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What I found is that you can get an old computer to work great with an old OS right up until you open the Web browser and start visiting Web sites.

quickthrower2 4y ago
You can get an old computer to work great with an old OS right up until you ... open the inner OS
hulitu 4y ago
Not only an old OS. An older web browser has the same issues. I think we need to come back to gopher and ftp because http is a rolling target. But we are https (s comes from encription).
- emodendroket 4y ago
  I actually meant a lightweight OS but I guess the parallel construction was so tempting I wrote the wrong thing. Everything seems great until you ask the computer to render the modern Web.
- anthk 4y ago
  Windows 9x/2x/XP users have RetroZilla as a libre browser. Mac 8-9 users have Classilla. Linux users can compile gcc 4.x and pkgsrc just fine on any > 2001 distro.
NovaPenguin 4y ago
There are some hacky ways of getting a little distance on modern OS's, like using terminal based browsers. I'm thinking Links/Elinks but that will only get you so far and so long as the security certificates are available.
- genidoi 4y ago
  Carbonyl runs pretty well (YouTube videos / WASM powered apps like figma et al) https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
- emodendroket 4y ago
  I think at that point you're getting away from "good as new!" to more doing it because you can.
LeoPanthera 4y ago
"browservice" will render web pages server-side and then deliver them to your browser as an image with simple javascript. It works in virtually all "old" browsers and can be very useful for older computers. https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice For very old web browsers, WRP works similarly but replaces the javascript with an imagemap. https://github.com/tenox7/wrp https://github.com/tenox7/wrp
- _Algernon_ 4y ago
  At that point you have a local energy inefficient terminal that barely contributes to what you are trying to do, and a cloud computer which must be run on your behalf somewhere, both of which require energy. What's the point? At that point I doubt it has any benefit compared to running a more modern machine.
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    It might give some security benefit similar to remote browser isolation. But it looks like this particular project is more focused on getting retro hardware usable on today's internet. Which is not a bad goal either.

quickthrower2 4y ago

You can get an old computer to work great with an old OS right up until you ... open the inner OS

hulitu 4y ago

Not only an old OS. An older web browser has the same issues. I think we need to come back to gopher and ftp because http is a rolling target. But we are https (s comes from encription).

emodendroket 4y ago
I actually meant a lightweight OS but I guess the parallel construction was so tempting I wrote the wrong thing. Everything seems great until you ask the computer to render the modern Web.
anthk 4y ago
Windows 9x/2x/XP users have RetroZilla as a libre browser. Mac 8-9 users have Classilla. Linux users can compile gcc 4.x and pkgsrc just fine on any > 2001 distro.

NovaPenguin 4y ago

There are some hacky ways of getting a little distance on modern OS's, like using terminal based browsers. I'm thinking Links/Elinks but that will only get you so far and so long as the security certificates are available.

genidoi 4y ago
Carbonyl runs pretty well (YouTube videos / WASM powered apps like figma et al) https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl
emodendroket 4y ago
I think at that point you're getting away from "good as new!" to more doing it because you can.

LeoPanthera 4y ago

"browservice" will render web pages server-side and then deliver them to your browser as an image with simple javascript. It works in virtually all "old" browsers and can be very useful for older computers. https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice https://github.com/ttalvitie/browservice For very old web browsers, WRP works similarly but replaces the javascript with an imagemap. https://github.com/tenox7/wrp https://github.com/tenox7/wrp

_Algernon_ 4y ago
At that point you have a local energy inefficient terminal that barely contributes to what you are trying to do, and a cloud computer which must be run on your behalf somewhere, both of which require energy. What's the point? At that point I doubt it has any benefit compared to running a more modern machine.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  It might give some security benefit similar to remote browser isolation. But it looks like this particular project is more focused on getting retro hardware usable on today's internet. Which is not a bad goal either.