So I thought I'd be clever and make this post from the iMac I just finished working on... I was able to type the post and everything before the web browser decided to eat everything I'd written :\ Anyway, my friend was given an old iMac (Rev. A 233MHz G3, 96MB of RAM) and didn't even know if it worked, so I offered to have a look at it. A clean installation of Mac OS 9.2.2 later, and the thing was actually running alright! Unfortunately, the latest compatible version of a Mozilla-based web browser is 1.2.1 (from 2002), and the only OS 9 web browser that's still maintained is iCab. Neither is particularly awesome in conjunction with the new Blogger interface, it seems. Anyway, all said and done, the iMac is an almost-competent web browser, desktop publisher, and CD burning machine... With a dim display. It was a fun little learning experience (my first pre-OS X Apple installation) that kept me occupied this morning.
In other, much more exciting news, I bought a SEGA Nomad!!! Finally! I'd wanted one since they first came out, and I just happened to see one in a shop yesterday. It was a little over-priced and had a few minor scratches on it, but I didn't care; I had to have it. This acquisition inspired me to go and pick-up the over-priced SEGA CDX I saw at another shop a few weeks earlier, but when I got there it'd been sold... Prolly for the best ;) They did, however, have a whole new selection of Saturn accessories and games! I bought an analog controller (new, but not sealed, in box), Fighting Vipers, a mis-priced Virtua Cop 2 ($6.99 CDN!), Dark Savior (sequel to the Genesis sleeper hit Landstalker), and... EARTHWORM JIM 2!!! My love for the first two EWJ games runs deep, but I've always held-off on getting them in hopes of finding the best versions of each... Which would be EWJ Special Edition on SEGA CD and EWJ2 on Saturn. Well, that's one down.
Finally, I was just playing Texas Hold 'em on XBOX Live, and I was down a little over $100 when the table started to clear-out... Which was strange because one guy had just gone all-in with almost $1500. I'm confused... Were they being nice to me? Did I get disconnected? Regardless, my system saw me as the last player still at the table, so I got the pot :)
6 comments:
The nomad looks cool, but what I think you really need is one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_TeraDrive
. . . except that they're ridiculously rare and the last one I saw on eBay sold for over a thousand dollars. Some day I will have one.
As far as the old Mac & web browser thing goes, there doesn't seem to be a great solution for people running a pre OS X system. Try accessing the mobile versions of sites instead (the ones intended for use on cell-phones) since they're usually scaled back and made of bare-bones html.
(Example: mobile.msn.com/hm/)
Wow! I don't think I'd ever even heard of that thing before! At first I was wondering what the hell they were thinking putting a 286 in there, but looking at it as a home game development unit and not as a general purpose PC, it makes sense. I'll keep an eye out for one for you.
As for the OS 9 web browsing situation, I've decided to keep IE 5, Mozilla 1.2, and iCab 3 on, as each browser seems to have varying degrees of success with various sites :) Actually, I just explained the situation to my friend, and she said I could just keep the thing... My first Mac! This is a momentous occasion! :)
Hotmail is presently a major issue for classic Mac users. A very recent change in the design of the service has rendered it incompatible with IE 5.2 for Mac, which may have been the last browser for old Macs capable of accessing it. Sometimes I long for the days of plaintext goodness and unquestionable compatibility, then other times I just say: screw it, flashiness and rich media for everyone!
Gmail is, thankfully, still compatible :) Sure, it downgrades a lot of the fancy features and trimmings if you're using an unsupported browser, but it's still functional.
I went over to Windows Live Hotmail's regular site with the latest OS 9 compatible versions of IE, Mozilla, and iCab, and none of them worked (though Mozilla 1.2.1 did allow me to log-in and see my control panel, it wouldn't let me view my inbox).
Rich media's nice 'n all, but the sad reality that Flash is more or less a standard has me shaking my head in disgust... So inefficient!
Flash is fine to be embedded somewhere in a page for video/animation - it just shouldn't be the sole interface / medium for content. Sometimes I'm just amazed when I see a video advertisement on a site, remembering back to the earliest banner ads and seeing how far it's come, or comparing today's flashiness to the former novelty of animated GIFs.
Good point :)
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