100,000IU for months, so I’m comfortable recommending 5000-7000IU as a starting does), and at the right time (after ingesting it takes about an hour for your body to bring that all in to your bloodstream, so I like to take it around 8AM. A bit earlier if I’m trying to wake up extra early, and a bit later if I forget. The latest I’ve taken it is 12pm since afternoon sun is normal and healthy) - Lamps for seasonal affective disorder can be a bit of a crap-shoot since there are no regulations around the term. If you get one and it barely (or doesn’t) help, it might not be any good. Things that are important here: the spectrum of light output, and the lumens. If there are any sharp peaks in the wavelength it might be as helpful as an LCD monitor on full brightness. For a true test of whether the concept itself helps, you can use halogen worklights short-term. With those there are concerns of heat and UV radiation, but they provide very bright full-spectrum light. If those work, it would probably be worth shopping around for the higher-end SAD lights.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        I have a corncob 300 watt LED (not 300 watt equivalent mind you) and it works decently well for me in the winter. But I don’t think I have SAD, just want to have daylight during working hours.
- joshspankit 4y ago
  Thanks for the post, for adding it to HN, and for providing an archive link right off the starting line. Also thanks for posting the comment because now I get to help correct a typo: “This Mac is uncharging ...“
anthk 4y ago
>I can even chat with friends on it via IRC With Bitlbee you can connect to far more services with just an IRC client: https://bitlbee.org https://bitlbee.org Public servers: https://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/servers.html https://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/servers.html On each server, join the "&bitlbee" channel (not a typo), and run the "commands" plugins in order to see the supported protocols. Usage upon connecting: https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html#quickstart https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html#quickstart You can also put a RaspberryPi in your LAN with Alpine Linux "diskless" install (the best solution to avoid wearing out the SD card) and the bitlbee daemon. Then you would just connect to your RaspberryPi IP instead of the public server one. Finally, I forgot: sites like http://68k.news http://68k.news, http://frogfind.com http://frogfind.com will run on legacy browsers for System 7. And if you get a Gopher browser, head to gopher://hngopher.com MacLynx works: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/maclynx-beta-2.html https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/maclynx-beta-2.html Open it, press g, enter gopher://hngopher.com and have fun. Also, gopher://magical.fish and gopher://gopherddit.com There is Crypto Anciennce, TLS for legacy systems, but I didn try: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne-tls-for.html https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne... On the utf-8 issue for Lynx visiting this site over HTTPS, just choose the Mac Encoding in the options (press "O" under Lynx (capital O) and then configure it for the Mac Encoding and save your settings). It might solve it.
- cpsns 4y ago
  Very cool, somehow I’ve never heard of this, but it looks like it could be very handy. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into it and try it out on my home server.
  - anthk 4y ago
    Yeah, bitlbee rocks, I use it under an i386 OpenBSD netbook (Atom CPU), it's much faster than Pidgin. Also, I use m68.news everywhere, as it can be read with no issues. Lynx on Gopher protocol will work "as is" for Mac OS 7 I guess, and it's very fast. 68k.news it's over HTTP and not HTTPS, so it will work as is too. This is the most recent version http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/mac/lynx/download.html http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/mac/lynx/download.html The interface it's weird and not so Mac like, I know, but it will fly for sure. And, well, you have Turbo Gopher too, but for your Mac version you would need the Threading extension. Gopher URL for Lynx: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/mac Proxied for the rest of machines (send it to the Classic Mac via AppleTalk or FTP or whatever). https://gopherproxy.meulie.net/gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/mac https://gopherproxy.meulie.net/gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/... Gopher it's the perfect "web" for your legacy mac in order to find alternative media. No ads, no trackers no MB sized pages. You can even find news mirrors with ease. For instance: gopher://magical.fish:70/1/news Recommended portal for lots of Gopher "holes": gopher://magical.fish Blog aggregator: gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/bongusta/ Old software for classic Macs gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/software/Apple/Software_MacOS As you can see, if you can connect to the internet your Mac, you are far from obsolete. You can chat over IRC+Bitlbee to a big chunk of protocols, browse news, read "phlogs" from tech people, and even visit HN and Reddit over Gopher. HTTPS would be another issue, but you might be able to contact the Crypto Ancienne folks for help. EDIT: Well, now I focused into your shot, you already knew over Gopher. Still, Lynx with HNGopher (and a potentially well configured cryptoancienne) makes a seamless HN and Reddit browser over Gopher+HTTPS.
johndoe0815 4y ago
...and a very cute kitty! Most Classic II suffer from leaking capacitors which should be replaced and it's a good idea to replace the onboard battery, which is prone to leaking and destroying the board: https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2014-05-24-Classic%20II%20capacitor%20replacement.htm https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2014-05-24-Classic... There are two different versions of the mainboard which require different numbers and types of capacitors: https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-a/ https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-a/ vs. https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-b/ https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-b/
- cpsns 4y ago
  When I bought this Mac it was actually completely fubar. The internal battery ruptured and ruined the main board, so I had to source a “new” one. The new one came recapped by the seller and I recapped the analog board myself, so it should be good for a long time to come. You can see the rest of the gang here: http://muezza.ca/cats.html http://muezza.ca/cats.html
  - bombcar 4y ago
    Heh I had a cat named Dog at one time (one named Rat also).
    - tomxor 4y ago
      If you also had a dog named cow it would be very on topic ;)
    - rob74 4y ago
      I once had a cat named Tom and one named Jerry... both female.
    - bink 4y ago
      I have never heard a thing half as crazy as that.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
pazimzadeh 4y ago
A slightly more modern equivalent of this is a 2009 Mac mini running Snow Leopard. You can find these machines for around $50 on eBay and they are very snappy. I am waiting for someone to start a business turning old Mac mini's into dedicated retro gaming machines. This would be done by pre-installing OpenEMU and HaloMD on one partition, and Mac OS 9 on another partition to run old games like Lemmings, etc although emulation could also work for some of these. If anyone is interested in this project, please let me know. https://openemu.org/ https://openemu.org/ https://www.halomd.net/ https://www.halomd.net/
- gnicholas 4y ago
  I still run a 2008 iMac, booted off an SSD over Thunderbolt. Websites are slower to load than on my M2 MBA, but for most local tasks it is perfectly snappy.
  - tinytoon 4y ago
    I also still have one of theese. I added more ram and ssd is comming. It's still a great device for Music, Photos, the Web. I did use it for video-conferencing, because the webcam can still hold up. And the little remote is still so great
- insane_dreamer 4y ago
  I still have one collecting dust in a drawer. Should pull it out and put it to some use.
- goosedragons 4y ago
  I don't think it makes much sense as a business. AliExpress is littered with retro devices that have as much emulation oof as a 2010ish Mac Mini. There are a lot of little emulation focused Android/Linux boxes as well as emulation focused Mini PCs out there these days.
  - derefr 4y ago
    I would love to know if any of these have the oomph for running Dolphin with hi-res texture packs. That sort of "going beyond the original experience" is the main reason I'd bother to use "real hardware" for emulation over something like a Pi or a jailbroken Switch. (Or, for that matter, a MiSTer.) I know that the sweet spot for "enhanced emulation" of (N64|Gamecube|Wii, XBox|XBox360, PSX|PS2) is somewhere higher than "my M1 Macbook Air", but lower than "Ryzen 4 and an RTX4090" — but figuring out exactly where this sweet-spot is, seems to be left as an exercise for the player; with the assumption that anyone who wants to do this already has a beefy gaming computer laying around, and wants to play on a monitor, rather than on their TV. It'd be nice if there were prebuilt appliances for playing enhanced early-3D-era games, that had been tested and shown to achieve a smooth 60FPS playing them at 4K or 1440p.
behnamoh 4y ago
> I can edit my website and manage my servers from it... Ironically, isn't an old Mac even more secure than today's computers? Because it's so old that so much of the attack surface (e.g., libraries) just don't exist on it. If there's no code, there's no exploit either. Moreover, hacker groups might have a much less practical knowledge of dealing with these old machines. In contrast, a 2015 MBP might be even less secure than the one used in this post.
- aliqot 4y ago
  You're telling me you don't fire off a PHF exploit at random machines just for old time's sake? I was under the impression we nerds could be more honest with each other.
  - behnamoh 4y ago
    The OP manages their servers on this mac, but the mac itself isn't used as a server.
- dhosek 4y ago
  I do remember that viruses on Macs back in the 80s were a huge problem thanks to the fact that the Mac would automatically run code on any disk that was inserted in the drive.
- WWLink 4y ago
  Nah. The old mac has no disk encryption, so even if it's airgapped and sitting there off when unused, someone could still break in and steal it and gain access to all your secrets stored on its hard drive. That said, big deal? I always hated the rabbit hole security people get into anyway lol. There's lots of charm with using old machines like that Mac Classic II.
  - drewzero1 4y ago
    If an adversary has physical access to any machine, all bets are off. There were definitely vulnerabilities and viruses for this era of Mac but as far as I know nobody's actively targeting them any more.
subliminalcut 4y ago
I still have a 2012 MacBook Pro as my main laptop :(
- tjr225 4y ago
  This is why I am a Mac devotee. They are the Toyota of the computer world. Sure there’s a premium, but it’s worth it for peace of mind.
  - sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
    > They are the Toyota of the computer world. The hardware lasts, but the software compatibility stops way too quickly. So for people who aren't willing to install linux, etc it isn't known for longevity.
- JALTU 4y ago
  Oh, I was happily happily using my 16GB mid-2012 15" MBP as my main machine until the motherboard developed some issue with power and died a month ago. I fired up a 15" 2008 MBP to run some non-CS Photoshop and you know, it works great as long as I'm not using the Internet! It's a solid machine, and I miss it. Now typing on my work machine, an 8GB M1 13" MBP. I wouldn't say I've been blown away by this and it's probably because I need 16GB to deal with Chrome and its zombie Electrons.
- Ian_Macharia 4y ago
  2012 MacBook Pro gang! Mines 10GB RAM though. Had to switch to neovim from VSCode and it's still sorta snappy for my normal workflow, just can't open tons of apps at the same time. Also I avoid any electron-based apps
- spookybones 4y ago
  Me too!
- drewzero1 4y ago
  No shame in that! My SO has one which replaced an '09 MBP a few years ago. I had one too and miss it dearly, should really fix it up so I can use it again. My main laptop is currently a 2014 MacBook Air which is definitely a downgrade. (Plus I have to keep my '07 MacBook handy in case I want to watch a DVD.)
insane_dreamer 4y ago
I really should get one of these these. I sadly never owned one, though I had an Apple IIe and an Apple IIc. My favorite though would have to be the G4 Cube.
- dhosek 4y ago
  I bought one of those refurbished in 2001 and it was a fantastic machine. I used it for live recording setups, transporting it in a suitcase along with keyboard, monitor, mouse and 8-track A/D system, padded with towels. I only gave it up when I bought my first PowerBook.
protomyth 4y ago
I will say the form factor of the classic Mac (in my case a Mac SE/30) was amazing for writing. The height was perfect without the ability of the text to go to just above the keyboard like a conventional monitor on a stand. I end up duplicating it by using half a window or finding a text editor that holds the current line at a certain height. It was also a very portable design. I have an old Color Classic II case that I sometime think I might mod into something a bit more modern (since it is DOA anyway).
- dhosek 4y ago
  I remember in college in the late 80s (when laptops were mostly exotic and expensive) seeing someone walking across campus, carrying his Mac by the handle on the top and thinking that it was so cool to be able to transport a computer like that.
  - alana314 4y ago
    I taped a tote bag to my imac and traveled with it as a carry on once. https://twitter.com/alana31415/status/1578492366201098240 https://twitter.com/alana31415/status/1578492366201098240
    - protomyth 4y ago
      The original Mac mini fit perfectly in a camera case I had. That thing probably had more miles on it than some of the portables I've owned.
  - whartung 4y ago
    At our Mac user group meetings, it was routine for most folks to bring their machines. We all had these similar Mac tote bags. It was an interesting ambassadorial event when we’d invade a pizza parlor with a dozen Mac, especially after Phone Net showed up and we started wiring them up with technological equivalent of cans and string. I was practically a poster child zipping around with my Mac bungeed to the back of my scooter.
- drewzero1 4y ago
daggersandscars 4y ago
Thank you. I had not really thought about how much notifications hurt my computer enjoyment / productivity. I'm reconsidering my home computing strategy in light of this. I have one machine I'm most productive on. Reading your article made me realize it's the only one I have configured without notifications. At work, I cannot turn off the apps that pollute my day with notifications. The firm got rid of their phone system - there is only <popular corporate messaging app>. Previously, I could turn it off and tell people to call me if there's something important. I suspect others are stuck in this position as well.
rtpg 4y ago
Something that is super easy to do nowadays too is to get various XP-era software and run it in windows XP in a VM. Honestly I feel like trying to connect to the net on some of these devices feels a bit silly, but you can get lots of work done and wear nostalgia goggles. All at blazing fast speeds
- anthk 4y ago
  Most XP software will run as is under 7 and older OSes.
kls0e 4y ago
people in Berlin, Germany, fyi: Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) October 8th and 9th, 2022 The Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) is an event about historic computers and computing technology. In exhibitions, presentations and workshops, participants from all over Germany and beyond present many different aspects of Vintage Computing. In addition to retro computers, also historical operating systems, programming languages, network technology as well as pocket and mechanic calculators will be shown. Most of the exhibited devices are in working condition. Established in 2014, the VCFB has steadily grown and has attracted nearly 3000 visitors in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the VCFB took place as an online and hybrid event respectively. source: https://vcfb.de/2022/index.html.en https://vcfb.de/2022/index.html.en
- lproven 4y ago
  Aaargh! Too late! Why wasn't this a top-level post like a week before? :'(
gbasp 4y ago
My favorite old Mac has to be the iMac G3. IMO it was the first truly user friendly computer, requiring almost no setup or technical knowhow. I know people who are hard core Mac/Apple users for life because the G3 was the first computer that ever clicked with them.
- HeckFeck 4y ago
  Still have one sitting in my house. I will die defending translucent plastic and the platinum UI.
- Cockbrand 4y ago
  I still quote the ancient iMac ad [1] when I explain something that seems complicated but isn't: "There's no step 3" [1] https://youtu.be/2iyMf3tlKpU https://youtu.be/2iyMf3tlKpU
robalni 4y ago
My current favourite computer is a Fitlet2 that runs Debian. I have two of that computer: one server and one desktop. It's tiny, silent, beautiful and with an operating system that doesn't try to do anything other than letting me do what I want. I can get the same feeling about that computer as what I read in this article. I want there to be more nice computers.
- Valord 4y ago
  Thanks for mentioning this, fitlet looks neat.
mistrial9 4y ago
MacOSX 10.4 Mail working right now! ssh needs the RSA key-exchange enabled forget the web-browsers, just enjoy the personal applications.. almost as good as Macs previous to that IMO
- emptyparadise 4y ago
  Does MacPorts have newer SSH?
  - password4321 4y ago
    Yes. https://ports.macports.org/port/openssh/details/ https://ports.macports.org/port/openssh/details/
drooopy 4y ago
I have no nostalgia for System 7 as my first computer was a Windows 95 PC, however it is my favorite OS ever made. Whenever I have to use a new computer, be it Mac or PC, I always aim to make the OS look and feel like classic Mac OS.
the-printer 4y ago
This was a quality web log! Wholesome simple computing. The quintessential glass of milk filled 3/4th high on the kitchen counter.
hartator 4y ago
> it never begs for your attention and its applications never try to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at them instead. This. In the modern world, it feels everything and everyone’s apps have a good reason to beg for your attention. I think it even transcends OS. On GitHub, my notifications are spammed by Dependabot. Who cares if my benchmark repos from 5 years ago have security issues.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Loved my Mac Plus back in the 80's. (Still have it - recapped it and got it up and running recently — floppy is no go — had to boot with some kind of modern flash board.) No internet, no passwords. When you Shut Down the Mac — click — it shut down. Eventually, I owned a procession of more modern Macs — eventually the first install of Mac OS X. Shutting down the computer now took, curiously, a minute or so. I remember my coworker showing my wife Mac OS X and she even commented, "I don't like how long it takes to shut down." He replied, "Yeah, you'll have to find something else to like about it."
- ericd 4y ago
  I think it comes down to respect. Modern designers seem to have very little respect for users, and in some cases, it seems to veer into contempt. No, you may not disregard what I want you to do, the most I’ll allow is for you to delay it by an hour, at which point I’ll interrupt what you’re doing again. Because I know better than you what you should do, despite my having zero context.
  - panic 4y ago
    I think it's less about individual designers and more about the industry in general. A company that respects its users will find it harder to get money from advertisers and investors.
    - NexRebular 4y ago
      the industry needs better advertisers and investors, then
bluedino 4y ago
I never had one of those but came across them at school and friends houses - I could never get past that damn 9" monochrome screen.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  One of my favorite parts of the machine — that crisp display.
deleted 4y ago
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shadytrees 4y ago
I hope the author has found their way to joshua stein's blog: https://jcs.org/ https://jcs.org/
Bud 4y ago
The SE/30 is basically like this, but faster, 32-bit bus, and supports Ethernet. So same charm, but even more useful.
bitigchi 4y ago
One day, someone will make great bucks recreating these machines with modern components.
halikular 4y ago
What you said can also be true with a modern linux or bsd install. Use something like arch linux or nixos and only install the bare bones like a windows manager, text editor, irc client and a web browser. You'll have no notifications, it's all up to you and you'll also have an updated and secure machine.
- wainstead 4y ago
  Or even more extreme, perhaps, TAILS on a stick and you just yank the stick when you're done. As long as you don't connect via Tor you're all alone.
aj7 4y ago
It’s very amusing to see “young people” be into retro computers. At 71, I’m the opposite. Because I deal with actual (slow) functional degradation, I can’t be bothered with old computers. That’s a young man’s game. 2017 iMac Pro, soon to be supplemented with an M1 something.
- thakoppno 4y ago
  By any chance are you selling the iMac Pro and live in the bay area? My 2014 iMac has a failing system fan and repair seems like throwing away money.
  - aj7 4y ago
    Not selling, in Tucson. Get a screwdriver. Or a shop will fix it fir $50.
intrasight 4y ago
Mine is my favorite computer that I never use. Hasn't been plugged in for about 35 years.
QuadrupleA 4y ago
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed this. I tend to approach retro computing stuff from a nostalgia perspective, sort of assuming there's not much practical reason for using it. So it's refreshing to hear all the good qualities of the thing in its own right, from someone who isn't just reliving old memories. The modern world of incessant trivial updates (interrupting what you were doing), surveillance, distractions, etc. is a bit sad, a far cry from lovingly engineered products intended to improve your life. Hopefully the market will curtail some of this BS in time, once we all collectively get sick enough of it.
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zargon 4y ago
> It will never receive another software update Well... in 2021 we binary-patched Bolo to fix a bug and make it more convenient to use with our new Bolo game proxy server, enabling Bolo games to be played over the internet again. Some of us at 68kmla occasionally play together. http://bolo.astrospark.com/ http://bolo.astrospark.com/ (Universal NAT broke Bolo internet gaming. The original network protocol was for ring-tppology serial networks (local talk, econet), and when UDP was implemented it was ported over with very little change. So the fact that the protocol depends on embedding network addresses of players meant that it completely breaks when NAT is involved.)
- ericd 4y ago
  Oh man, I’m so happy people are keeping Bolo alive. Thanks for doing that.
immmmmm 4y ago
maybe less fancy, but my old 15 inchs, mat screen, i got second hand maybe 12 years ago, handled 5 years of intensive work, live acts in forest rave parties, fell several times on the floor, got splashed many time and was mostly upgradable. if it wasn't for the gpu id be still using it. too bad they traded reliability for a few millimeters of thickness.
meerita 4y ago
I tried to boot up on my iBook 2003 Mac OS 9 unsuccesfully. It seems once I installed OS X this computer went for this OS forever.
BirAdam 4y ago
As far as it goes, one can make a modern Mac or Linux box behave itself. Disable automatic updates and notifications and either is suddenly much more enjoyable. Of course, if you really want the tactile experiences as well, this can be achieved with effort. ADB to USB exists, and it’s possible to get an empty shell of a classic Mac and put newer components in it. For my part, I love my turbo XT, my Mac Classic II, and my Compaq Portable 386. I prefer one of them to any other machine.
Aeolun 4y ago
This is about how I feel my Pop OS! pc works. Except that it’s more modern, and has a high resolution display.
nicholasbraker 4y ago
This story feels so wholesome.
dann0 4y ago
I don't use one anymore, but I remain extremely fond of my now defunct Acorn RiscPC from 1994! I have similar feelings about the software and how powerful and simple it felt then!
wiredfool 4y ago
My favorite was a IIci, with 8 megs of ram, a fast scsi drive, and System 6, with the 13" Trinitron screen. Warm boots in a couple of seconds, cold boot was longer due to the memory checks.
mikewarot 4y ago
There's just something about that 68000 series processor with all those registers that seems very appealing. The silly part is I've got 16 64 bit registers in the machine I'm using right now.
jawadch93 4y ago
[dead]
andrepd 4y ago
> This Mac is unchanging in a world where things change by the minute. It will never receive another software update and is thoroughly obsolete, but it's comforting to have something that you know will stay the same forever, remaining in a known state every time you return to it. I knew I was not the only one feeling this. I hate that things which aren't broken change so much on a whim. There are certain software that despite no additions in functionality seem to have to change their design, button placement, workflows, etc, every 6 months or so (looking at you Signal).
mitchbob 4y ago
Ah, memories. I worked at Apple BITD, and it was fun to pick out a computer to get with my annual employee discount. My favorites were the IIci [1], with its very clean and compact design that was the result of lots of user research into making the II easier for people to open up and upgrade, and the PowerBook 140 [2], one of the first Apple laptops, just because it was so damned cute. And for the original Macs, I still have a padded case with a shoulder strap, which made my SE/30 [3] a credible luggable. [1] https://apple-history.com/iici https://apple-history.com/iici [2] https://apple-history.com/140 https://apple-history.com/140 [3] https://apple-history.com/se30 https://apple-history.com/se30
bitwize 4y ago
Mine is my Amiga 500. I fire that thing up and... it seems to have most of the UI affordances of a modern computer, but everything is so simple and straightforward. And of course there's no telemetry, no intrusive notifications... it just does what I need it to do. It can't do things I expect of a modern computer, but it is symbolic of a time when microcomputers were designed to be fun and useful for their users, not to funnel them into some bigtech marketing pipeline.

390 points by BizarreByte 4y ago

Hi HN, I've been ruminating of this a little bit and figured I'd write and post my thoughts (I'm not a good writer, sorry in advance). I don't expect this to get much traffic, but if it somehow does my cable line probably won't handle it well so here's an archive: https://archive.ph/VIbMD https://archive.ph/VIbMD I really like this little computer and I'm sure some of you enjoy (or enjoyed) them too. :)

janfoeh 4y ago
> I'm not a good writer, sorry in advance I found your writing style to be concise, pleasant to read and certainly nothing to apologize for.
wainstead 4y ago
Ah memories. My first machine was a Classic ii. I think it might be in a friend's garage in Ohio, will have to check with him. Thanks for the great post!
e-_pusher 4y ago
Love this stuff! What is the tablet that is standing to the left of the Mac? Shameless plug to a blog post I wrote a while back, where I sung the praise of my old laptop that is running Windows 3.1. https://iskender.ee/2022/05/16/Laptop-1992.html https://iskender.ee/2022/05/16/Laptop-1992.html
- cpsns 4y ago
  It’s not actually a tablet, it’s a blindingly bright white LED, one of the lights that is supposed to help with seasonal affective disorder. I’m still not sure if it’s pseudoscience or not, but as we head into the dark half of the year I’ll try anything at this point. I have no affiliation with Canadian Tire, but this is the exact product: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ottlite-clearsun-led-light-therapy-lamp-0525910p.html https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ottlite-clearsun-led-ligh...
  - joshspankit 4y ago
    As someone who’s been using f.lux and refining sleep hygiene for over a decade, if this helps you please take it: - Chewable Vit. D3 can help, especially if taken in enough dose (studies showed minimal downside from “overdoses” of 100,000IU for months, so I’m comfortable recommending 5000-7000IU as a starting does), and at the right time (after ingesting it takes about an hour for your body to bring that all in to your bloodstream, so I like to take it around 8AM. A bit earlier if I’m trying to wake up extra early, and a bit later if I forget. The latest I’ve taken it is 12pm since afternoon sun is normal and healthy) - Lamps for seasonal affective disorder can be a bit of a crap-shoot since there are no regulations around the term. If you get one and it barely (or doesn’t) help, it might not be any good. Things that are important here: the spectrum of light output, and the lumens. If there are any sharp peaks in the wavelength it might be as helpful as an LCD monitor on full brightness. For a true test of whether the concept itself helps, you can use halogen worklights short-term. With those there are concerns of heat and UV radiation, but they provide very bright full-spectrum light. If those work, it would probably be worth shopping around for the higher-end SAD lights.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      I have a corncob 300 watt LED (not 300 watt equivalent mind you) and it works decently well for me in the winter. But I don’t think I have SAD, just want to have daylight during working hours.
joshspankit 4y ago
Thanks for the post, for adding it to HN, and for providing an archive link right off the starting line. Also thanks for posting the comment because now I get to help correct a typo: “This Mac is uncharging ...“

anthk 4y ago

>I can even chat with friends on it via IRC With Bitlbee you can connect to far more services with just an IRC client: https://bitlbee.org https://bitlbee.org Public servers: https://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/servers.html https://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/servers.html On each server, join the "&bitlbee" channel (not a typo), and run the "commands" plugins in order to see the supported protocols. Usage upon connecting: https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html#quickstart https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html#quickstart You can also put a RaspberryPi in your LAN with Alpine Linux "diskless" install (the best solution to avoid wearing out the SD card) and the bitlbee daemon. Then you would just connect to your RaspberryPi IP instead of the public server one. Finally, I forgot: sites like http://68k.news http://68k.news, http://frogfind.com http://frogfind.com will run on legacy browsers for System 7. And if you get a Gopher browser, head to gopher://hngopher.com MacLynx works: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/maclynx-beta-2.html https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/maclynx-beta-2.html Open it, press g, enter gopher://hngopher.com and have fun. Also, gopher://magical.fish and gopher://gopherddit.com There is Crypto Anciennce, TLS for legacy systems, but I didn try: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne-tls-for.html https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne... On the utf-8 issue for Lynx visiting this site over HTTPS, just choose the Mac Encoding in the options (press "O" under Lynx (capital O) and then configure it for the Mac Encoding and save your settings). It might solve it.

cpsns 4y ago
Very cool, somehow I’ve never heard of this, but it looks like it could be very handy. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into it and try it out on my home server.
- anthk 4y ago
  Yeah, bitlbee rocks, I use it under an i386 OpenBSD netbook (Atom CPU), it's much faster than Pidgin. Also, I use m68.news everywhere, as it can be read with no issues. Lynx on Gopher protocol will work "as is" for Mac OS 7 I guess, and it's very fast. 68k.news it's over HTTP and not HTTPS, so it will work as is too. This is the most recent version http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/mac/lynx/download.html http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/mac/lynx/download.html The interface it's weird and not so Mac like, I know, but it will fly for sure. And, well, you have Turbo Gopher too, but for your Mac version you would need the Threading extension. Gopher URL for Lynx: gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/mac Proxied for the rest of machines (send it to the Classic Mac via AppleTalk or FTP or whatever). https://gopherproxy.meulie.net/gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/mac https://gopherproxy.meulie.net/gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/... Gopher it's the perfect "web" for your legacy mac in order to find alternative media. No ads, no trackers no MB sized pages. You can even find news mirrors with ease. For instance: gopher://magical.fish:70/1/news Recommended portal for lots of Gopher "holes": gopher://magical.fish Blog aggregator: gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/bongusta/ Old software for classic Macs gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/software/Apple/Software_MacOS As you can see, if you can connect to the internet your Mac, you are far from obsolete. You can chat over IRC+Bitlbee to a big chunk of protocols, browse news, read "phlogs" from tech people, and even visit HN and Reddit over Gopher. HTTPS would be another issue, but you might be able to contact the Crypto Ancienne folks for help. EDIT: Well, now I focused into your shot, you already knew over Gopher. Still, Lynx with HNGopher (and a potentially well configured cryptoancienne) makes a seamless HN and Reddit browser over Gopher+HTTPS.

johndoe0815 4y ago

...and a very cute kitty! Most Classic II suffer from leaking capacitors which should be replaced and it's a good idea to replace the onboard battery, which is prone to leaking and destroying the board: https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2014-05-24-Classic%20II%20capacitor%20replacement.htm https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2014-05-24-Classic... There are two different versions of the mainboard which require different numbers and types of capacitors: https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-a/ https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-a/ vs. https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-b/ https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-b/

cpsns 4y ago
When I bought this Mac it was actually completely fubar. The internal battery ruptured and ruined the main board, so I had to source a “new” one. The new one came recapped by the seller and I recapped the analog board myself, so it should be good for a long time to come. You can see the rest of the gang here: http://muezza.ca/cats.html http://muezza.ca/cats.html
- bombcar 4y ago
  Heh I had a cat named Dog at one time (one named Rat also).
  - tomxor 4y ago
    If you also had a dog named cow it would be very on topic ;)
  - rob74 4y ago
    I once had a cat named Tom and one named Jerry... both female.
  - bink 4y ago
    I have never heard a thing half as crazy as that.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

pazimzadeh 4y ago

A slightly more modern equivalent of this is a 2009 Mac mini running Snow Leopard. You can find these machines for around $50 on eBay and they are very snappy. I am waiting for someone to start a business turning old Mac mini's into dedicated retro gaming machines. This would be done by pre-installing OpenEMU and HaloMD on one partition, and Mac OS 9 on another partition to run old games like Lemmings, etc although emulation could also work for some of these. If anyone is interested in this project, please let me know. https://openemu.org/ https://openemu.org/ https://www.halomd.net/ https://www.halomd.net/

gnicholas 4y ago
I still run a 2008 iMac, booted off an SSD over Thunderbolt. Websites are slower to load than on my M2 MBA, but for most local tasks it is perfectly snappy.
- tinytoon 4y ago
  I also still have one of theese. I added more ram and ssd is comming. It's still a great device for Music, Photos, the Web. I did use it for video-conferencing, because the webcam can still hold up. And the little remote is still so great
insane_dreamer 4y ago
I still have one collecting dust in a drawer. Should pull it out and put it to some use.
goosedragons 4y ago
I don't think it makes much sense as a business. AliExpress is littered with retro devices that have as much emulation oof as a 2010ish Mac Mini. There are a lot of little emulation focused Android/Linux boxes as well as emulation focused Mini PCs out there these days.
- derefr 4y ago
  I would love to know if any of these have the oomph for running Dolphin with hi-res texture packs. That sort of "going beyond the original experience" is the main reason I'd bother to use "real hardware" for emulation over something like a Pi or a jailbroken Switch. (Or, for that matter, a MiSTer.) I know that the sweet spot for "enhanced emulation" of (N64|Gamecube|Wii, XBox|XBox360, PSX|PS2) is somewhere higher than "my M1 Macbook Air", but lower than "Ryzen 4 and an RTX4090" — but figuring out exactly where this sweet-spot is, seems to be left as an exercise for the player; with the assumption that anyone who wants to do this already has a beefy gaming computer laying around, and wants to play on a monitor, rather than on their TV. It'd be nice if there were prebuilt appliances for playing enhanced early-3D-era games, that had been tested and shown to achieve a smooth 60FPS playing them at 4K or 1440p.

behnamoh 4y ago

> I can edit my website and manage my servers from it... Ironically, isn't an old Mac even more secure than today's computers? Because it's so old that so much of the attack surface (e.g., libraries) just don't exist on it. If there's no code, there's no exploit either. Moreover, hacker groups might have a much less practical knowledge of dealing with these old machines. In contrast, a 2015 MBP might be even less secure than the one used in this post.

aliqot 4y ago
You're telling me you don't fire off a PHF exploit at random machines just for old time's sake? I was under the impression we nerds could be more honest with each other.
- behnamoh 4y ago
  The OP manages their servers on this mac, but the mac itself isn't used as a server.
dhosek 4y ago
I do remember that viruses on Macs back in the 80s were a huge problem thanks to the fact that the Mac would automatically run code on any disk that was inserted in the drive.
WWLink 4y ago
Nah. The old mac has no disk encryption, so even if it's airgapped and sitting there off when unused, someone could still break in and steal it and gain access to all your secrets stored on its hard drive. That said, big deal? I always hated the rabbit hole security people get into anyway lol. There's lots of charm with using old machines like that Mac Classic II.
- drewzero1 4y ago
  If an adversary has physical access to any machine, all bets are off. There were definitely vulnerabilities and viruses for this era of Mac but as far as I know nobody's actively targeting them any more.

subliminalcut 4y ago

I still have a 2012 MacBook Pro as my main laptop :(

tjr225 4y ago
This is why I am a Mac devotee. They are the Toyota of the computer world. Sure there’s a premium, but it’s worth it for peace of mind.
- sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
  > They are the Toyota of the computer world. The hardware lasts, but the software compatibility stops way too quickly. So for people who aren't willing to install linux, etc it isn't known for longevity.
JALTU 4y ago
Oh, I was happily happily using my 16GB mid-2012 15" MBP as my main machine until the motherboard developed some issue with power and died a month ago. I fired up a 15" 2008 MBP to run some non-CS Photoshop and you know, it works great as long as I'm not using the Internet! It's a solid machine, and I miss it. Now typing on my work machine, an 8GB M1 13" MBP. I wouldn't say I've been blown away by this and it's probably because I need 16GB to deal with Chrome and its zombie Electrons.
Ian_Macharia 4y ago
2012 MacBook Pro gang! Mines 10GB RAM though. Had to switch to neovim from VSCode and it's still sorta snappy for my normal workflow, just can't open tons of apps at the same time. Also I avoid any electron-based apps
spookybones 4y ago
Me too!
drewzero1 4y ago
No shame in that! My SO has one which replaced an '09 MBP a few years ago. I had one too and miss it dearly, should really fix it up so I can use it again. My main laptop is currently a 2014 MacBook Air which is definitely a downgrade. (Plus I have to keep my '07 MacBook handy in case I want to watch a DVD.)

insane_dreamer 4y ago

I really should get one of these these. I sadly never owned one, though I had an Apple IIe and an Apple IIc. My favorite though would have to be the G4 Cube.

dhosek 4y ago
I bought one of those refurbished in 2001 and it was a fantastic machine. I used it for live recording setups, transporting it in a suitcase along with keyboard, monitor, mouse and 8-track A/D system, padded with towels. I only gave it up when I bought my first PowerBook.

protomyth 4y ago

I will say the form factor of the classic Mac (in my case a Mac SE/30) was amazing for writing. The height was perfect without the ability of the text to go to just above the keyboard like a conventional monitor on a stand. I end up duplicating it by using half a window or finding a text editor that holds the current line at a certain height. It was also a very portable design. I have an old Color Classic II case that I sometime think I might mod into something a bit more modern (since it is DOA anyway).

dhosek 4y ago
I remember in college in the late 80s (when laptops were mostly exotic and expensive) seeing someone walking across campus, carrying his Mac by the handle on the top and thinking that it was so cool to be able to transport a computer like that.
- alana314 4y ago
  I taped a tote bag to my imac and traveled with it as a carry on once. https://twitter.com/alana31415/status/1578492366201098240 https://twitter.com/alana31415/status/1578492366201098240
  - protomyth 4y ago
    The original Mac mini fit perfectly in a camera case I had. That thing probably had more miles on it than some of the portables I've owned.
- whartung 4y ago
  At our Mac user group meetings, it was routine for most folks to bring their machines. We all had these similar Mac tote bags. It was an interesting ambassadorial event when we’d invade a pizza parlor with a dozen Mac, especially after Phone Net showed up and we started wiring them up with technological equivalent of cans and string. I was practically a poster child zipping around with my Mac bungeed to the back of my scooter.
drewzero1 4y ago

daggersandscars 4y ago

Thank you. I had not really thought about how much notifications hurt my computer enjoyment / productivity. I'm reconsidering my home computing strategy in light of this. I have one machine I'm most productive on. Reading your article made me realize it's the only one I have configured without notifications. At work, I cannot turn off the apps that pollute my day with notifications. The firm got rid of their phone system - there is only <popular corporate messaging app>. Previously, I could turn it off and tell people to call me if there's something important. I suspect others are stuck in this position as well.

rtpg 4y ago

Something that is super easy to do nowadays too is to get various XP-era software and run it in windows XP in a VM. Honestly I feel like trying to connect to the net on some of these devices feels a bit silly, but you can get lots of work done and wear nostalgia goggles. All at blazing fast speeds

anthk 4y ago
Most XP software will run as is under 7 and older OSes.

kls0e 4y ago

people in Berlin, Germany, fyi: Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) October 8th and 9th, 2022 The Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) is an event about historic computers and computing technology. In exhibitions, presentations and workshops, participants from all over Germany and beyond present many different aspects of Vintage Computing. In addition to retro computers, also historical operating systems, programming languages, network technology as well as pocket and mechanic calculators will be shown. Most of the exhibited devices are in working condition. Established in 2014, the VCFB has steadily grown and has attracted nearly 3000 visitors in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the VCFB took place as an online and hybrid event respectively. source: https://vcfb.de/2022/index.html.en https://vcfb.de/2022/index.html.en

lproven 4y ago
Aaargh! Too late! Why wasn't this a top-level post like a week before? :'(

gbasp 4y ago

My favorite old Mac has to be the iMac G3. IMO it was the first truly user friendly computer, requiring almost no setup or technical knowhow. I know people who are hard core Mac/Apple users for life because the G3 was the first computer that ever clicked with them.

HeckFeck 4y ago
Still have one sitting in my house. I will die defending translucent plastic and the platinum UI.
Cockbrand 4y ago
I still quote the ancient iMac ad [1] when I explain something that seems complicated but isn't: "There's no step 3" [1] https://youtu.be/2iyMf3tlKpU https://youtu.be/2iyMf3tlKpU

robalni 4y ago

My current favourite computer is a Fitlet2 that runs Debian. I have two of that computer: one server and one desktop. It's tiny, silent, beautiful and with an operating system that doesn't try to do anything other than letting me do what I want. I can get the same feeling about that computer as what I read in this article. I want there to be more nice computers.

Valord 4y ago
Thanks for mentioning this, fitlet looks neat.

mistrial9 4y ago

MacOSX 10.4 Mail working right now! ssh needs the RSA key-exchange enabled forget the web-browsers, just enjoy the personal applications.. almost as good as Macs previous to that IMO

emptyparadise 4y ago
Does MacPorts have newer SSH?
- password4321 4y ago
  Yes. https://ports.macports.org/port/openssh/details/ https://ports.macports.org/port/openssh/details/

drooopy 4y ago

I have no nostalgia for System 7 as my first computer was a Windows 95 PC, however it is my favorite OS ever made. Whenever I have to use a new computer, be it Mac or PC, I always aim to make the OS look and feel like classic Mac OS.

the-printer 4y ago

This was a quality web log! Wholesome simple computing. The quintessential glass of milk filled 3/4th high on the kitchen counter.

hartator 4y ago

> it never begs for your attention and its applications never try to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at them instead. This. In the modern world, it feels everything and everyone’s apps have a good reason to beg for your attention. I think it even transcends OS. On GitHub, my notifications are spammed by Dependabot. Who cares if my benchmark repos from 5 years ago have security issues.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Loved my Mac Plus back in the 80's. (Still have it - recapped it and got it up and running recently — floppy is no go — had to boot with some kind of modern flash board.) No internet, no passwords. When you Shut Down the Mac — click — it shut down. Eventually, I owned a procession of more modern Macs — eventually the first install of Mac OS X. Shutting down the computer now took, curiously, a minute or so. I remember my coworker showing my wife Mac OS X and she even commented, "I don't like how long it takes to shut down." He replied, "Yeah, you'll have to find something else to like about it."
ericd 4y ago
I think it comes down to respect. Modern designers seem to have very little respect for users, and in some cases, it seems to veer into contempt. No, you may not disregard what I want you to do, the most I’ll allow is for you to delay it by an hour, at which point I’ll interrupt what you’re doing again. Because I know better than you what you should do, despite my having zero context.
- panic 4y ago
  I think it's less about individual designers and more about the industry in general. A company that respects its users will find it harder to get money from advertisers and investors.
  - NexRebular 4y ago
    the industry needs better advertisers and investors, then

bluedino 4y ago

I never had one of those but came across them at school and friends houses - I could never get past that damn 9" monochrome screen.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
One of my favorite parts of the machine — that crisp display.

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shadytrees 4y ago

I hope the author has found their way to joshua stein's blog: https://jcs.org/ https://jcs.org/

Bud 4y ago

The SE/30 is basically like this, but faster, 32-bit bus, and supports Ethernet. So same charm, but even more useful.

bitigchi 4y ago

One day, someone will make great bucks recreating these machines with modern components.

halikular 4y ago

What you said can also be true with a modern linux or bsd install. Use something like arch linux or nixos and only install the bare bones like a windows manager, text editor, irc client and a web browser. You'll have no notifications, it's all up to you and you'll also have an updated and secure machine.

wainstead 4y ago
Or even more extreme, perhaps, TAILS on a stick and you just yank the stick when you're done. As long as you don't connect via Tor you're all alone.

aj7 4y ago

It’s very amusing to see “young people” be into retro computers. At 71, I’m the opposite. Because I deal with actual (slow) functional degradation, I can’t be bothered with old computers. That’s a young man’s game. 2017 iMac Pro, soon to be supplemented with an M1 something.

thakoppno 4y ago
By any chance are you selling the iMac Pro and live in the bay area? My 2014 iMac has a failing system fan and repair seems like throwing away money.
- aj7 4y ago
  Not selling, in Tucson. Get a screwdriver. Or a shop will fix it fir $50.

intrasight 4y ago

Mine is my favorite computer that I never use. Hasn't been plugged in for about 35 years.

QuadrupleA 4y ago

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed this. I tend to approach retro computing stuff from a nostalgia perspective, sort of assuming there's not much practical reason for using it. So it's refreshing to hear all the good qualities of the thing in its own right, from someone who isn't just reliving old memories. The modern world of incessant trivial updates (interrupting what you were doing), surveillance, distractions, etc. is a bit sad, a far cry from lovingly engineered products intended to improve your life. Hopefully the market will curtail some of this BS in time, once we all collectively get sick enough of it.

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zargon 4y ago

> It will never receive another software update Well... in 2021 we binary-patched Bolo to fix a bug and make it more convenient to use with our new Bolo game proxy server, enabling Bolo games to be played over the internet again. Some of us at 68kmla occasionally play together. http://bolo.astrospark.com/ http://bolo.astrospark.com/ (Universal NAT broke Bolo internet gaming. The original network protocol was for ring-tppology serial networks (local talk, econet), and when UDP was implemented it was ported over with very little change. So the fact that the protocol depends on embedding network addresses of players meant that it completely breaks when NAT is involved.)

ericd 4y ago
Oh man, I’m so happy people are keeping Bolo alive. Thanks for doing that.

immmmmm 4y ago

maybe less fancy, but my old 15 inchs, mat screen, i got second hand maybe 12 years ago, handled 5 years of intensive work, live acts in forest rave parties, fell several times on the floor, got splashed many time and was mostly upgradable. if it wasn't for the gpu id be still using it. too bad they traded reliability for a few millimeters of thickness.

meerita 4y ago

I tried to boot up on my iBook 2003 Mac OS 9 unsuccesfully. It seems once I installed OS X this computer went for this OS forever.

BirAdam 4y ago

As far as it goes, one can make a modern Mac or Linux box behave itself. Disable automatic updates and notifications and either is suddenly much more enjoyable. Of course, if you really want the tactile experiences as well, this can be achieved with effort. ADB to USB exists, and it’s possible to get an empty shell of a classic Mac and put newer components in it. For my part, I love my turbo XT, my Mac Classic II, and my Compaq Portable 386. I prefer one of them to any other machine.

Aeolun 4y ago

This is about how I feel my Pop OS! pc works. Except that it’s more modern, and has a high resolution display.

nicholasbraker 4y ago

This story feels so wholesome.

dann0 4y ago

I don't use one anymore, but I remain extremely fond of my now defunct Acorn RiscPC from 1994! I have similar feelings about the software and how powerful and simple it felt then!

wiredfool 4y ago

My favorite was a IIci, with 8 megs of ram, a fast scsi drive, and System 6, with the 13" Trinitron screen. Warm boots in a couple of seconds, cold boot was longer due to the memory checks.

mikewarot 4y ago

There's just something about that 68000 series processor with all those registers that seems very appealing. The silly part is I've got 16 64 bit registers in the machine I'm using right now.

jawadch93 4y ago

[dead]

andrepd 4y ago

> This Mac is unchanging in a world where things change by the minute. It will never receive another software update and is thoroughly obsolete, but it's comforting to have something that you know will stay the same forever, remaining in a known state every time you return to it. I knew I was not the only one feeling this. I hate that things which aren't broken change so much on a whim. There are certain software that despite no additions in functionality seem to have to change their design, button placement, workflows, etc, every 6 months or so (looking at you Signal).

mitchbob 4y ago

Ah, memories. I worked at Apple BITD, and it was fun to pick out a computer to get with my annual employee discount. My favorites were the IIci [1], with its very clean and compact design that was the result of lots of user research into making the II easier for people to open up and upgrade, and the PowerBook 140 [2], one of the first Apple laptops, just because it was so damned cute. And for the original Macs, I still have a padded case with a shoulder strap, which made my SE/30 [3] a credible luggable. [1] https://apple-history.com/iici https://apple-history.com/iici [2] https://apple-history.com/140 https://apple-history.com/140 [3] https://apple-history.com/se30 https://apple-history.com/se30

bitwize 4y ago

Mine is my Amiga 500. I fire that thing up and... it seems to have most of the UI affordances of a modern computer, but everything is so simple and straightforward. And of course there's no telemetry, no intrusive notifications... it just does what I need it to do. It can't do things I expect of a modern computer, but it is symbolic of a time when microcomputers were designed to be fun and useful for their users, not to funnel them into some bigtech marketing pipeline.