The what I did with my classic today thread™

[840quadra]

Not that Macrumors needs an other thread that gets updated daily or anything , but I figured the classic forum needed something that could possibly spark conversation within this sub culture a bit more often. The purpose of this thread is simple. If you have a classic Macintosh (say G3 or older (please no debate about what actually is classic let's keep an open mind)) post in here what you did with it today, or recently.

Perhaps this thread can convince someone that their old Mac isn't trash, and give it some new life by giving it a new task in their house or office! Also, if you do something unique that you want to teach others how to do with their Classic, please share




Okay, I guess I will start..

Today decided I wanted to check out some of the internet radio stations broadcasting through iTunes radio. As opposed to just opening up iTunes on the G5, I booted up the 8500 and opened up iTunes 2. I ended up finding a couple new stations I like and am emailing the station names to my work email address so I can listen to them there.

I also started this thread with the 8500 while I am listening to one of the trance stations .

 

[macEfan]

I put a new screen on a PB 1400 and plan to put some of my music on it.

 

[5300cs]

How about last nite?

I went on the internet with my rev A iMac. I use it to peruse forums, play old games, and read the PDF manual for my new camera.

 

[Bobdude161]

Beige G3: Hooked up my N64 to the video personality card, then opened BTV and took some snapshots of San Fransisco Rush.

 

[840quadra]

How about last nite?

I went on the internet with my rev A iMac. I use it to peruse forums, play old games, and read the PDF manual for my new camera.

Last night works well.

To add to mine, I also copied some application files from my G3 (B&W) to the 8500, and started setting up Xpostfacto to play with OS-X on the 8500 on the other disk. I am going for 3 Operating systems on that box OS 8.5 , OS 9.1, and OS X, I doubt I will have luck, but who knows!

Beige G3: Hooked up my N64 to the video personality card, then opened BTV and took some snapshots of San Fransisco Rush.

Cool! can you attach some images in an other post, or your original!

 

[Bobdude161]

Cool! can you attach some images in an other post, or your original!

First pic is an old setup, but you get the gist. And second is supposed to be a screenshot but doing a whole screen shot seems to have a copyright effect. ah well. I use the Mac and N64 when others are using the TV for the PS2 or a movie. Good stuff.

And I've also captured an old video from a VCR with it. Here's a link. I captured it with the G3 and edited it with my Sawtooth. Notice the choppy frame rates! My G3 could barely keep up!!

 

[dpaanlka]

Do you know who I am?

There is never a time where at least one of my classic Macs (pre-G3) is not running.

 

[macg4]

i get online with my qudra 840av and LC475 all the time

 

[macg4]

I put a new screen on a PB 1400 and plan to put some of my music on it.

the one i gave ya?

 

[840quadra]

And second is supposed to be a screenshot but doing a whole screen shot seems to have a copyright effect. ah well. I use the Mac and N64 when others are using the TV for the PS2 or a movie. Good stuff.

Strange, my Apple Video Player lets me take pictures of what I am watching, it is built into the program. I guess I never attempted to do an entire screen shot like you did.

Must be some Lawyer involvement with that or something!

I used my Quadra 840av for Playing playstation for years, and I also watched DVD's through Apple Video player using my PS2 as the DVD video source.

I love the fact that the DSP on the Quadras would let video show through any window you had on top of it. I could be posting on Macrumors or any other site with the browser fully covering the video player window and it would turn the browser transparent so I could see the video while working on my browsing .

Do you know who I am?

There is never a time where at least one of my classic Macs (pre-G3) is not running.

Nope! Please introduce yourself .

Same here in some way. My 8500 is usually on 24/7 acting as a Streaming audio receiver for my house, All I have to do is turn on the speakers in whatever room I am using, or carry around my wireless setup.

The Quadra 840av hasn't been booted in over 6 months, a shame, but I think I have found a long term project for it to work on

 

[madmax_2069]

its the video overlay

i run my xbox threw my AIO, it has the onboard video with 6mb vram and a ATI Radeon 7000 ME and im useing extended desktop if i take a screenshot of the apple video player wile the AVP is on the internal video side i will get the green screen. but some how when its on the Radeon 7000 side and i take the screenshot of AVP it will show the video that is playing.

 

[disconap]

I remastered an old band recording on my G3 b/w (which may not really count, since it has a G4 chip in it).

Two interns used two imacs (one indigo-gen, one Rev-C) all day for database work and web surfing.

And modding project on former G3 ibook 75% complete. We had a very busy summer, so the project that was supposed to complete in June will likely finish in October...

 

[dpaanlka]

http://main.system7today.com/ is hosted entirely on a Power Mac 8100 running 7.6.1 and Comcast cable internet service. People sometimes ask if it's reliable...



All of that downtime, of course, is from Comcast dropping out.

It's been getting about 5,000 page requests a week for the past few months. That doesn't include images, though. Pretty impressive for 7.6.1!

The forums are hosted on an entirely different server however.

 

[840quadra]

http://main.system7today.com/ is hosted entirely on a Power Mac 8100 running 7.6.1 and Comcast cable internet service. People sometimes ask if it's reliable...

View attachment 58043

All of that downtime, of course, is from Comcast dropping out.

It's been getting about 5,000 page requests a week for the past few months. That doesn't include images, though. Pretty impressive for 7.6.1!

The forums are hosted on an entirely different server however.

Thats really cool to know .

What is the 8100 running for hardware?

I had a small site running on my Quadra 840av for about a year, lots of hits, but I took it down when my iP changed.

 

[dpaanlka]

What is the 8100 running for hardware?

It has a 10,000rpm, 10 GB hard drive, 256mb of RAM, and a 214mhz Newer G3 upgrade. Everything else, including the network interface, is stock.

It's an AppleShare IP 5.0.2 server.

 

[840quadra]

It has a 10,000rpm, 10 GB hard drive, 256mb of RAM, and a 214mhz Newer G3 upgrade. Everything else, including the network interface, is stock.

It's an AppleShare IP 5.0.2 server.

Good deal, sounds like a good system!

Speaking of System7today

Today I switched from using Internet Explorer 5 (still installed for backup) to iCab 2.9.9 on my PM 8500. While Internet explorer worked for the most part, it would get slower the longer I used it, It also loaded pages slowly when images were involved. iCab is working well, loads pages much faster, and works well with system memory. The only issue is how it loads pages from time to time.

I am fine with the pages loading strangely in most cases, and would gladly trade that for the much faster speed, and tabbed browsing.


I also intend to write an article on this system as opposed to using the G5 and my G4 both located here. One is creating backup disk images of my iPhoto and iTunes library, while the other is compressing video for my 5G ipod using iSquint.


Fun fun fun!

 

[dpaanlka]

I am fine with the pages loading strangely in most cases, and would gladly trade that for the much faster speed, and tabbed browsing.

For personal use, I've actually dumped IE 5 in favor of Netscape 4.8. With CSS turned off, Netscape is actually super reliable. Plus Netscape's built in email client works with my @system7today.com email address so that's an extra bonus.

I always use any of the System 7 browsers with CSS turned off. CSS slows everything down, and it doesn't even display correctly in those browsers, so basically you're choosing between a fast page displayed incorrectly, or a slow page displayed incorrectly.

I recently created a Browser page with all four major System 7 browsers, as well as instructions on how to turn off CSS in all of them. Not sure if you caught that.

iCab usually ranks dead last in my personal preference list.

 

[5300cs]

iCab usually ranks dead last in my personal preference list.

I'm glad someone finally said it. I really wish I could use iCab, but I just can't. It's WAAAAY too slow. And it's a PAY browser, like this was 1996 still or something.

Cool browser page - and THANKS FOR PROVIDING LOCAL DOWNLOADS! I HATE going through the trouble of looking for a legacy browser and getting 404s

 

[dpaanlka]

I HATE going through the trouble of looking for a legacy browser and getting 404s

One of the very extremely frustrating and common situations that influenced me to create System 7 Today. You'll find all my downloads are locally hosted. Not a single remote download on the entire site.

 

[840quadra]

Sorry my choice of browser chaps peoples hides ,

However I have an open mind and will try Netscape out again. I attempted to use opera, however it wasn't transfering typed information correctly or something. I couldn't log into Macrumors, or my own website. Both kept telling me I was not typing my password correctly.

Navigating to System7 now to download..

Thanks again!

 

[dpaanlka]

A lot comes down to are you actually trying to browse the web with CSS enabled on a very old Mac?

 

[840quadra]

A lot comes down to are you actually trying to browse the web with CSS enabled on a very old Mac?

CSS as in style sheets ? The answer to that is no. I am not new to using classic browsers, having style sheets disabled is the only way I can really use the web on my Quadra, and 575. I am just new to trying out anything besides IE and iCab on Classic computers.

I just got sick of IE slowing down the more I used it, or haulting the 8500, so I switched to iCab today hence my post. I do like Netscape on the 8500 better after testing it out (thanks for the download ). I gave it a try before switching over to the Quadra.

 

[dpaanlka]

Yes as in style sheets. I am pretty sure on classic PPC Macs Netscape 4.8 fit's most peoples needs nicely. I have no real ideas about 68k Mac browsing though. I usually only use 68k Macs for playing old games, word processing, or watching television if they are equipped with a TV Tuner (such as the Quadra 630).

I never actually asked, but are you running System 7 or something else on your 8500?

EDIT: I see you are a big fan of folding. It would be really nifty if there were some projects similar to that which could make use of all the old PowerPC Macs lying around in this world.

 

[840quadra]

I never actually asked, but are you running System 7 or something else on your 8500?

Not yet, I intend to add a 2nd SCSI drive (which I have some place in this house), then setup a version of system 7, along with 8.5, all while keeping 9.1 on the current drive.

My intents for this system are unknown. As with most of my classics, I want to be able to play with operating systems, while keeping it stable, and a viable work computer with any OS installed on it.

EDIT: I see you are a big fan of folding. It would be really nifty if there were some projects similar to that which could make use of all the old PowerPC Macs lying around in this world.

Indeed, however I may try (as a challange) to install Jaguar on the 8500, and have it do 1 work unit in Folding@home. It currently has a G3 400 upgrade card installed. I think that would be the only reason I would want X on it, otherwise it seems pointless.

 

[dpaanlka]

Not yet, I intend to add a 2nd SCSI drive (which I have some place in this house), then setup a version of system 7, along with 8.5, all while keeping 9.1 on the current drive.

That's cool. Remember, 7.6.1 may not be free, but it's so much better than 7.5.5.

You should shoot for 8.6 over 8.5.