Internet Archive Adds Early Macintosh OS and App Emulators (macstories.net) 66
An anonymous reader writes: The Internet Archive has added a curated collection of Mac operating system and software emulators from 1984 through 1989. The Internet Archive already hosts browser-based emulators of early video games and other operating systems, but this is its first foray into Mac software. The collection includes classic applications like MacPaint, programming tools such as MacBasic, and many games including Dark Castle. Each app can be run in an in-browser emulator and is accompanied by an article that chronicles its history. It's fun to play with the apps in the collection and realize just how far apps have come since the earliest days of the Mac. It's also remarkable how many computing conventions used today were introduced during those earliest days.
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Re: Macintosh doesn't have apps! (Score:2)
The first version of the Macintosh System software had folders, just not folders within folders (due to a file system limitation that was swiftly fixed).
DAs were kind of like TSRs. But I don't remember stickies being among them until well into System 7, at which point they were ordinary applications.
Not all that remarkable (Score:2, Insightful)
It's also remarkable how many computing conventions used today were introduced during those earliest days.
What would be remarkable is if people actually acknowledged that most of those conventions existed well before the Macintosh. Instead, what we'll most likely get are a lot comments from clueless Mac fanboys who think Apple invented everything in the computer except the electricity.
Remarkable how much worse off we are today! (Score:1)
The remarkable thing about this older software is just how much more usable and sensible the UIs were then compared to the awful "modern" UIs we have to deal with today.
Just look at the SimpleText [wikimedia.org] editor that was commonly used on Macintoshes back in the day. Now compare it to a "modern" text editor UI, like that of GNOME 3's Gedit [wikimedia.org]. It's like night and day! The "ancient" text editor has a clean, sensible, intuitive and usable UI. The "modern" text editor is a dirty, jumbled, messy and impractical UI.
It's not
Re:Remarkable how much worse off we are today! (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're interested in Mac abandonware... (Score:3)
If you're interested in Mac abandonware, Macintosh Garden [macintoshgarden.org] is for you.
My favorite is Lunar Rescue [macintoshgarden.org] which runs in the Mini vMac emulator.
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Web browsers today have UIs that are worse than the early Mosaic and Netscape Navigator UIs.
That may be true, but having a web browser crash today is a rare occurrence. I'll take the cluttered UI over the numerous daily browser crashes from the old browsers.
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I just want sensible interfaces back.
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lol, just look how quickly you were downvoted by the fanboys! Even on Slashdot. It's pretty shameful.
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It's also remarkable how many computing conventions used today were introduced during those earliest days.
What would be remarkable is if people actually acknowledged that most of those conventions existed well before the Macintosh. Instead, what we'll most likely get are a lot comments from clueless Mac fanboys who think Apple invented everything in the computer except the electricity.
Maybe the Internet Archive could address this by including emulators for computers dating back to the ENIAC
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Existed, yes. In widespread use, no.
Sure, there were other OSes before it, but the Mac hardly used any of that existing stuff. There was no kernel, no scheduler, no file permissions. There was no command line, no virtual memory, no network stack.
People like to say Apple "stole" the GUI from Xerox, but they didn't get any code from Xerox. They had to write the Toolbox from scratch, and Apple invented a lot of things along the way.
Read Steven Levy's Insanely Great [amazon.com] if you want a portrait of just how revolution
Classic Mac stuff... (Score:2)
Do they have "Bill Gates Does Windows" screensaver?
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bPgIIpdpobk/hqdefault.jpg [ytimg.com]
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I'm pretty sure that the Woz is still alive, and actively posting to /. Mr. TheWoz, can you confirm????
So JavaScript can emulate a 68000 in realtime? (Score:2)
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Hopefully they're using webassembly, but even without it, I'm sure JS could handle it pretty easily on a modern machine. 68k is basically like a pocket calculator compared to modern CPUs.
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In its speed: yes.
In its opcode design/architecture? No!
Re:So JavaScript can emulate a 68000 in realtime? (Score:4, Informative)
Its runs in the client browser.
This isn't anything new, to be honest. You can get DOSBox, Amiga, etc. in a browser and all sorts.
https://js-dos.com/ [js-dos.com]
http://scriptedamigaemulator.n... [scriptedam...ulator.net]
A 68000 isn't that special in these terms,
Can I see old PICT files again? (Score:3)
And what's with the AC's bashing of Jobs and Woz. 2 of the first 4 posts are whining about Apple worship before anything goes up. If you're gonna whine, be a man (or a woman, or something) and get an account, so we can see who you really are. Or, at least, some reasonable facsimile.
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Deluxe Paint II under DOSbox/DOSemu will open them. Then you can do a screen cap and paste it into another program.
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Tried Irfanview with its plugins?
http://www.irfanview.com/main_... [irfanview.com]
(Says it needs Quicktime, but if you're that desperate to open them, it shouldn't be a burden, and certainly easier than trying to load them in an emulator in a browser and somehow convert them).
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This really makes me nastolgic (Score:3)
Cue Apple Lawsuit... (Score:2)
Cue Apple Lawsuit in 3.. 2.. 1.. Gotta keep those liars err lawyers in work, doncha know??
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Somehow archive.org gets away with a lot of stuff that most lawyers would tell you to stay far away from. I wish I understood their secret, possibly of a magical nature.
That said, IA is the most important library of its kind. And humanity is enriched by its continued existence. When IA gets shut down, we'll all lose history and culture that cannot be easily replaced.
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A library might be allowed to preserve stuff, but giving away free copies of in-copyright works to every visitor is a bit different. Wikipedia says "120 years after creation or 95 years after publication" for works under corporate authorship.
This includes at least the Apple Mac ROMs (you see them load when you start the programs), as well the advertised software itself, which they're going to have to contest need to be given away to all and sundry who visit as part of ... what? Fair use?
There's a point at
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Copyright is now effectively indefinite. After a few valuable properties slipped into the public domain in the 70's and 80's, they was a big push to make sure that major players don't suffer that again. Now you'll see the copyright get extended every time something important is about to expire. Congress will act quickly to preserve some stupid 100 year old cartoon, yet drag their feet on Medicaid. I suspect you only have to follow the money for the answers to that one.
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I wish I understood their secret
They're like a library. When it is non-profit and not in any way involved in competing with anything commercial, then its uses are inherently more fair.
Lawyers often tell people to "stay away" from things that are allowed, but would be expensive to defend. This is generally because they are things that are optional. But for an archive, they wouldn't tell them that. The same lawyer would tell them that they should stay within the real limits of an archive, and be prepared to defend those actions, because the
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They're like a library. When it is non-profit and not in any way involved in competing with anything commercial, then its uses are inherently more fair.
Teenagers pirating movies to watch at home for personal use is not-for-profit. Given that teenagers are broke they probably aren't competing with anything commercial as the alternative might to be find something else that is zero cost. And while I believe it is fair and reasonable to pay to see movies, I do firmly believe if piracy was impossible that people would see fewer movies.
Lawyers often tell people to "stay away" from things that are allowed, but would be expensive to defend.
This is the best answer I've heard. Thank you!
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Not-for-profit is a formal status that you apply for from the government.
That's why I talked about non-profits, not something general like "non-commercial uses." Non-commercial uses have more fair uses than commercial uses, but actual real-life, registered non-profits are also known as "charities" and receive substantial deference in these types of matters. They are presumed to be acting in the public interest. When they're also an archive, which is a type of library, they basically have the maximum possibl
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Cue Apple Lawsuit in 3.. 2.. 1.. Gotta keep those liars err lawyers in work, doncha know??
Idiot. All MacOS updates up to 7.5.3 where freely available for download.
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Cue Apple Lawsuit in 3.. 2.. 1.. Gotta keep those liars err lawyers in work, doncha know??
Idiot. All MacOS updates up to 7.5.3 where freely available for download.
Not so fast, cowboy. It's the "right" in copyright, which means Apple has the "right" to give it away for free for a day, a week, whatever, and also the "right" to stop and lock it away again if they want to. Anyway, the real jewel in the old Macs is the code in the ROMs. Mac and even Apple // emulators available on the web still wink-wink that you need to own your own old machine to legally have a "right" to the ROM code (that you can nonetheless find in bin form on the web) crucial to getting old Mac s
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If I give away my own ROMs to archive.org, and they make sure only one person at the time is using it, they are basically on safe ground.
The right to load a program into a computer ... cough cough ... emulator ... remains to the owner of the software, which is in this case archive.org.
That it is displayed via the internet is of no consequences at all.
Michael Steil... (Score:2)
Michael Steil... is that you?
LOL!
Risk for MacOS (Score:3)
Why? (Score:1)
I mean, it's nice that it's there, but DOS had such a huge impact in comparison to the tiny Apple user base. it seems rather ridiculous that they have done this. Are they just a bunch of Apple fanboys, or trying to piggyback on the fruit's recent popularity and trendiness? It's amazing how quickly people forget what terrible machines they were at the time. There's a reason Apple practically went out of business! Then again, I suspect all the iPhone-loving millennials never even knew in the first place
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I mean, it's nice that it's there, but DOS had such a huge impact in comparison to the tiny Apple user base. it seems rather ridiculous that they have done this.
Congratulations on the absolutely most stupid anti-apple screed ever written! You sir, make the anonymous coward's drivel sound like the writings of Einstein by comparison. They did it because they can.
To use your logic, we shouldn't write about Windows, only Android. It's called history, silly. and as much as it rises your blood pressure, Apple is a pretty important part of computing history.
Not that you would understand that in the least.
And We're anxiously waiting for your reply to prove my point
In a quest for historic accuracy (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: In a quest for historic accuracy (Score:2)
I started using Macs in the mid-late 80s and I never heard anyone say "app" until iPhones came along. However OSX used .app as a suffix for applications, so it might've started earlier. Not with me though; I hate those things.
Usually people just called them programs.
clean design (Score:3)
I mainly am filled with dismay seeing how bad modern UI have fallen after reaching a state of maturity. Now high IQ morons churn features, adding steps to operation, making commonly used things less accessible. Exhibit A, the chrome menu system...
Old stuff (Score:1)