I think I did something good last week,in a way that's expanded my optimism about alternative ways of using the internet!

[Forgive me if I make any technical errors in the below; I’m passionate about computers and the old internet, but I’m far from an expert. If you are an expert on archaic networking terminology, please accept my outpouring of sincere love for the fruits of your personal interest as apologies for my ineptitude!!!]

So I’ve been messing around with a vintage 2001 iMac G3 for a while now (yes…computers released in the early 2000s are “vintage” now… the_future_is_now_old_man.jpg). I bought it a month or two ago, and had a lot of fun simply exploring Mac OS 9 and loading images onto its beautiful CRT screen. Unfortunately, I was clueless about how to actually mount disk images, a required step in order to install most of the abandonware available for free download online; special thanks to Macintosh Repository and Macintosh Garden! I finally made a breakthrough when I located MR’s FAQ section and figured out how to do it, but that’s not what this post is about.

Now that I was using the iMac more regularly, I also spent more time in Classilla, the most recently-updated (to my knowledge) web browser for classic Mac OS. It actually received its final official update just last year. While exploring Floodgap’s website (they host the servers for Classilla’s front page, and may have been involved in its development? I can’t remember, sorry), I found a door to a whole “new” realm of the internet: Gopher.

Please continue reading →