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Anyone still using classic Mac OS as a daily driver?
- Thread starter retta283
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This is my quintessence for os9 ...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-g3-workstation-wiki.2125444/#post-26200641
... trying to make it as "modern" as possible (FileSharing/ScreenSharing/webDAV for Cloud/Print2PDF).
That's not enough for a daily driver, but to make it a thin-client, a connected office, an email-client, a group-fax machine, a reader, a radio, a music-box, an old editing-tool for editing old video-footage ...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-g3-workstation-wiki.2125444/#post-26200641
... trying to make it as "modern" as possible (FileSharing/ScreenSharing/webDAV for Cloud/Print2PDF).
That's not enough for a daily driver, but to make it a thin-client, a connected office, an email-client, a group-fax machine, a reader, a radio, a music-box, an old editing-tool for editing old video-footage ...
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Unfortunately, rocking Mac OS Classic as a daily driver is impossible if you plan to do anything on the internet. Classilla is not enough.
Specific tools, often job-related, won't work on anything older than 5 years or so, too, sometimes. So for many activities, in practice, it's out of the question.
But I slowly move towards that goal. Though not anything earlier than 9.2.2, despite my great respect for the 68k versions of both System 7.5.5 and Mac OS 8.1, very specifically. I also look at System 6 distantly, but that one is harder to defend, unless we are talking of 80s machine (among those that can boot that far: the original 128k Mac is stuck to System 3 at best).
You might want to consider asking that same question in "retro-er" Mac forums out there, like MacOS9Lives!'s and whatnot. More people in those places take such goals more seriously. Some people there actually have those as their daily drivers for their jobs, as OS X isn't always compatible with their equipment, even on PowerPC.
But I slowly move towards that goal. Though not anything earlier than 9.2.2, despite my great respect for the 68k versions of both System 7.5.5 and Mac OS 8.1, very specifically. I also look at System 6 distantly, but that one is harder to defend, unless we are talking of 80s machine (among those that can boot that far: the original 128k Mac is stuck to System 3 at best).
You might want to consider asking that same question in "retro-er" Mac forums out there, like MacOS9Lives!'s and whatnot. More people in those places take such goals more seriously. Some people there actually have those as their daily drivers for their jobs, as OS X isn't always compatible with their equipment, even on PowerPC.
You should use the classic environment in Mac OS X for a more modern experience.
ROFL That reference caught me completely offguard.
Until not so long ago, there was even a site (with forum) dedicated to running MacOS/System 7.
http://main.system7today.com/
I think there was even one for MacOS/System 6.
http://main.system7today.com/
I think there was even one for MacOS/System 6.
Classilla on a 233mhz G3 is much better than Safari iOS 4.2.1 on a 400mhz iPhone 3G which I'm currently using to make this post and it took 5 minutes to load this website, login, and everything. Safari on this iPhone is more "modern" than Classilla on OS 9 but Classilla is so much faster.
Classilla is still mostly useless IMO. I've downloaded a couple things off the macintosh garden using it, and the same computer with TFF is over double the download speed for the same thing.
And what would that machine be?
A 233mhz G3 running TFF would take like 30 seconds to load google.
I recently fired up my Power Macintosh 9600 that has been in storage for 20 years in order to get some files off floppies, open some Word 5.1 files and decompress some Compact Pro archives.
I tried to use Classilla to set up what I needed to share files in a reasonable way, but many sites would simply not load and others would crash the browser. I ended up downloading everything I needed on my iMac and burning a CD to get it onto the 9600.
Ah, Compact Pro, the ones who almost dethroned StuffIt. If only their files preserved the original timestamps... Eitherway, good stuff.
I dunno about iOS 4.x.x, but regarding Classilla, to me, the truth is somewhere right between what Project Alice and Appleuser201 said: I think calling it "mostly useless" is an overstatement, but comparing it with any version of Safari on any device is also tough.
I'm not sure what websites you visited, but I can say it works well for many of them out there, especially with a mobile user agent. Then again, I have no doubt many others also wouldn't work.
Tried turning off JavaScript in Safari? That's what kills MR for slow machines.
I just tried loading this forum in Opera Mini 7.1 on a Nokia E52 (600 MHz ARM running Symbian OS 9.3 and S60v3.2) and it's not bad at all, took like 15 seconds.
In all fairness though, Opera Mini has websites processed by their servers and receives a slimmed down version. I couldn't try this in Opera Mobile 12, it refuses to connect due to outdated certificates.
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Now that's fun — the J2ME version of Opera Mini 7.1 works on Tiger using MicroEmulator 
All the stuff you need is at https://github.com/sergiolopes/operamini-offline. Just download everything as ZIP, unzip and run
The big question is: Will this work using the Java runtime for OS 9?
UPDATE: So the images showing as boxes also happens on Leopard, but only if the device type is changed to Resizeable device via Options > Select device. If the default device is used everything works fine but in a rather small window.
NEW UPDATE: It turns out that images are displayed properly if the resizeable device is set to a 3:4 (portrait) aspect. Opera Mini 8.0 also works fine.
All the stuff you need is at https://github.com/sergiolopes/operamini-offline. Just download everything as ZIP, unzip and run
run-operamini-7.sh after changing to that folder in Terminal (this is important). The big question is: Will this work using the Java runtime for OS 9?
NEW UPDATE: It turns out that images are displayed properly if the resizeable device is set to a 3:4 (portrait) aspect. Opera Mini 8.0 also works fine.
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Now that's fun - the J2ME version of Opera Mini 7.1 works on Tiger using MicroEmulator
View attachment 855090
All the stuff you need is at https://github.com/sergiolopes/operamini-offline. Just download everything as ZIP, unzip and run run-operamini-7.sh after changing to that folder in Terminal (this is important).
The big question is: Will this work using the Java runtime for OS 9?
UPDATE: So the images showing as boxes also happens on Leopard, but only if the device type is changed to "Resizeable device" via "Options -> Select device". If the default device is used everything works fine but in a rather small window.
What this community has achieved and continues to achieve never ceases to amaze me.
If it is compatible even with the ancient Java 1.1(.8), then there is a chance.
No luck on OS 9 (with MRJ 2.2.6) or Puma, but...
Jaguar just received a modern browser, LOL. While m.youtube.com loads, searching for and playing videos doesn't work. But it's not that slow, even more impressive considering my 800 MHz TiBook is probably underclocked to 667 MHz due to the lack of a battery.
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If this works on Jaguar, it'll also work on Panther and Tiger. Which means that slower G3s (like my Beige) can have a less intensive browser.
D
doesn't Classilla play YouTube videos on Jaguar using QuickTime automatically like it does in Panther? Using Opera Mini for web browsing and Classilla for YouTube even a beige G3 can be usable for basic everyday tasks.
I've never even bothered to try that. Classilla is about as useless as Internet Explorer 6. It won't even load this web site properly anymore.