An original Macintosh 128K as web content management system

[mactjaap]

I was inspired by the setup of the 512Ke server of Niles of the site Macs, Appletalk, and FTP (http://web.me.com/nilesmitchell/Mac512k/The_Details.html) to work on a project with my Macintosh. Yes..an original 128K, unmodified not upgraded one. Produced in May 1984 with serial F42103PM0001P.

As always I would like to make something in combination with a web server. Until now my best effort in running a web server on an old Mac is on my Macintosh Plus. I managed to run a web server on a minimal System 7.0 disk with Httpd4mac running on a separate external disk drive. With the help of IPNetrouter the Macintosh Plus is running TCP over LocalTalk. See my article about this one on:

http://www.webservermuseum.org/?p=10

I can also run the web server with a external 40MB hard drive with system 7.0 on it and a DaynaPORT SCSI adapter.

I would like to use the Macintosh as a content management system for the web server on the Plus. On a Macintosh you cannot use any kind of file sharing so I knew that my only option to move files to the Plus would be MacTerminal or equivalent. This was the first telecommunication and terminal emulation application software program available for the Macintosh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacTerminal

So I made a setup to make this possible. First of all I needed a suitable null modem cable. All Macintosh printer cables are null modem cables, so I used one with a DB-9 to DIN-8 connector. On the Macintosh I have a external Apple 3.5 drive, so my storage total is around 1.2 MB. I use the internal drive to boot System 1.0 with Finder 1.0. On the external Apple 3.5 drive I have a disk with MacTerminal 1.1E and MacWrite on it. The settings I use on MacTerminal are:

Connect to other computer, 9600 Baud, 8N1. On the Plus I use Z Term and I use the setting Local Dial without telefone number to connect to the Macintosh. To send a file to the web server I use Xmodem protocol to send and recieve. The file is downloaded in the root directory of the web server. It is also possible to send the files back to the Macintosh.

If I want to edit the html files I use MacWrite. MacWrite can save as text only, so perfect for HTML.

I start Z Term and Httpd4mac from a mounted share on the Plus. On my Quadra or on a Netatalk share on my Linux box.

The only problem in the setup is that in the communication so characters are added to the html file. I’m not sure where this happens, but I guess it is a xmodem problem. The gibberish is added at the end of the text, so the html is still valid and a web page is shown. Any one who knows something about this problem is welcome to give a solution! For now I will xmodem my html file to a mounted folder on my Slackware Linux virtual machine with Netatalk on it. I can make a small cronjob which runs a shell script to clean the html of rubbisch. This wil probably use sed. The command will be someting like: sed -e ’s/<\/html>.*/<\/html>/g’

I send the file 128k.html to the Slackware mounted disk on the Plus and it is immidiatly visible on the webserver.

My next setup will be running a FTP server on a Mac 512Ke. In my next posting I will tell all about it.

 

[Mac128]

Terrific!

I am confused though, if your Mac Plus is the server connected directly to the Internet, what does the Quadra and Linux box have to do with anything?

Also, why transfer your files from the 128K using Xmodem on the Plus? Why not use MacTerminal on both? I use MacTerminal to transfer files between my OSX Mac and 128K all the time and the files are perfectly preserved, and function correctly in Mini vMac. Http://mac128.com/transfer

You might try keeping everything native Macintosh for your file transfers and see if that solves your problem.

 

[napabar]

Glad to see you liked my setup, macjaapt! Mac128 is probably right. Having the same Terminal software on both ends should help.

I actually got my 512Ke to serve webpages using EasyShare. Basically, I used the mounted 512Ke share as a file repository for Personal Web Sharing on my PowerBook G3. It worked fine, but didn't seem exciting enough to make a video about it. I've tried to limit my videos to actually getting content into the 512Ke; content the Mac 512Ke could actually open and use. There are ways to do this with Web Sharing, I'm sure, but I'm not versed on that stuff to well.

I look forward to you getting your experiment working! Hopefully some video to follow?

 

[mactjaap]

@mac128

Yes..it sounds confusing! I admid....

My Plus boots right now with System 6.0.8. This disk is nearly full.

The Plus connected to a LocalTalk network with an Etherprint bridge. And yes...it can connect to the Internet thanks to IPNetrouter.

I mount a map with Z Term and httpd4mac from the Quadra on it just to make it easy for me. On the Plus I can't start httpd4mac because I'm running 6.0.8. On the Quadra it is works fine. On the Quadra I can also mount the Netatalk disk and start httpd4mac from this map.

So I can connect 3 or 4 machines to each other to do this job.

I followed your advice to use only MacTerminal. And this works fine! For the test I use a disk with System 3.1.1 and Finder 5.2.

With MacTerminal only it works fine! Files are transferred without any problem and they stay as they are!

My next step in the Macintosh 128K as a content management system will be to transfer files to my Basilisk enviroment on my PC. I have an old serial cable with male DB-9 and male DB-9 on the other hand. With some sissors and soldering I will make it a Mac - PC null modem cable. Must be possible to transfer files too.

@napabar

I also like to test Single Share. This is a way to make your pre-sytem 7 Macintosh share files. But my first goal is a FTP server on the 512Ke

 

[Mac128]

Yes using Basilisk II you will be able to transfer files from a PC to a Mac the same way as outlined in the lInk I provided from OS X to a 128K. You will need to be running a compatble version of MacTerminal or as I do under OS 8.5, ClarisWorks which emulates MacTerminal 1.1 protocol. I find this is the simplest method to transfer files between an Mac if only because each computer knows exactly what to expect and the files will always transfer natively and perfectly.

 

[mactjaap]

To upload files to my PC with Basilisk on it I had to have a null modem cable PC to Mac. I didn’t have any of the solutions I read on the 68kmla pages or elsewhere on the Net. So I had to make one myself. I had an old serial cable DB-9 female – DB25 male and a DB-25 to DB-9 male convertor. But the cable was a straight true serial one. So I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the line in two. I soldered the two cables together on 5 points. The Macintosh 128K has a female DB-9 port. The hole on the top row on the left is 1 and the pin which goes in that whole I also call 1.

This is how to connect the wires:

Macintosh PC

3 5

5 2

6 8

8 5

9 3

So Macintosh side 3 and 8 are both connected to wire 5 on the PC side.

It worked without any problems. I connected my Macintosh to a Linux box and could use this one with a serial connection. So the cable was OK!

I connected the cable to my Windows PC and could transfer files to the Basilisk environment. First with Z Term later I switched to MacTerminal 2.2. I was able to transfer text files, but if I tried to exchange normal files in Xmodem mode, MacTerminal 2.2 (Italian version.....) bombed my Basilisk system.

So I switched to a program called Terminal and then I could transfer html files.

Now I can exchange html files to my virtual Mac and host them on my web server!

I have one open question. Does anyone has Claris Works with the MacTerminal functionality in it for System 7.6 that I’m running on Basilisk?