Encyclopedia software for older mac (system 6)?

[agent_js03]

I have more or less scoured macintosh garden and I wanted to know if anyone is aware if this kind of software even exists. An encyclopedia software (preferably with images) for much older mac, like system 6 and before, so that will run on older macs like the SE, and from floppy disks. Does anyone know if such software existed, say, in the 1980s? I am having a hard time finding any information on such software.

Thanks

 

[markyb86]

I know that kind of software became popular once cd-roms were more mainstream, due to how much data you could have. 

 

[tanaquil]

Yes, encyclopedia software only became possible with CD-ROMs. (Pauses to savor the idea of an encyclopedia with images that could fit on floppy disks.) Hard drives were tiny in those days too - 20 MB was standard on an SE and my System 6 Classic came with a generous 40 MB. 

CD-ROMs did exist in the System 6 era, but were rare and very expensive (both drives and media), and the average home user didn’t have access to them. I have found it a headache to even get CD-ROMs to work with my macs running System 6; the drivers and such weren’t built into the system and many apps we take for granted under System 7 don’t run. It is not impossible by any means but it’s a pain. Ironically using Zip disks under System 6 is easier although the CD-ROM was invented earlier.  

The only “encyclopedia” I can think of is a truly weird little app that ran under very early systems called Hippo Computer Almanac. It was more of a novelty than a resource; look it up on the Garden.  You could also look for HyperCard stacks on particular subjects. 

 

[tanaquil]

Filevision was another very early app (database) that could combine images and searchable data entries, although again the scope would be minute compared to a true encyclopedia. User-created Filevision databases were in vogue for a while on user groups, as HyperCard stacks were later. 

Filemaker (various versions) displaced Filevision early on for use strictly as a database but I don’t think it ever won the same user fervor for creating and swapping files for it, probably because FileMaker was more expensive to own.