Uncreative Labs

Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 6 Location: Coalmont BC

I thought I'd just see how this forum software
works with old kit and progs.
It seems quite well actually. I'm
presuming, of course, that when I hit
the submit link, that it will work. Smile

I'm just using a PI which is my main
DOS box, but Lynx will run on any
386 and up. Anyway, there it is!

Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 62

Ole Juul wrote:

I thought I'd just see how this forum software
works with old kit and progs.
It seems quite well actually. I'm
presuming, of course, that when I hit
the submit link, that it will work. Smile

I'm just using a PI which is my main
DOS box, but Lynx will run on any
386 and up. Anyway, there it is!

Cool.

I used to use Lynx web browser back in the day on my old IBM XT computers. Back in the mid 90s the Public Library had a Free dialup service for library patrons called SPOT (St Petersburg Online Terminal). I could not only access the public library catalog but they also had Lynx installed on their server for everyone to use. So I would dialin to their server with an MS-DOS program called Procomm Plus and I could surf the web. I was only a young teenager at the time and my parents couldn't afford me a new computer at the time. I found that I'd needed at least a 2400 baud modem for the text to appear on the screen fast enough.

Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Lynnwood,WA

This site is actually my testbed for my vintage machines when they go online, if they can access this, then it's a pretty darned good browser for what I use it for.

My GEM 286 can get on this site through Arachne 1.73 like a pro (I have a special resource file for Arachne installed to optimize it for an 80286 based machine). Sure, it takes awhile to render the forum, but it can do that. I've also managed VCF on that machine somehow.

Used to be able to get on here through Minuet using my XT and Tandy, but for some crazy reason I can't do it through the Comcast Broadband I have now. I still have not figured out the nuts and bolts of Lynx enough yet to get those setup with Lynx on an ethernet adapter.

My 486 does just fine here in IE 5.1 or Netscape 4.08 in WFWG 3.11.

Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 6 Location: Coalmont BC

I collect vintage software so maintain a lot internet programs for DOS even if I don't prefer to use them all. I was a great Arachne fan back when Michael was first working on it and up until Linux became practical for me. Right now I've got version 1.70 installed and working but prefer not to use it because a mouse on a DOS box rubs me the wrong way. Smile

Nagy Daniel's CTMOUSE is nice and small, but still ...

In the non vintage category, there's also Dillo. It renders quite nicely, but I couldn't get it to post on the Vintage Computer Forum. I'll try here soon. This forum runs better software.

Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Lynnwood,WA

I started using Arachne on the 286 mostly as a means to see if an 80286 could actually do it. The impressive part is I actually have Arachne running at what seems like 800X600 @16-bit color on that old thing, either that or the palette rendering in 256 color mode for Arachne is darned amazing. I also managed to pull up gamegenie.com one time when my main box was busy doing something time consuming, so I used the 286 for internet to get some game genie codes for a NES game I was playing. GameGenie.com has tables, and that old GEM throws the tables up pretty quick, complete with colored edging.

I've also run arachne on the 486 as well. It is a lot faster, and can do more, but I don't really use it as much as I prefer to relive the early internet experience in Windows for Workgroups using IE and Netscape (and occasionally Opera). IE and Netscape pick up different sites better, and Opera does a pretty good job on the modern internet in WFWG, hence why I use it. This site works in all three, but VCF is totally unuseable in IE and Netscape (5.1 and 4.08 respectively).

I like Text Mode browsing as well, and the first text browser I used was on the first 286 I had, an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 that survived a fire in the Tuskeegee University computer lab. That little beast had NetTamer on it and a Diamond Mulimedia TeleCommander 2300 soundcard/modem, and despite the BIOS freaking out as there were no "reference files" for that particular ISA card, it did a great job and rendered really fast over my 56K dial-up I had at the time.

I actually use my old boxes for IRC a lot too, both the XTs, 286, and my 486 have LeetIRC on them, and I use mIRC in WFWG on the 486. Usually I just hang around the VCF chat sections a lot.

Joined: 19 Apr 2012 Posts: 9

dw wrote:

Ole Juul wrote:

I thought I'd just see how this forum software
works with old kit and progs.
It seems quite well actually. I'm
presuming, of course, that when I hit
the submit link, that it will work. Smile

I'm just using a PI which is my main
DOS box, but Lynx will run on any
386 and up. Anyway, there it is!

Cool.

I used to use Lynx web browser back in the day on my old IBM XT computers. Back in the mid 90s the Public Library had a Free dialup service for library patrons called SPOT (St Petersburg Online Terminal). I could not only access the public library catalog but they also had Lynx installed on their server for everyone to use. So I would dialin to their server with an MS-DOS program called Procomm Plus and I could surf the web. I was only a young teenager at the time and my parents couldn't afford me a new computer at the time. I found that I'd needed at least a 2400 baud modem for the text to appear on the screen fast enough.

I remember those days. Except I was on my Amiga 500 with a 1200 baud modem. Yes you had to sit and wait for the text characters to funnel before you could sit and read the messages. Razz