Let's try surfing the internet with an older web browser.

[hawk2002]

Accessing Modern Websites from a Retro OS (OpenStep 4.2 + OmniWeb 3.0)
The screenshots below show OpenStep 4.2 running the OmniWeb 3.0 web browser accessing the website of Apple Inc.
(the company behind macOS, which can be seen as a descendant of NeXTSTEP) as well as browsing Wikipedia.




For many retro-computing enthusiasts and IT collectors, this has long been something of a dream project.

The world’s first website, created at CERN, is still accessible from any browser today as part of digital heritage preservation.

However, accessing modern websites from retro operating systems has traditionally been nearly impossible.

On mainstream operating systems like Microsoft Windows or macOS, it has still been possible until relatively recently using older 32-bit browsers.

But on retro operating systems—especially those whose companies no longer exist or whose development has completely stopped—modern web compatibility is usually out of reach.

That’s why I want to give credit to the developer who created this ~80MB program that makes it possible.
(The developer is Korean.)

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How I Did It​

In my setup:

• I installed RetroProxy on Windows 11
• I ran OpenStep in a virtual machine
• Then accessed the internet using OmniWeb through the RetroProxy server

This allows older browsers designed for HTML 3.2–4.01 era websites to load modern pages through a translation proxy.

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Proxy Server Program​

RetroProxy (GitHub):

https://github.com/DINKIssTyle/DINKIssTyle-RetroProxy

Legacy Web Proxy for HTML 3.2–4.01 Browsers (1995–2010)

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Prerequisites​

To build the proxy server, the following tools are required:

1. Go (programming language) version 1.18 or later
2. Node.js version 14 or later
3. Wails CLI

Install Wails with:
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest

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Building the Program​

Windows​

Run:
build.bat

Linux​

Run:
build.sh


The Windows executable will be located at:
C:\source_path\build\bin\RetroProxy.exe

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Browser Configuration​

Browser used: OmniWeb 3.0

Simply configure the proxy settings to point to RetroProxy.
My RetroProxy IP:192.168.123.103:8080
With the correct configuration, websites load without major issues.

However, do not expect modern multimedia support such as streaming video or audio.

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A Small Piece of Internet History​

As a small tribute, I also captured a screenshot of the world’s first website.

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Retro Operating Systems Tested So Far​

(Works with browsers that support proxy configuration. OS versions listed from ~1995 onward.)

• Windows 95 – tested by user
• Mac OS 7.5 – tested by developer
• OpenStep 4.2 + OmniWeb 3.0 – tested by user
• OS/2 (eComStation 2 + Firefox) – tested by user
• BeOS / Haiku (Firefox fork) – tested by user
• Solaris 11.4 (Firefox) – tested by user

Future testing planned on:

• IBM AIX