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They all have Ethernet ports. So, yes you can hook them up to a wired router and play co-op. The vast majority of games are either going to be abandonware or bu

They all have Ethernet ports. So, yes you can hook them up to a wired router and play co-op. The vast majority of games are either going to be abandonware or buying old jewel cases on eBay.

7thaccount 2y ago
Thanks! Does anyone know how accessing the internet works on something so old? I mean, I used computers far older than this back in my youth, but the web browsers weren't ancient back then. I guess I'm trying to say that a 25 year old browser might not work with most modern web pages. Is that right?
- zoky 2y ago
  Your best bet is probably iCab, which had its last OS 9 release in 2008. Still pretty old, but you’ll at least have some relatively modern support for stuff like CSS. I used it on OS 9 at the time and it worked pretty well then.
- WoodenChair 2y ago
  Yeah most modern web pages are unusable. The most recent browser is Classilla which I copy onto most of the machines I sell. It will be painfully slow and barely load anything. There are still some sites that are designed to work on these old machines like frogfind.com
  - 7thaccount 2y ago
    No prob. I guess you just get software on there with CD-ROM & USB? Maybe there is an adapter for the FireWire? Also...what kind of programming language stuff is pre-loaded? I'm not familiar with Macs, but I'm guessing if it's based on BSD than there is a C compiler, Bash, Awk...that kind of stuff? Is Objective C or some kind of scripting language easy to get to?
    - WoodenChair 2y ago
      I find a USB stick the most convenient and load some software on CDs. No, Mac OS 9 is not based on BSD. Only Mac OS X+ is. No development tools come with it out of the box (unless you consider AppleScript). Programming for the classic Mac OS is totally different from Mac OS X+. There is the classic Toolbox with Pascal or C, Hypercard, RAD tools like RealBASIC, the slightly refined Carbon APIs, many scripting languages available, etc. But nothing out of the box that's not a separate install. Sorry, it's a big subject and don't want to get more into it here.
      - 7thaccount 2y ago
        Not a problem. This helps a lot!
    - bombcar 2y ago
      Since it has Ethernet, you can use older tooling to connect to a Linux server as a "go-between" both for some basic web-proxy and filesharing. Worst case scenario you use an FTP client, but it might be possible to build some other ancient filesharing software like Netatalk - https://netatalk.io https://netatalk.io You of course want to make sure your OS 9 box isn't directly on the Internet, but it's quite capable of communication if what it's talking to drops down.
- mkesper 2y ago
  You probably want some proxy turning the average bloated page into something more consumable by ancient machines. Also modern TLS tends to be a problem for these old machines. Maybe wrp might help: https://github.com/tenox7/wrp https://github.com/tenox7/wrp

They all have Ethernet ports. So, yes you can hook them up to a wired router and play co-op. The vast majority of games are either going to be abandonware or buying old jewel cases on eBay.

7thaccount 2y ago

Thanks! Does anyone know how accessing the internet works on something so old? I mean, I used computers far older than this back in my youth, but the web browsers weren't ancient back then. I guess I'm trying to say that a 25 year old browser might not work with most modern web pages. Is that right?

zoky 2y ago
Your best bet is probably iCab, which had its last OS 9 release in 2008. Still pretty old, but you’ll at least have some relatively modern support for stuff like CSS. I used it on OS 9 at the time and it worked pretty well then.
WoodenChair 2y ago
Yeah most modern web pages are unusable. The most recent browser is Classilla which I copy onto most of the machines I sell. It will be painfully slow and barely load anything. There are still some sites that are designed to work on these old machines like frogfind.com
- 7thaccount 2y ago
  No prob. I guess you just get software on there with CD-ROM & USB? Maybe there is an adapter for the FireWire? Also...what kind of programming language stuff is pre-loaded? I'm not familiar with Macs, but I'm guessing if it's based on BSD than there is a C compiler, Bash, Awk...that kind of stuff? Is Objective C or some kind of scripting language easy to get to?
  - WoodenChair 2y ago
    I find a USB stick the most convenient and load some software on CDs. No, Mac OS 9 is not based on BSD. Only Mac OS X+ is. No development tools come with it out of the box (unless you consider AppleScript). Programming for the classic Mac OS is totally different from Mac OS X+. There is the classic Toolbox with Pascal or C, Hypercard, RAD tools like RealBASIC, the slightly refined Carbon APIs, many scripting languages available, etc. But nothing out of the box that's not a separate install. Sorry, it's a big subject and don't want to get more into it here.
    - 7thaccount 2y ago
      Not a problem. This helps a lot!
  - bombcar 2y ago
    Since it has Ethernet, you can use older tooling to connect to a Linux server as a "go-between" both for some basic web-proxy and filesharing. Worst case scenario you use an FTP client, but it might be possible to build some other ancient filesharing software like Netatalk - https://netatalk.io https://netatalk.io You of course want to make sure your OS 9 box isn't directly on the Internet, but it's quite capable of communication if what it's talking to drops down.
mkesper 2y ago
You probably want some proxy turning the average bloated page into something more consumable by ancient machines. Also modern TLS tends to be a problem for these old machines. Maybe wrp might help: https://github.com/tenox7/wrp https://github.com/tenox7/wrp