# Silly oldOS thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208 "2017-09-13T04:20:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/1 "2017-09-13T04:20:51Z")
Posting from iCab, MacOS 7.5.5 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/2 "2017-09-13T04:24:46Z")
Windows 3.1 using Internet Explorer 1.something Windows for Workgroups 3.11 using Internet Explorer 1.x ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/3 "2017-09-13T06:38:01Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Windows 3.1 using Internet Explorer 1.something > Windows for Workgroups 3.11 using Internet Explorer 1.x Are these on VMs, and do they connect wirelessly to the internet? Or are you proxying them through the host system, which I would call cheating? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/4 "2017-09-13T08:36:20Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > Are these on VMs, and do they connect wirelessly to the internet? > Or are you proxying them through the host system, which I would call cheating? VMs, and their IP is DHCP’d to them from the host OS. In both cases the TCP/IP environment has to be set up properly in software. In the case of Windows 3.11 that meant finding drivers for the emulated hardware and installing it from virtual floppies. I don’t think either MacOS 8.6 or Windows 3.11 have drivers that would enable them to get onto a wireless network. Wired ethernet, yeah. They both think think of themselves as having either an add-on card (Win 3.11) or built-in (Mac 8.6) ethernet. The VM environment I use for Windows 3.11 can optionally let the guest OS directly negotiate through the emulated hardware (via the real hardware) with the external network environment to obtain an IP. The MacOS 8.6 is properly an emulator rather than a VM (it’s a PowerPC not an Intel environment) and that one doesn’t have as many fancy options. Internet access is via [slirp](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwju6YDG4KHWAhUENSYKHR9CCJcQFggqMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSlirp&usg=AFQjCNFB8YU_JD9pkdrg7wVTjTHlVOBsdw) . ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/5 "2017-09-13T09:34:15Z")
Is this about using old OS today? If not, I remember using cd/directory name (and similar command line prompts.) I also remember when the first Mac arrived in the UK and we programmers all gathered round to look at ‘icons’! I also taught company employees to use George 3 - which if I remember rightly used about 32K. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/6 "2017-09-13T14:15:19Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Is this about using old OS today? > > If not, I remember using cd/directory name (and similar command line prompts.) > I also remember when the first Mac arrived in the UK and we programmers all gathered round to look at ‘icons’! > > I also taught company employees to use George 3 - which if I remember rightly used about 32K. :eek: Well, it _started_ as a thread in which I posted here to the SDMB from within a couple old OSs. But that doesn’t mean no one’s interested in takes of yestertech! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/7 "2017-09-13T14:41:20Z")
Huh. I’ll have to see how badly SDMB renders and behaves in AmigaOS 3.9, using one of the three “major” browsers available. Still, if recent experience with other websites is indicative, I probably won’t be able to do much, because the browsers are that backward. (JavaScript handling in particular.) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/8 "2017-09-13T15:40:04Z")
Does it legitimately count as an old OS if it is still being regularly updated (Windows, Mac OS, DOS, etc) but you just forgot to upgrade for a few decades? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/9 "2017-09-13T15:43:20Z")
I have just tied a message to the leg of a homing pigeon that is now flying to Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/10 "2017-09-13T16:04:20Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Huh. I’ll have to see how badly SDMB renders and behaves in AmigaOS 3.9, using one of the three “major” browsers available. > > Still, if recent experience with other websites is indicative, I probably won’t be able to do much, because the browsers are that backward. (JavaScript handling in particular.) UAE? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/11 "2017-09-13T16:51:29Z")
I’m writing this post using Turbo EDLIN 9.3 for Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/12 "2017-09-13T18:44:57Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I have just tied a message to the leg of a homing pigeon that is now flying to Chicago. I used a pterodactyl and a stone tablet… ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/13 "2017-09-13T20:05:36Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I have just tied a message to the leg of a homing pigeon that is now flying to Chicago. Does it meet the [RFC 2549 standard for avian-based IP?](http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2549.html) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/14 "2017-09-13T21:20:25Z")
This site downgrades quite nicely on a lot of old browsers. It doesn’t need JavaScript to function. I’ve opened the site on a Kindle Gen 2, and its very limited browser. It worked, although I didn’t try to log in. I was more upset that Wikipedia didn’t work, since it (stupidly) forces HTTPS on everything. Even if you aren’t logged in. So no more [HHGTTG in those Kindles with Whispernet](https://xkcd.com/548/). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/15 "2017-09-13T21:52:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > UAE? Nope. Dog-stock Amiga 3000 with ASDG EB920 network card (Miami Deluxe network stack). I take old sk00l computing seriously. ETA: I do have UAE installed and running on a few oldish Windows boxes, but I have actual Amiga hardware, so emulation is a sideshow. Best reason to run an emulator (with appropriate hardware) is to write actual Amiga format floppy disks from disk image file (Catweasel Mk4 floppy disk interface card). To run the emulator-available software disk image files on an actual Amiga. Because old sk00l. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/16 "2017-09-13T23:34:44Z")
I’ve never owned an Amiga, never used an Amiga (for more than 15 minutes at any rate), and certainly don’t know my way around in it. But I’ve been curious for decades. It’s a desktop OS that, if the parent company hadn’t mismanaged things, might still be extant. And it’s different from MacOS, Windows, and the various permutations of Unix. I think however that UAE is not a good environment for a complete and utter newbie to _learn_ the Amiga. When something goes wonky I can’t tell if it is emulator or AmigaOS that I’m wrestling with. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/17 "2017-09-14T16:58:49Z")
[www.amigaos.net](http://www.amigaos.net) currently offers AmigaOS 4.1 for sale, so it is at least as extant as Mac OS, if not as popular. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/18 "2017-09-14T17:12:38Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > [www.amigaos.net](http://www.amigaos.net) currently offers AmigaOS 4.1 for sale, so it is at least as extant as Mac OS, if not as popular. Not compatible with unexpanded “classic” Amigas. Which is to say, anything actually made by Commodore, all of which are based on the old Motorola MC68000 processor family. (E.g., my Amiga 3000 has an MC68030 CPU.) That OS is Power PC only. PPC was an available 3rd-party upgrade for classic Amigas, but in aggregate not very common. It was also the CPU and system architecture for the few post-Commodore Amigas, but in my mind those don’t count. (I also don’t count Intel CPU Macintoshes as Macs, so at least I’m consistent.) AmigaOS 3.9 is as good as it gets for MC68K family Amigas. ETA: I get that much of the Amiga community has moved forward, and that part is much more current. But I take “old sk00l” very seriously. I still have my 1986 original Amiga (before it was distinguished from later models by being called an Amiga 1000). I don’t need to move forward; I think of these old Amigas as something like collectible cars, but my daily drivers are much more modern. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-oldos-thread/796208/19 "2017-09-15T23:23:21Z")
Well, I’m browsing SDMB with the aforementioned Amiga 3000, using the Ibrowse 2.3 browser. The board is recognizable, and aside from the slowness of the Javascript engine fairly usable. I expected worse; I’m pleased.