[atomicbartbeans]

You know those indians who climb a tree and live in it for a several days, just so they don't take modern life for granted? I've always admired them. Not for the act itself, but because they strive to gain perspective. Instead of being caught up in the worries of day-to-day business, they take some time to view the world from above, taking a chance to truly appreciate life.

Today, I am going to climb the metaphorical Apple tree.

Having cleaned out my room this weekend, I did some poking around in the attic, and I happened upon my Powermac 6100. A sudden wave of Macintosh nostalgia came upon me. Images of keynotes past flashed before my eyes, along with fond memories of System 7, and countless hours spent in front of my old 6100. I had to bring it downstairs, I had to hook it up and get some more of that good old mid-90s Macintosh atmosphere.



Built in March of 1995, this Macintosh has a 60 mhz Motorola processor, 72 MB RAM, a 640x480 Apple Color Plus™ display, and (my favorite) a 14 kilobaud modem.

As I expected, the Mac booted without a hitch, and for the first time in years, I was greeted with a happy Mac face, not the bleak gray Apple logo of my iBook's startup screen. Within seconds, my good old system 7 desktop appeared. This was the point where I decided to take after the Indians... I was going to gain perspective.

The Challenge:
For 24 hours, I am going to shut off my iBook and use a 10-year-old Powermac 6100 exclusively. I will remain active (to the best of my abilities) here and on IM from the 6100, posting periodic updates to this thread as the day progresses.

What you see in the above photo is how Netscape 4.7 renders AppleNova (closeup). It looks like ass, probably because of the CSS and newfangled standards used on these forums. This is how I will post, and I will be online ~50% of the time (due to dial-up limitations) via a very old version of AIM. If you'd like to chat, I'll be on the screen name chsinmate, and I'll try to also be in the AppleNova chat room (assuming chat rooms are supported in this ancient AIM client).

So, all I have left are a few final preparations: burn a couple of CDs to play on the 6100 (mp3s take up too much processing power to listen and post simultaneously), copy over my buddy list (since AIM for System 7 doesn't automatically import it), and finally power off the iBook.

Here's to the crazy ones.

P.S. If anybody knows of some good games for System 7, please post them.

[GSpotter]

Originally Posted by atomicbartbeans What you see in the above photo is how Netscape 4.7 renders AppleNova

You might try out iCab. They seem to have a version 2.9.8 which runs from System 7.1 upwards ...

[atomicbartbeans]

Wow, a browser that renders AppleNova semi-correctly, and runs on system 7?

Needless to say, that's definitely being installed before I start my day of system 7 fun.

[Mugge]

I'm looking forward to hear how this plays out...

Have fun Bartbeans

[BlueRabbit]

As for game recommendations, check out the Oldschool Mac Gaming thread from a while back. Also check out The Macintosh Garden for downloads and stuff.

Some classic games include: Oregon Trail, Spectre, Lode Runner, Dark Castle, Glider, Marathon, Warcraft II, and Crystal Quest.

[Robo]

Yeah, um, good luck with that.

If Apple doesn't update the Powerbook on Tuesday, I think I'm going to start using my novelty 1992 Performa 200 in protest.

[Amadeus]

I owned one of those, but it is long since gone. Good luck with your Mac

[atomicbartbeans]

Sunday, 6:30 PM. Hour 0.

Well, my iBook is off, and my 24-hour period of 6100 use has officially begun. Gspotter, I tried out iCab, but it just took too long here, with all the CSS (about 6 minutes to load the main forum page). Thanks anyways man, but I think Netscape will serve my purposes just fine.

One thing I just can't get over is this ADB keyboard. I think the bottoms of the keys are cushioned of something, 'cause it feels like I'm typing on a pillow right now. At the moment, I'm playing around with the control panels and getting the system nice and comfy, so I might not post again for an hour or two, but I am signed on AIM. Please note that I have no idea if a .mac screen name will be able to communicate with me under the circumstances. I have tried it out with AIM screen names, though, and it works fine.

I'll keep you guys posted.

[torifile]

Don't you have school tomorrow? Or are you and the gerbil going to have a little more quality time together?

[atomicbartbeans]

Sunday, 6:58 PM. Hour 0.

Yes, I do have school.

And bob is sleeping.

And no, I am not Richard Gere.

And yes, thank you for asking, this computer is slow as hell.

[iThink therefore iMac]

Wow. This is definitely a crazy task...almost as crazy as using windows for a day

[atomicbartbeans]

Originally Posted by iThink therefore iMac Wow. This is definitely a crazy task...almost as crazy as using windows for a day

Sunday, 7:31 PM. Hour 1.

Dude, don't ever wish that on anyone.

I'm hesitant to try and go to Gmail. I'l either be pleasantly surprised that it works on a browser this old, or disappointed that I won't be able to check my email for another 23 hours.

[Batman]

Gmail will work, but only in its "Basic HTML" mode. Sounds like an interesting experiment. Which reminds me that I still have to ask good 'ol pops why he had to throw away the 1984 Macintosh.

Edit: Let me get this straight - you are pulling an all nighter on a 10 year old mac?

[GSpotter]

Just found the Web SE - A System 7 Simulation (made with Flash) for those who want to mimic atomicbardbeans experience

[atomicbartbeans]

Originally Posted by Batman Gmail will work, but only in its "Basic HTML" mode. Sounds like an interesting experiment. Which reminds me that I still have to ask good 'ol pops why he had to throw away the 1984 Macintosh. Edit: Let me get this straight - you are pulling an all nighter on a 10 year old mac?

Sunday, 8:34 PM. Hour 2

More of a half-nighter on a 10-year-old Mac. Hey, I have school tomorrow.

Hmm, Gspotter I wonder if I dare try it. After all, I do have flash installed here. A system 7 simulation running under system 7?

Well, it's been great talking to you all on IM tonight. Stop by and chat if you have a few spare minutes.

[BlueRabbit]

About the keyboard, the old Apple extended keyboards (the generation before the one you have) are really really awesome. Better than any other keyboard I've used, in fact. If you're at a surplus sale or something, you can recognize one because they are really huge.

[atomicbartbeans]

Actually, mine says AppleDesign keyboard on the bottom. But I still really like it.

Well I must get off the phone for a while (parents must make calls), but I'll be back a little later tonight.

[drewprops]

woof, my 7100 is up on a shelf in my room.... terrified to crank that beast up to see how it was configured. I once took it on a plane trip up to Memphis to do a job. It was carry-on. It was nuts. I seem to recall liking my keyboard but hating how often my mouse got dirty.... wait, I remember that I switched to that awesome Kensington 4-button mouse with chording. Bah, got rid of that one-button mouse right at the start and still had to endure years of Windows users asking how I could just use one button.

I remember one of the most fun things you could do was to look at the CDs that came with the magazines every so often. Those usually had awesome stuff on them.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by GSpotter Just found the Web SE - A System 7 Simulation (made with Flash) for those who want to mimic atomicbardbeans experience

While it's very far from accurate, I suppose that's a nice approximation for people who have never seen System <8.

Man. I really miss the simpler days. Apple did so many good things back then.

[709]

Man, I should really find a use for my Beige G3 300MT...that keyboard photo makes me pine a bit for that beast.

A dedicated Marathon/Doom machine? Hmm....

[InactionMan]

Play Maelstrom lots or else!

I still think System 7 was the best OS ever.

[Chinney]

...aside from OS X.

Those System 7 years, and many years before and after, were the years I was not on Macs. My own experience with the old Mac OS's (after about 1986, when I lost access to the Macs I had initially used), was limited to OS9 that came with my first iMac. I was not all that impressed with it (although still better than Windows at the time) - but found OS X to be extremely impressive, once they made it to 10.1. Still loving it and it is the reason I will stay on Macs.

So my question is, what was it that made those old Mac OS's - and System 7 in particular - a matter of such loyalty and fandom?

[Mac+]

Maelstrom was great!

But come on, System 7 the best ever ?! ... maybe for the Classic OS* but I LOVE OS X!

* I never used System 8 or 9 so I can't confirm.

[HezMah19]

Man, I think your crazy...but then again...

Sitting around me are, in order of what I can see:
>My PowerBook
>to my right: Power Macintosh 7220/200 and a Power Macintosh 5500/225
>to my left: 2 Power Macintosh 5500/225's.

those are the machines that work,
(the school is tendering them...for AUD$1.00, I have invested in one of the /225's.)
there's a few more /225's that i haven't tested yet, a Performa 2560/120, Macintosh Performa 580CD, another Power Macintosh 7220/200, and over in the new computer room, in a cupboard next to the old 433Mhz G4 Server, is an original G3 PowerBook, and an eMate 300 (with box and documentation)...
Ahh the Australian education system...we don't get rid of much, there's 30 G3 iMacs still in service running 9.2, and about 30-40 eMacs that are relatively new...interestingly, 2 of the /225's have what looks like a TV Tuner card...
and 2GB HD's!!!

I hope to take my "new" /225 home at the end of the week


EDIT: I should point out that its 2:17pm here...IM NOT ROBBING THE SCHOOL...

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Chinney So my question is, what was it that made those old Mac OS's - and System 7 in particular - a matter of such loyalty and fandom?

At the time, Apple was way ahead of the game in the GUI department. System 7 is still ahead of Mac OS X in some respects and that makes me sad because Mac OS X is so great in so many areas.

Let's look at the Finder for a brief example. How many years did it take Apple to finally get OS X's Finder to automatically update the desktop or the contents of a window when something changed outside of the Finder? That was never a problem in System 7. And how about windows remembering their settings? We didn't have hundreds of invisible .DS_Store files littering our drives back then and we didn't have to jump through hoops to get a tricky Finder window to remember its location and size. Tsk.

On a side note, it's good to see that Apple was smart enough to go back to System 7 design when it dropped the window borders for Mac OS X. It was a mistake to introduce them in Mac OS 8, as they caused many headaches for users who grabbed them and threw the window half offscreen because either they were trying to grab the scrollbar or trying to resize the window ala. Microsoft Windows.

Now, to the meat and potatoes.

Can you image not being able to causally switch between applications? That's what it was like before the MultiFinder. Multitasking was practically nonexistent. MultiFinder was an optional feature in System 6 that allowed the user to run more than one application at a time (besides DAs). System 7 integrated the MultiFinder to always be enabled invisibly. Fortunately, System 7 also brought us the ability to use virtual memory so we could run all these apps as once. Speaking of memory, System 7 marked the end of 24-bit memory space and made the push for 32-bit memory spaces.

System 7 brought us 32-bit color with an updated QuickDraw, but only in small doses in the GUI. Unlike the knock-your-socks-off rainbow that Apple gave us with Aqua, Apple kept System 7's occasional use of color in the interface subdued and non-distracting.

System 7 also brought us the customizable Apple menu with separate control panels and DAs. Deeper in the System Folder, System 7 also allowed users to organize extensions and control panels in separately functioning folders.

Aside from the jump to Mac OS X, I really don't think there's been another major OS release that has so greatly improved the system from the bottom to the top.

I wouldn't want to go back to System 7. The under-the-hood changes of Mac OS X are too great to give up (dynamic VM, preemptive multitasking, threading everywhere, POSIX-compatibility, multiuser, etc.), but it would be nice to see an alternative timeline of the Mac OS where Copland (the original followup to System 7) had not been a complete failure.

[Mac+]

Originally Posted by Chinney So my question is, what was it that made those old Mac OS's - and System 7 in particular - a matter of such loyalty and fandom?

Ground breaking UI concepts and the spirit of pioneering in terms of interface design do it for me. The engineers *really cared* about the user experience and how they could improve the OS ... in those days it seemed like they just weren't working for the man. The "Blue Meanies" helped put 7 ahead of Windows for a bit. "Pink" should have evolved to what we have now, but poor management let it absorb funds, yet flounder for so long. From that point, I did not upgrade my Mac and consequently lost touch with what was going on - the stagnant years, for both me and Apple! Made a conscious decision to jump on board with OS X and my first ever PowerBook and am very happy presently.

[drewprops]

Brad's reasons are technically compelling, but from a simple user perspective (meaning that I'm a simple user), you could really, honestly drag and drop. Working between apps in OS 9 was a joy and it's still hella fast when you play with one of those machines - especially finder tasks. labeling files with colors, making new folders, collapsing windows (I still miss Windowshade) provided incredible efficiency when working with lots of files (like with web design). Of course I would never go back NOW...

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Mac+ The engineers *really cared* about the user experience and how they could improve the OS ... in those days it seemed like they just weren't working for the man.

That's a great way of putting it!

Something about the older Mac OSes just feels friendlier than Mac OS X, despite X's glossy finish.

The "happy Mac" and Picasso-style Mac at startup...
The cartoonish bomb icon in error/crash dialogs...
The way they made every single pixel count...
The "Sosumi" and "Wild Eep" sounds...
The oodles of easter eggs like the "secret about box" breakout game...

[Mac+]

Brad - your first three points (along with the fonts ... maybe all of them) kudos goes to Susan Kare.

Just check out the Control Panel - no text necessary!

[Brad]

Yeah, I know. Susan Kare was the Goddess of pixel-pushing. Much of the stuff she designed is still the de facto standard everywhere for certain UI elements.