VMSZealot
Well-known member
I'm doing a bit of development which might interest users here - and not just users of old Macs either. The problem that I'm trying to solve is making the Internet, and specifically the Web and Email, available to old Macs - many of which can't do ssl secured email or browsing.
There are solutions available, but they're kludgy, and they may not work on really old machines. I want to remove the kludge, and make email and the web available (relatively securely) on all vintage machines - regardless of whether they're ancient Macs, 8088 DOS PCs, Amiga, ST, or any other machine with an email client.
My solution is a gateway application running on a Windows / Linux / macOS / whatever modern OS you like. The best bet, I think, would be a Raspberry Pi (or similar) since the power requirements are low, connected to your Mac of choice using Ethernet or SLIP.
It's not entirely pie in the sky either. Code has been cut (C++), and progress is being made, on a cross platform server to get old Macs accessing the Modern Internet.
Whether it gets finished or not depends on several things. How much time I can muster for this project, and how much interest there is. Comment here on whether you think that this is a fools errand or a worthwhile endeavour.
There are solutions available, but they're kludgy, and they may not work on really old machines. I want to remove the kludge, and make email and the web available (relatively securely) on all vintage machines - regardless of whether they're ancient Macs, 8088 DOS PCs, Amiga, ST, or any other machine with an email client.
My solution is a gateway application running on a Windows / Linux / macOS / whatever modern OS you like. The best bet, I think, would be a Raspberry Pi (or similar) since the power requirements are low, connected to your Mac of choice using Ethernet or SLIP.
It's not entirely pie in the sky either. Code has been cut (C++), and progress is being made, on a cross platform server to get old Macs accessing the Modern Internet.
Whether it gets finished or not depends on several things. How much time I can muster for this project, and how much interest there is. Comment here on whether you think that this is a fools errand or a worthwhile endeavour.