MLA Forum Access from Older Macs

[turbo]

I may be stirring the pot here a bit, but do any of you access this forum from your classic Macs?  With all of the recent discussion about more modern web browsing, I was curious if anyone's ever considered building something like a telnet interface to this site.

 

[denodster]

I think given the forum's use of https it would be very difficult. system 7 today used to run a forum that was written witht he explicit purpose of working on system 7 machines, but he shut that down as it was becoming too difficult for him to maintain http://forums.system7today.com/

 

[VMSZealot]

There are two problems to solve - one is use of https (which is to be encouraged, but which can be solved easily by using a proxy server (see my thread on Old Mac Modern Internet).  The second is the formatting of the side - which is rather harder to solve.  I can think of ways that it might be possible to make the site display (experimentation required), but posting comments might be rather harder - even insoluble.  The best way to solve the formatting issue, and permit comments to be displayed, would be if css is developed for the site which provides for basic functionality using only basic HTML4 and minimal or no javascript.

I reckon that I can solve the first part.  The second part will require help from 68kMLA site admins - but I'm sure that they'll be accommodating and move heaven and earth to make this happen.  We all want more functionality from our old Macs, right?

 

[Cory5412]

It's not great but links or elinks (or linx?) in a shell works "fine" for viewing the text of posts, reading the forum (albeit: slowly) and writing short replies.

Right now, given that there are other things we need to do, this isn't officially on our radar. EDIT: Or, if it is, it's pretty low on the list.

I know that ulterior has done some work on this front, basically either simple database queries or a telnet interface, but at that point, just install linux on something, ssh/telnet in to that and use links.

 

[Blastoise1994]

I think it'd be interesting if we could somehow make a version of the forum that loads easier on our vintage systems, sort of like how some sites used to have mobile versions. Loads everything from the same database, but loads it into an easier to process shell, I s'pose? 

 

[Nathan]

That'd be nice, but how would you even begin? Using a third party software package rather than some hand-rolled stuff means you are constrained to their choices about compatibility. I don't even know where you'd begin for this site. It's readable in Classilla under Mac OS 9 and if I had a late version of MacOS running on something I'd try Clasilla there too... Anything before MacOS 8 seems like a lost cause in this specific context. Writing another interface that connects to the same database with read-only access seems like the best way to do that if desired.

I know that ulterior has done some work on this front, basically either simple database queries or a telnet interface, but at that point, just install linux on something, ssh/telnet in to that and use links.

The point is to use the vintage mac though, not to have a text interface for the sake of the text interface. Anytime the notion 'Install Linux' arises you've basically run right off the tracks. It might be sort of retro in it's own way, but Macs had compatible web browsers at one point or another.

 

[mactjaap]

Would be nice to read this forum on an old browser, but I see also the problems. We better focus in some general apraoch in this, like the Web Rendering Proxy or alternatives.

Maybe we could ask to allow plain http. That is technical not so complicated and a nice start. Old browsers cannot handle SSL nice.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Maybe we could ask to allow plain http. That is technical not so complicated and a nice start. Old browsers cannot handle SSL nice.

This was discussed years ago when the change was implemented. It's not happening. Security for everyone is more important than browsing support for ancient hardware.

 

[IPalindromeI]

Screw the web. Make NNTP Great Again.

 

[TheWhiteFalcon]

Hey, I found the thread: https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/22376-68kmla-not-usable-with-mac-os-9-anymore/

I'd imagine the forum staff have more or less the same feelings today as they did then.

 

[mactjaap]

OK. Didn't know it was such an emotional subject.

Maybe it is better to skip this subject and pass on to a more general approach: how to use Internet on old Macintosh.

Personally I think that a kind of "legacy proxy" is the way to go. You can use Netscape 1.1 but need a proxy.

The Web Rendering Proxy project is considering SSL possibility. That would be help a lot. I also like the idea to use old techniques like Telnet (and gopher) for web services.

 

[turbo]

I was actually thinking of something like a custom telnet/BBS interface that uses the IP.Board API on the backend.

 

[IPalindromeI]

Guys, Telnet's kinda lame. It's cool if you have no TCP stack and just a modem, but half the fun is using graphical dinguses that talk with simple and standard protocols to servers.

 

[mactjaap]

We now have four posts who handle a little bit about the same. Two are discussing what could be made, one is almost finished with a product (mozilla for PPC) and one is offering something; legacyweb.net. These are the posts:

Internet on older macs

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/30760-internet-on-older-macs/

Old Mac, Modern Internet

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/30767-old-mac-modern-internet/

MLA Forum Access from Older Macs

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/30806-mla-forum-access-from-older-macs/

Building First Mozilla for PPC (and maybe eventually 68k)

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/30826-building-first-mozilla-for-ppc-and-maybe-eventually-68k/

I posted that I would like to test legacyweb.net and I will start a new topic for it. Maybe more people would like to test and respond.

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/30827-testing-the-legacywebnet-project-use-modern-web-on-older-softwarehardware/