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Old Computer Challenge

iMac G3
PowerPC 500MHz
512MB RAM
OpenBSD 7.2

Feb 22, 2023

I decided to install OpenBSD on the iMac so that I could connect to the web, send e-mail, and post on Mastodon easily. Mac OS 9 is old enough that it can't do the same thing out of the box. Plus, I think installing a modern OS on this thing was also pretty appealing to me.

It was surprisingly straightforward and not much different from the experience of installing OpenBSD on other computers. I guess the biggest thing is that the iMac boots from an actual CD instead of a USB stick! Wild. I burned a CD with the installer in it, inserted it into the iMac while holding the option key, then ran the installer. I really hope I still have the option of reverting it back to Mac OS 9 one day!

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble with running graphical programs on this thing. I got X11 running, but the windows for Netsurf and Claws Mail are all empty. Perhaps it's an issue with the GTK toolkit? I couldn't tell. So for this computer challenge it looks like I'm stuck with a text interface. It's a little daunting, but I know there's a lot that you can do in the terminal. Fingers crossed!

I got to set up the app called Toot which is a Mastodon client. I can read posts and follow threads, but I haven't tried posting yet. I also got to set up the Alpine mail client which is working pretty well with my account on Fastmail. I can't get it to save my password though so that's annoying. I'm also using Lynx to browse the web which is really useful when you need to look up copy-pasting from inside Tmux.

Finally, I'm writing the process here by connecting to rawtext.club. Stay tuned!

Feb 23, 2023

I installed cmus to play some music, but it looks like the speakers on the iMac aren't supported. Fortunately, plugging in my headphones worked well enough. _Buti nalang._ Now I can listen while I use this machine. Changing the volume using the keyboard doesn't seem to work, but running `sndioctl app/cmus0.level=0.7` prevents my eardrums from exploding.

I'm finding that I like Links more than Lynx for browsing the web. Feels more intuitive to me. Maybe it's the menu bar at the top that's reminiscent of the GUI land that's absent from this machine. I used it to log in to Pinboard.in, and I got to read some of the items in my reading list. I listened to music while I was reading of course. Look at me multitasking.

I wish there was a way to put this iMac to sleep when I'm not using it. Booting up takes a loooong time. I don't want to leave this thing on all day. Mac OS 9 at least supported sleep. For now, whenever I want to use the iMac, I press the power button and then walk away for a bit.

Feb 24, 2023

I previously thought that I can only use text interface on this machine because Netsurf and Claws weren't working. But I tried other programs, and they're working just fine apparently! I installed the IceWM window manager to get a familiar-looking desktop and then I installed Links+ browser which is the graphical equivalent of Links. Now I can surf the information highway and see images at the same time!

Feb 26, 2023

I found myself being more and more comfortable in the terminal, so I decided to back to using the text interface exclusively. It's much faster on this old machine anyway.

I couldn't figure out how to play my .m4a files in cmus, but I eventually found a package called cmus-ffmpeg. I restarted cmus, and now I can listen to more audio files! That was easier than I expected.

I'm finding myself going back and forth on whether I should continue to using OpenBSD or if I should revert back to OS 9. On the one hand, OpenBSD lets me to use the internet without having to worry about outdated encryption stuff. On the other hand, I'm struggling with the small amount of packages available on this architecture. I'm content with OpenBSD I think, but I can't shake the feeling that I can do more on this device.

It might be fun to try writing small programs in here. Maybe I can finally learn some Common Lisp and see what I can come up with? Seems that the Practical Common Lisp is perfectly readable in Links.

hi@jagtalon.com