[HN Gopher] My Favourite Computer, an Old Mac
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       My Favourite Computer, an Old Mac
        
       Author : cpsns
       Score  : 171 points
       Date   : 2022-10-07 18:14 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (muezza.ca)
 (TXT) w3m dump (muezza.ca)
        
       | Bud wrote:
       | The SE/30 is basically like this, but faster, 32-bit bus, and
       | supports Ethernet. So same charm, but even more useful.
        
       | pazimzadeh wrote:
       | A slightly more modern equivalent of this is a 2009 Mac mini
       | running Snow Leopard. You can find these machines for around $50
       | on eBay and they are very snappy.
       | 
       | I am waiting for someone to start a business turning old Mac
       | mini's into dedicated retro gaming machines. This would be done
       | by pre-installing OpenEMU and HaloMD on one partition, and Mac OS
       | 9 on another partition to run old games like Lemmings, etc
       | although emulation could also work for some of these.
       | 
       | If anyone is interested in this project, please let me know.
       | 
       | https://openemu.org/
       | 
       | https://www.halomd.net/
        
         | goosedragons wrote:
         | I don't think it makes much sense as a business. AliExpress is
         | littered with retro devices that have as much emulation oof as
         | a 2010ish Mac Mini. There are a lot of little emulation focused
         | Android/Linux boxes as well as emulation focused Mini PCs out
         | there these days.
        
           | derefr wrote:
           | I would love to know if any of these have the oomph for
           | running Dolphin with hi-res texture packs. That sort of
           | "going beyond the original experience" is the main reason I'd
           | bother to use "real hardware" for emulation over something
           | like a Pi or a jailbroken Switch. (Or, for that matter, a
           | MiSTer.)
           | 
           | I know that the sweet spot for "enhanced emulation" of
           | (N64|Gamecube|Wii, XBox|XBox360, PSX|PS2) is somewhere higher
           | than "my M1 Macbook Air", but lower than "Ryzen 4 and an
           | RTX4090" -- but figuring out exactly _where_ this sweet-spot
           | is, seems to be left as an exercise for the player; with the
           | assumption that anyone who wants to do this already has a
           | beefy gaming computer laying around, and wants to play on a
           | monitor, rather than on their TV.
           | 
           | It'd be nice if there were prebuilt appliances for playing
           | enhanced early-3D-era games, that had been tested and shown
           | to achieve a smooth 60FPS playing them at 4K or 1440p.
        
             | OttoVonBizark wrote:
             | for emulation a midrange graphics card and a i7 or i9 intel
             | chip with high single core speed from the last few years is
             | best - you can get something second hand for very cheap
             | that will perform emulation as well as the ryzen 4 4090
        
             | ricardobeat wrote:
             | An M1 macbook is actually extreme overkill for emulating
             | those consoles, it is on par with a GTX 1660.
        
               | derefr wrote:
               | To be clear, I'm not asking about just "emulating these
               | consoles", but rather emulating these consoles _with_
               | injected 4K assets; three-pass RDMAed 8K stencil-
               | buffering for emulation of GPU-unified-memory in
               | compositing of shadows + reflections; 16x SSAA to smooth
               | off all the jaggies; etc. Y 'know, all those options
               | that, when turned on, make a four-generations-old game
               | into a game that looks like it came out yesterday.
               | 
               | You still don't need a 4090 to do all that -- but you
               | need more than a 1660, I promise you. (For one thing,
               | just for holding all those 4K assets, for a game that
               | never unloads anything because _it_ thinks it has rather
               | _small_ assets!)
        
         | gnicholas wrote:
         | I still run a 2008 iMac, booted off an SSD over Thunderbolt.
         | Websites are slower to load than on my M2 MBA, but for most
         | local tasks it is perfectly snappy.
        
           | tinytoon wrote:
           | I also still have one of theese. I added more ram and ssd is
           | comming. It's still a great device for Music, Photos, the
           | Web. I did use it for video-conferencing, because the webcam
           | can still hold up. And the little remote is still so great
        
         | mhd wrote:
         | > A slightly more modern equivalent of this is a 2009 Mac mini
         | running Snow Leopard. You can find these machines for around
         | $50 on eBay and they are very snappy.
         | 
         | I just did that, last Mini that still has a optical drive, the
         | Core 2 Duo is fast enough for a lot of things. If the optical
         | drive isn't important, I'd go for the 2012 mini. Last one that
         | still was user-upgradeable.
        
         | insane_dreamer wrote:
         | I still have one collecting dust in a drawer. Should pull it
         | out and put it to some use.
        
       | mistrial9 wrote:
       | MacOSX 10.4 Mail working right now!
       | 
       | ssh needs the RSA key-exchange enabled
       | 
       | forget the web-browsers, just enjoy the personal applications..
       | almost as good as Macs previous to that IMO
        
       | bitigchi wrote:
       | One day, someone will make great bucks recreating these machines
       | with modern components.
        
       | kls0e wrote:
       | people in Berlin, Germany, fyi: Vintage Computing Festival Berlin
       | (VCFB) October 8th and 9th, 2022
       | 
       | The Vintage Computing Festival Berlin (VCFB) is an event about
       | historic computers and computing technology. In exhibitions,
       | presentations and workshops, participants from all over Germany
       | and beyond present many different aspects of Vintage Computing.
       | In addition to retro computers, also historical operating
       | systems, programming languages, network technology as well as
       | pocket and mechanic calculators will be shown. Most of the
       | exhibited devices are in working condition. Established in 2014,
       | the VCFB has steadily grown and has attracted nearly 3000
       | visitors in 2019. In 2020 and 2021, the VCFB took place as an
       | online and hybrid event respectively.
       | 
       | source: https://vcfb.de/2022/index.html.en
        
       | QuadrupleA wrote:
       | Thanks for sharing, enjoyed this. I tend to approach retro
       | computing stuff from a nostalgia perspective, sort of assuming
       | there's not much practical reason for using it. So it's
       | refreshing to hear all the good qualities of the thing in its own
       | right, from someone who isn't just reliving old memories.
       | 
       | The modern world of incessant trivial updates (interrupting what
       | you were doing), surveillance, distractions, etc. is a bit sad, a
       | far cry from lovingly engineered products intended to improve
       | your life. Hopefully the market will curtail some of this BS in
       | time, once we all collectively get sick enough of it.
        
       | behnamoh wrote:
       | > I can edit my website and manage my servers from it...
       | 
       | Ironically, isn't an old Mac even more secure than today's
       | computers? Because it's so old that so much of the attack surface
       | (e.g., libraries) just don't exist on it. If there's no code,
       | there's no exploit either.
       | 
       | Moreover, hacker groups might have a much less practical
       | knowledge of dealing with these old machines. In contrast, a 2015
       | MBP might be even less secure than the one used in this post.
        
         | aliqot wrote:
         | You're telling me you don't fire off a PHF exploit at random
         | machines just for old time's sake? I was under the impression
         | we nerds could be more honest with each other.
        
           | behnamoh wrote:
           | The OP manages their servers on this mac, but the mac itself
           | isn't used as a server.
        
         | dhosek wrote:
         | I do remember that viruses on Macs back in the 80s were a huge
         | problem thanks to the fact that the Mac would automatically run
         | code on any disk that was inserted in the drive.
        
       | drooopy wrote:
       | I have no nostalgia for System 7 as my first computer was a
       | Windows 95 PC, however it is my favorite OS ever made. Whenever I
       | have to use a new computer, be it Mac or PC, I always aim to make
       | the OS look and feel like classic Mac OS.
        
       | the-printer wrote:
       | This was a quality web log! Wholesome simple computing. The
       | quintessential glass of milk filled 3/4th high on the kitchen
       | counter.
        
       | daggersandscars wrote:
       | Thank you. I had not really thought about how much notifications
       | hurt my computer enjoyment / productivity. I'm reconsidering my
       | home computing strategy in light of this. I have one machine I'm
       | most productive on. Reading your article made me realize it's the
       | only one I have configured without notifications.
       | 
       | At work, I cannot turn off the apps that pollute my day with
       | notifications. The firm got rid of their phone system - there is
       | only <popular corporate messaging app>. Previously, I could turn
       | it off and tell people to call me if there's something important.
       | I suspect others are stuck in this position as well.
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | >I can even chat with friends on it via IRC
       | 
       | With Bitlbee you can connect to far more services with just an
       | IRC client:
       | 
       | https://bitlbee.org
       | 
       | Public servers:
       | 
       | https://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/servers.html
       | 
       | On each server, join the "&bitlbee" channel (not a typo), and run
       | the "commands" plugins in order to see the supported protocols.
       | 
       | Usage upon connecting:
       | 
       | https://www.bitlbee.org/user-guide.html#quickstart
       | 
       | You can also put a RaspberryPi in your LAN with Alpine Linux
       | "diskless" install (the best solution to avoid wearing out the SD
       | card) and the bitlbee daemon. Then you would just connect to your
       | RaspberryPi IP instead of the public server one.
       | 
       | Finally, I forgot: sites like http://68k.news,
       | http://frogfind.com will run on legacy browsers for System 7.
       | 
       | And if you get a Gopher browser, head to gopher://hngopher.com
       | 
       | MacLynx works: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/maclynx-
       | beta-2.html
       | 
       | Open it, press g, enter gopher://hngopher.com and have fun. Also,
       | gopher://magical.fish and gopher://gopherddit.com
       | 
       | There is Crypto Anciennce, TLS for legacy systems, but I didn
       | try:
       | 
       | https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne...
       | 
       | On the utf-8 issue for Lynx visiting this site over HTTPS, just
       | choose the Mac Encoding in the options (press "O" under Lynx
       | (capital O) and then configure it for the Mac Encoding and save
       | your settings). It might solve it.
        
         | cpsns wrote:
         | Very cool, somehow I've never heard of this, but it looks like
         | it could be very handy. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look
         | into it and try it out on my home server.
        
           | anthk wrote:
           | Also: https://github.com/cy384/ssheven
           | 
           | You connect to SDF.org and power boost that MAC to the
           | extreme :D
           | 
           | https://github.com/cy384/ssheven/releases/tag/0.8.9
        
           | anthk wrote:
           | Ah, paradoxically I made a typo on my comment. The correct
           | command for bitlbee it's "plugins", not "commands". But as I
           | pointed a link to the Bitlbee wiki at the Quickstart section
           | , I think everyone would figure it out.
        
           | anthk wrote:
           | Yeah, bitlbee rocks, I use it under an i386 OpenBSD netbook
           | (Atom CPU), it's much faster than Pidgin. Also, I use
           | m68.news everywhere, as it can be read with no issues.
           | 
           | Lynx on Gopher protocol will work "as is" for Mac OS 7 I
           | guess, and it's very fast. 68k.news it's over HTTP and not
           | HTTPS, so it will work as is too.
           | 
           | This is the most recent version
           | http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/mac/lynx/download.html
           | 
           | The interface it's weird and not so Mac like, I know, but it
           | will fly for sure. And, well, you have Turbo Gopher too, but
           | for your Mac version you would need the Threading extension.
           | 
           | Gopher URL for Lynx:
           | 
           | gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/clients/mac
           | 
           | Proxied for the rest of machines (send it to the Classic Mac
           | via AppleTalk or FTP or whatever).
           | 
           | https://gopherproxy.meulie.net/gopher.floodgap.com/1/gopher/.
           | ..
           | 
           | Gopher it's the perfect "web" for your legacy mac in order to
           | find alternative media. No ads, no trackers no MB sized
           | pages. You can even find news mirrors with ease.
           | 
           | For instance: gopher://magical.fish:70/1/news
           | 
           | Recommended portal for lots of Gopher "holes":
           | gopher://magical.fish
           | 
           | Blog aggregator: gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/bongusta/
           | 
           | Old software for classic Macs
           | gopher://i-logout.cz:70/1/software/Apple/Software_MacOS
           | 
           | As you can see, if you can connect to the internet your Mac,
           | you are far from obsolete. You can chat over IRC+Bitlbee to a
           | big chunk of protocols, browse news, read "phlogs" from tech
           | people, and even visit HN and Reddit over Gopher. HTTPS would
           | be another issue, but you might be able to contact the Crypto
           | Ancienne folks for help.
           | 
           | EDIT: Well, now I focused into your shot, you already knew
           | over Gopher. Still, Lynx with HNGopher (and a potentially
           | well configured cryptoancienne) makes a seamless HN and
           | Reddit browser over Gopher+HTTPS.
        
             | cpsns wrote:
             | I've got the Mac hooked up via an esp8266 running a SLIP
             | server. Most of what I do on it web wise is through Gopher,
             | it's just the best overall solution for a computer of that
             | age imo.
             | 
             | Things like HNGopher and 68k.news are great, those kinds of
             | services make it very usable even in the modern world. I
             | had no idea lynx ever had a 68k release, but I suppose I
             | shouldn't be surprised.
             | 
             | I have an HTTP proxy setup[1] which will downgrade https to
             | http so that Netscape on the Mac can load sites, if for
             | some reason I need to do so.
             | 
             | Thanks again for the links. Someday I'd like to get a
             | version of my site on gopher too.
             | 
             | [1] https://github.com/atauenis/webone
        
               | anthk wrote:
               | What I miss from Gopherpedia it's math support. It if had
               | some support thru aamath it would be heaven.
               | 
               | https://github.com/gchudnov/aamath
        
       | cpsns wrote:
       | Hi HN, I've been ruminating of this a little bit and figured I'd
       | write and post my thoughts (I'm not a good writer, sorry in
       | advance). I don't expect this to get much traffic, but if it
       | somehow does my cable line probably won't handle it well so
       | here's an archive: https://archive.ph/VIbMD
       | 
       | I really like this little computer and I'm sure some of you enjoy
       | (or enjoyed) them too. :)
        
         | e-_pusher wrote:
         | Love this stuff! What is the tablet that is standing to the
         | left of the Mac?
         | 
         | Shameless plug to a blog post I wrote a while back, where I
         | sung the praise of my old laptop that is running Windows 3.1.
         | 
         | https://iskender.ee/2022/05/16/Laptop-1992.html
        
           | cpsns wrote:
           | It's not actually a tablet, it's a blindingly bright white
           | LED, one of the lights that is supposed to help with seasonal
           | affective disorder.
           | 
           | I'm still not sure if it's pseudoscience or not, but as we
           | head into the dark half of the year I'll try anything at this
           | point.
           | 
           | I have no affiliation with Canadian Tire, but this is the
           | exact product: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ottlite-
           | clearsun-led-ligh...
        
             | joshspankit wrote:
             | As someone who's been using f.lux and refining sleep
             | hygiene for over a decade, if this helps you please take
             | it:
             | 
             | - Chewable Vit. D3 can help, especially if taken in enough
             | dose (studies showed minimal downside from "overdoses" of
             | 100,000IU for months, so I'm comfortable recommending
             | 5000-7000IU as a starting does), and at the right time
             | (after ingesting it takes about an hour for your body to
             | bring that all in to your bloodstream, so I like to take it
             | around 8AM. A bit earlier if I'm trying to wake up extra
             | early, and a bit later if I forget. The latest I've taken
             | it is 12pm since afternoon sun is normal and healthy)
             | 
             | - Lamps for seasonal affective disorder can be a bit of a
             | crap-shoot since there are no regulations around the term.
             | If you get one and it barely (or doesn't) help, it might
             | not be any good. Things that are important here: the
             | spectrum of light output, and the lumens. If there are any
             | sharp peaks in the wavelength it might be as helpful as an
             | LCD monitor on full brightness. For a true test of whether
             | the concept itself helps, you can use halogen worklights
             | short-term. With those there are concerns of heat and UV
             | radiation, but they provide very bright full-spectrum
             | light. If those work, it would probably be worth shopping
             | around for the higher-end SAD lights.
        
         | wainstead wrote:
         | Ah memories. My first machine was a Classic ii. I think it
         | might be in a friend's garage in Ohio, will have to check with
         | him. Thanks for the great post!
        
         | janfoeh wrote:
         | > I'm not a good writer, sorry in advance
         | 
         | I found your writing style to be concise, pleasant to read and
         | certainly nothing to apologize for.
        
         | joshspankit wrote:
         | Thanks for the post, for adding it to HN, and for providing an
         | archive link right off the starting line.
         | 
         | Also thanks for posting the comment because now I get to help
         | correct a typo: "This Mac is uncharging ..."
        
       | hartator wrote:
       | > it never begs for your attention and its applications never try
       | to distract you from what you are doing, begging you to look at
       | them instead.
       | 
       | This.
       | 
       | In the modern world, it feels everything and everyone's apps have
       | a good reason to beg for your attention. I think it even
       | transcends OS. On GitHub, my notifications are spammed by
       | Dependabot. Who cares if my benchmark repos from 5 years ago have
       | security issues.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | halikular wrote:
       | What you said can also be true with a modern linux or bsd
       | install. Use something like arch linux or nixos and only install
       | the bare bones like a windows manager, text editor, irc client
       | and a web browser. You'll have no notifications, it's all up to
       | you and you'll also have an updated and secure machine.
        
       | aj7 wrote:
       | It's very amusing to see "young people" be into retro computers.
       | At 71, I'm the opposite. Because I deal with actual (slow)
       | functional degradation, I can't be bothered with old computers.
       | That's a young man's game. 2017 iMac Pro, soon to be supplemented
       | with an M1 something.
        
       | protomyth wrote:
       | I will say the form factor of the classic Mac (in my case a Mac
       | SE/30) was amazing for writing. The height was perfect without
       | the ability of the text to go to just above the keyboard like a
       | conventional monitor on a stand. I end up duplicating it by using
       | half a window or finding a text editor that holds the current
       | line at a certain height. It was also a very portable design. I
       | have an old Color Classic II case that I sometime think I might
       | mod into something a bit more modern (since it is DOA anyway).
        
         | dhosek wrote:
         | I remember in college in the late 80s (when laptops were mostly
         | exotic and expensive) seeing someone walking across campus,
         | carrying his Mac by the handle on the top and thinking that it
         | was so cool to be able to transport a computer like that.
        
           | alana314 wrote:
           | I taped a tote bag to my imac and traveled with it as a carry
           | on once.
           | https://twitter.com/alana31415/status/1578492366201098240
        
             | protomyth wrote:
             | The original Mac mini fit perfectly in a camera case I had.
             | That thing probably had more miles on it than some of the
             | portables I've owned.
        
       | bluedino wrote:
       | I never had one of those but came across them at school and
       | friends houses - I could never get past that damn 9" monochrome
       | screen.
        
       | gbasp wrote:
       | My favorite old Mac has to be the iMac G3. IMO it was the first
       | truly user friendly computer, requiring almost no setup or
       | technical knowhow. I know people who are hard core Mac/Apple
       | users for life because the G3 was the first computer that ever
       | clicked with them.
        
       | subliminalcut wrote:
       | I still have a 2012 MacBook Pro as my main laptop :(
        
         | JALTU wrote:
         | Oh, I was happily happily using my 16GB mid-2012 15" MBP as my
         | main machine until the motherboard developed some issue with
         | power and died a month ago.
         | 
         | I fired up a 15" 2008 MBP to run some non-CS Photoshop and you
         | know, it works great as long as I'm not using the Internet!
         | It's a solid machine, and I miss it.
         | 
         | Now typing on my work machine, an 8GB M1 13" MBP. I wouldn't
         | say I've been blown away by this and it's probably because I
         | need 16GB to deal with Chrome and its zombie Electrons.
        
         | tjr225 wrote:
         | This is why I am a Mac devotee. They are the Toyota of the
         | computer world. Sure there's a premium, but it's worth it for
         | peace of mind.
        
         | Ian_Macharia wrote:
         | 2012 MacBook Pro gang! Mines 10GB RAM though. Had to switch to
         | neovim from VSCode and it's still sorta snappy for my normal
         | workflow, just can't open tons of apps at the same time. Also I
         | avoid any electron-based apps
        
       | johndoe0815 wrote:
       | ...and a very cute kitty!
       | 
       | Most Classic II suffer from leaking capacitors which should be
       | replaced and it's a good idea to replace the onboard battery,
       | which is prone to leaking and destroying the board:
       | 
       | https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2014-05-24-Classic...
       | 
       | There are two different versions of the mainboard which require
       | different numbers and types of capacitors:
       | 
       | https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-a/ vs.
       | https://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-classic-ii-b/
        
         | cpsns wrote:
         | When I bought this Mac it was actually completely fubar. The
         | internal battery ruptured and ruined the main board, so I had
         | to source a "new" one. The new one came recapped by the seller
         | and I recapped the analog board myself, so it should be good
         | for a long time to come.
         | 
         | You can see the rest of the gang here:
         | http://muezza.ca/cats.html
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | Heh I had a cat named Dog at one time (one named Rat also).
        
             | tomxor wrote:
             | If you also had a dog named cow it would be very on topic
             | ;)
        
             | bink wrote:
             | I have never heard a thing half as crazy as that.
        
             | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
             | We had one named Puppy.
        
             | rob74 wrote:
             | I once had a cat named Tom and one named Jerry... both
             | female.
        
           | Maursault wrote:
           | My complaint about the Classic II is that it is a degraded
           | SE/30, with a maximum of 10MB RAM, no coprocessor, and no
           | expandability except through the external SCSI, compared to
           | 128MB RAM, a coprocessor and a PDS with the SE/30.
           | Restoration isn't any more difficult on SE/30, and network
           | cards are not hard to find. Plus it can run A/UX and a modern
           | OS, NetBSD 9 (but without a GUI, which is fine for many
           | purposes), so the SE/30 is well worth the slightly higher
           | investment price for a fixer-upper, and once restored, it is
           | worth a $1000 or more, so easy to not only recoup investment,
           | but make a tidy profit.
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | johndoe0815 wrote:
             | The Classic II is more or less just using the LC chipset in
             | a compact Mac form factor, whereas the SE/30 was a
             | repackaged IIcx and came out almost three years earlier.
             | The initial price of a basic Classic II was US$1900,
             | whereas the SE/30 cost a staggering US$6500.
             | 
             | And don't remind me of the prices in Germany :). I remember
             | seeing my first IIfx at our local Apple dealer, it cost
             | about 35k German marks IIRC... a new VW Golf car was around
             | 25k marks back then.
             | 
             | More details on everymac.com: https://everymac.com/systems/
             | apple/mac_classic/specs/mac_cla... https://everymac.com/sys
             | tems/apple/mac_classic/specs/mac_se3...
        
               | Maursault wrote:
               | Apple's initial price for the SE/30 in the US was $4369,
               | but price came down rapidly in the first year, ultimately
               | costing less than a Mac II with greyscale card and
               | monochrome monitor by the end of 1989. But that was 30
               | years ago. Today, there seems to be a Mac mafia buying up
               | the lower priced auctions and then jacking up prices of
               | these ancient machines on turnaround, but you can still
               | find an untouched SE/30 within spitting distance of the
               | cost of a Classic II. They're both attractive machines in
               | the compact format, but I wouldn't accept a Classic II
               | for free, where I'd be tempted to buy certain particular
               | SE/30 models, depending on condition, for few to several
               | hundreds of dollars.
        
           | tomxor wrote:
           | I also love the feel of using these old systems, but I wonder
           | how much of it is also to do with the physical experience.
           | 
           | Do you think you would get a similar or diminished experience
           | with e.g a raspberry pi and a little LCD screen etc that
           | booted straight into a minivmac emulator? ... I must admit I
           | get a sense of satisfaction from turning on certain old
           | electronics, like the resonating "clung" of the e transformer
           | in my amplifier when I flip the switch, so maybe that's all
           | part of it, the sense of an appliance, something less
           | fallible, and also the absence of all those layers of
           | complexity under the emulator.
        
             | cpsns wrote:
             | I'm really not sure honestly. I think there is something to
             | be said about having the real thing, but I'm not really
             | convinced in the physical hardware over emulation debate. I
             | get the same enjoyment in emulated SNES games as I did as a
             | child on a real SNES for example.
             | 
             | In this case? I enjoyed saving the Mac, fixing it, making a
             | few minor upgrades along the way. Apple hardware and
             | software integrates so well together and I think there's a
             | lot of reason to have the whole package. That said when
             | using it I'm looking primarily at the screen alone.
             | 
             | I think it's really subjective and depends on the person
             | ultimately.
        
             | kitsunesoba wrote:
             | For me it's not so much any of the physical properties of
             | the machine in question (though those can be nice in their
             | own way), but more of an intangible sense of "realness"
             | that's difficult to attain with an emulator. It may just be
             | placebo effect but I think that long time computer users
             | can probably pick up on subtle differences, and that likely
             | shapes the experience more than is often thought.
             | 
             | Certainly, pulling out my PowerBook G3 Pismo is a
             | significantly different experience than firing up
             | SheepShaver or qemu_ppc running the same operating system.
        
         | rob74 wrote:
         | > _...and a very cute kitty!_
         | 
         | Yeah, I guess that's actually the main advantage of a classic
         | Mac with its built-in monitor - try fitting a cat beside a 4K
         | monitor on that tiny desk! Plus the Mac probably emits more
         | cat-attracting heat than a modern monitor...
        
       | rtpg wrote:
       | Something that is super easy to do nowadays too is to get various
       | XP-era software and run it in windows XP in a VM.
       | 
       | Honestly I feel like trying to connect to the net on some of
       | these devices feels a bit silly, but you can get lots of work
       | done and wear nostalgia goggles. All at blazing fast speeds
        
         | anthk wrote:
         | Most XP software will run as is under 7 and older OSes.
        
       | robalni wrote:
       | My current favourite computer is a Fitlet2 that runs Debian. I
       | have two of that computer: one server and one desktop. It's tiny,
       | silent, beautiful and with an operating system that doesn't try
       | to do anything other than letting me do what I want. I can get
       | the same feeling about that computer as what I read in this
       | article.
       | 
       | I want there to be more nice computers.
        
       | insane_dreamer wrote:
       | I really should get one of these these. I sadly never owned one,
       | though I had an Apple IIe and an Apple IIc.
       | 
       | My favorite though would have to be the G4 Cube.
        
         | dhosek wrote:
         | I bought one of those refurbished in 2001 and it was a
         | fantastic machine. I used it for live recording setups,
         | transporting it in a suitcase along with keyboard, monitor,
         | mouse and 8-track A/D system, padded with towels. I only gave
         | it up when I bought my first PowerBook.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | intrasight wrote:
       | Mine is my favorite computer that I never use. Hasn't been
       | plugged in for about 35 years.
        
       | shadytrees wrote:
       | I hope the author has found their way to joshua stein's blog:
       | https://jcs.org/
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-07 23:00 UTC)