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Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

howtogeek.com

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Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#111

Post by einr »

bfuclusion wrote: post #98
zelos wrote: post #97

> Of course, it goes without saying that my ancient iBook can’t run Slack Out of interest, I wonder what the minimum spec to run an IRC client is?

A 386 w/5mb of ram. Or at least it was when I was doing so in 1995. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIRC

I see your 386 and raise you an 8088 at 4.77 MHz and 256K of RAM (or less, I'm not sure what the actual requirements of ircjr is if you want to push it): http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/IRCjr.html

Really, it's just text, it doesn't matter. Literally any general purpose computer will run IRC if it can do TCP/IP and someone bothers to write a client.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#112

Post by II2II »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #102
emersonrsantos wrote: post #55

George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write the Game of Thrones novels, he saves his work on floppy disks. Of course, he has a second computer for email and web browsing.

> George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write [citation needed] the Game of Thrones novels

There was a bit of a fuss over it a few years back. You can find mention of it in the Wikipedia article on Wordstar.[0] Robert J. Sawyer maintains a page on using Wordstar on modern computers.[1]

Authors have been seeking ways to avoid distractions for decades, and it goes well beyond pervasive connectivity. Sometimes the very features that aid them in their work can also hinder them. For example: computers vastly simplify the editing process, yet one of the earliest pieces of advice I saw was to turn off the computer monitor while writing in order to avoid editing prematurely.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordStar#Notable_users [1] https://www.sfwriter.com/ws-vdos.htm

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#113

Post by bjoli »

II2II wrote: post #112
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write [citation needed] the Game of Thrones novels

There was a bit of a fuss over it a few years back. You can find mention of it in the Wikipedia article on Wordstar.[0] Robert J. Sawyer maintains a page on using Wordstar on modern computers.[1] Authors have been seeking ways to avoid distractions for decades, and it goes well beyond pervasive connectivity. Sometimes the very features that aid them in their work can also hinder them. For example: computers vastly si…

I suspect it was a joke about the pace of which the books were written.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#114

Post by wtallis »

II2II wrote: post #112
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write [citation needed] the Game of Thrones novels

There was a bit of a fuss over it a few years back. You can find mention of it in the Wikipedia article on Wordstar.[0] Robert J. Sawyer maintains a page on using Wordstar on modern computers.[1] Authors have been seeking ways to avoid distractions for decades, and it goes well beyond pervasive connectivity. Sometimes the very features that aid them in their work can also hinder them. For example: computers vastly si…

I believe the [citation needed] was intended to humorously question specifically whether Martin is in fact still making progress on those books, not to question that he uses an archaic setup.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#115

Post by II2II »

SllX wrote: post #45
jeffbee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a word for such long-lived computers that aren't hobbies? "Retrocomputing" is people goofing around. A person who drives a 1995 Honda is probably not a "retromobility enthusiast". Maybe at some point in our future it won't seem weird to use a 25-year-old computer.

I think we could be there already if not for a few niggling details. The first iPad mini has just been vintaged by Apple, and my laptop won't be supported by Big Sur. There's nothing technically wrong with the laptop either, it's got max RAM, as much as the CPU and logic board will support, the drive, battery and wireless card are all replaceable, you can take out the optical drive and replace it with either one that…

The problem isn't so much maintenance or performance as interoperability. I used to enjoy old Macs (pre-OS X era models), but gave up on them when sharing data became a chore.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#116

Post by II2II »

wtallis wrote: post #114
II2II wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a bit of a fuss over it a few years back. You can find mention of it in the Wikipedia article on Wordstar.[0] Robert J. Sawyer maintains a page on using Wordstar on modern computers.[1] Authors have been seeking ways to avoid distractions for decades, and it goes well beyond pervasive connectivity. Sometimes the very features that aid them in their work can also hinder them. For example: computers vastly si…

I believe the [citation needed] was intended to humorously question specifically whether Martin is in fact still making progress on those books, not to question that he uses an archaic setup.

Ah. That joke completely went over my head since my knowledge of Martin pretty much amounts to him being the author of Game of Thrones and his use of Wordstar.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#117

Post by gandalfian »

jeffbee wrote: post #15
icedchai wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My uncle was using a 25+ year old PC running DOS and WordPerfect up until he passed away last year. I think he enjoyed the distraction free environment.

Is there a word for such long-lived computers that aren't hobbies? "Retrocomputing" is people goofing around. A person who drives a 1995 Honda is probably not a "retromobility enthusiast". Maybe at some point in our future it won't seem weird to use a 25-year-old computer.

Legacy?

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#118

Post by toyg »

cwyers wrote: post #76
emersonrsantos wrote: post #55

George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write the Game of Thrones novels, he saves his work on floppy disks. Of course, he has a second computer for email and web browsing.

Can you imagine how long it would be taking him if he was distracted by modern computing?

Yeah, GRRM is definitely not a poster-boy for productivity, lol.

Re: Why I still use an old PowerPC Mac

#119

Post by barbs »

emersonrsantos wrote: post #55

George R.R. Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on DOS to write the Game of Thrones novels, he saves his work on floppy disks. Of course, he has a second computer for email and web browsing.

Here's a video of him talking about it, for reference:

https://youtu.be/X5REM-3nWHg

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