======================================= Using an retro computer for daily work A guide ======================================= I. Why? There are many reasons to use old tech in the modern world, some of them relate to reducing waste, some to nostalgia and some to the need for privacy. Even if its not clear on first view, but using a vintage computer can really improve security: You will never be safer concerning ransomware as on a system that is totally incompatible with anything modern. Whatever your reason for this adventure is, it brings its own challenges and the opportunity to learn much about IT history and possibly opens up new ways to using old tech creatively. II. Usable systems Even it's entirely possible to do your daily work on an Commodore VIC 20 i view an C64 running GEOS as the bottom end for an reasonable comfortable to use system that can achieve most of in point III mentioned tasks. It is important to state a warning if you really want to use an old computer in your day-to-day work: As with oldtimer-cars you have to be prepared for a breakdown. If you really want to rely on old hardware you better look after your system and maintain it properly. And of course: Its better to have two sets of backups of your important files! The author of this file DOES trust in his MFM hard disk, but he also has everything he really don't like to see vanish through a sector going bad or a head crash backed up on a set of floppy disks and as an ZIP file on a server. However good your system runs for months, nobody will guarantee you that you are not inbound for a fatal crash just a day before the end of the deadline for your thesis or important report for your boss. So, be warned! This paper is centered around (and created on) an Atari 520ST, a system which is at least in the Authors mind totally capable of doing most of 2020s tasks. The actual setup of the in creation of this guide used system: - Atari 520ST with 4 MB RAM and DD Floppy drive - Atari SM124 B/W CRT Monitor - Atari SH205 Hard disk with 25 MB storage capacity - Epson LQ-500 dot matrix printer - WifiRS232 "Modem" III. Tasks to achieve Every computer user may have his or her own objectives, but most tasks a system has to achieve will fall in one or more of the following categories: 1. Text creation and printing 2. Spreadsheets 3. Image manipulation 4. Internet usage (Web, Email and so on) 5. File transfer Update 2021: 6. Doing professional business 1. Text creation and printing ----------------------------- This is a task even an VIC 20 or comparable systems could do with more or less ease, most systems even dating back to the late 70s have some really good word processors available which can get your work done. What should always be considered is the portability of the generated files: If your boss is expecting to get some work via Email he will not be totally happy if he get it in some totally exotic format. I personally have settled on saving everything i possibly need to transmit to somebody else either in plain text or as RTF files. The lack of unicode CAN be a problem, especially if you life like me in a country which uses some funny characters, but i found most of the time a way to work with the limitations. Interestingly some rather ancient format are supported even in modern software, e.g. it is possible to import files written in Papyrus for Atari in libreoffice. But if you want to "play it safe" i highly recommend using TXT or RTF. For my daily work i settled on following software: -PAPYRUS for complex text and everything that needs to have a layout (Saving as RTF is possible) -EVEREST for any plain text i just want to publish online or sent someone via email. 2. Spreadsheets ---------------- Luckily, this is a part of office work i rarely need to worry about, and one part that would be really hard, not because there is no software available for retro systems, but because there is rarely software to be found that creates spreadsheets that are COMPATIBLE with anything a modern workspace uses. Even said that, as an Atari user i would be lucky in this department: With "Texel" there is a spreadsheet software available which can save its files in an old Excel format which can even to this day be opened with modern day Windows or Linux products. If sharing your spreadsheets is not so important for you, then every available software in this department is good to go. For most part i use the following: TEXEL - If i need to share files VIPprofessional - for everything else 3. Image manipulation ---------------------- Image manipulation is a part where the usage of vintage computers will find its limitations, if you plan on working on multiple megapixel images, you will have to stick with a modern system. If you just want to paint a bit or create some pixel art, or even retouch something on smaller photos (and i am speaking of something in the 640 x 480 - 1024 x 768 px range), then, it is possible on some 16 Bit systems like Ataris or Amigas. On the Atari front i would highly recommend using "Vision", a good image manipulation program which is maintained to this day. 4. Going online ---------------------- Ok, now we are where the fun really begins, how to go online on an 30+ years old machine? Luckily, there are multiple options: The first (and easiest) option is to purchase a NetUSBee Rom-Port network adapter and install Sting on your Atari. When proper configured you can access FTP sites, write and receive Email with native software (Marijuana Mail is small but pretty awesome) and even browse the Web using the CAB browser. Buter there is a small problem: Even if the Atari packs enough power for most day-to-day tasks, the modern web will bring it to its limits and far beyond. After a bit of playing around with CAB i decided to cheat a little and give the second option to bring a retro computer online a try: I had an RS232 Wifi modem lying around from messing around with an 286 Laptop. With the Wifi-modem and a good terminal software (i use Starcall) you can not only "dial" into BBS systems, but also log into any telnet shell. Because, as mentioned, the modern web is really a bit overblown, i now use mostly my shell account on SDFEU.org for everything web related. SDFEU.org is the European brother of the America SDF, the "Super-Dimensional-Fortress", a compound of unix servers where you can get a free (or super cheap) shell account on. On this shell account you can use all the Linux / Unix tools you may be familiar with: For fast web browsing you can use w3m, elinks or lynx, for mail you can rely on mutt, pine and some other mail clients. Besides this, there is a whole ecosystem of BBS systems out there, a much more fitting environment for an vintage system. Some BBS systems can give you even interfaces for reddit or twitter, weather forecasting or the current news-headlines. If you really want to go "alternative" then you can look to get a Fido email address - or create a gopher hole on the SDF servers. The modern web has surely its benefits, but the rising numbers of resurrected BBS, gopher holes and plain HTML web sites are making a way better experience for vintage systems possible than the normal web. 5. File transfer ------------------ Ok, this is the last and probably easiest part: If you have an NetUSBee you can just use your Web browser to drop files to your Atari, but if not than you have still at least to more "interesting" options left: - If you have a Wifi modem based on Zimodem, you can just use the good old Z-MODEM to transfer files from- and to your Atari. If you have an additional Unix / Linux machine you can there just type the command "sz FILENAME --tcp-server" and you will be prompted with a TCP port to connect to. Now on the Atari side just open your terminal application and connect to your Linux machine via "atdSERVER-IP:PORT" and now you can transfer files over W-LAN. Who would have thought of this in 1986? - The hard way: After i had first installed my ST i was confronted with some sort of "Hen and egg" problem: I needed a terminal software with Z-MODEM support to transfer files to the Atari, but how to get it there? The problem with the Atari ST is, that it uses 3,5" DD Floppy Disks, that are rarely supported with USB Floppy Drives. So i had nearly no way to transfer the needed software to my machine. The only solution i found to "bootstrap" the Atari was to copy a program to a more common HD floppy, go with this floppy to my 286 PC (which had a drive compatible with DD floppies) and copy the files from there to the DD floppies for further use in the ST. ******************** UPDATE 23.06.2021 ******************** 6. Going professional --------------------- Somewhat over a year now has passed, for my private use, the ATARI is still great, now i tasked myself with a new little challenge: Can i really use this > 30 year old machine for my professional life? For the most part i am sure it will be totally unspectacular: Most of the things i do is write code and documentation, mail is already working fine... it think the best and most interesting part will be how the other people in the professional world will react to it. As a first impression: Last week i had the first meeting where i used my newly acquired ATARI Portfolio to take notes and file appointments. The interesting thing was: Nobody even thought this device could be 30 years old. One of the coworkers even thought it to be absolutely great to have such an 'mini laptop' instead of an smartphone or tablet for this purpose... so, the old is really new again...