Other Cobweb sites: Low End Mac | Low End Living | Reformed.net

More on Internet at the Low End

L Victor Marks
2001.10.29

What is it with the Internet?

What is it with the Internet, and why are we so interested in running it on older machines? The best answer I come up with is this:

There are applications for computers that are so compelling that we call them "killer apps." From 1977 to 1984, the killer apps were primarily productivity software: word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and light BBS work. The notion that you could have a typewriter that allowed you to make endless corrections was revolutionary! Add a printer, and you were able to publish your own work, however plainly. From 1984 on, computers added graphical interfaces to the mix, and publication became even easier.

Today's killer apps are email and the Internet. Communication has become easier than picking up a phone or writing a letter on paper, because email is more casual than a formal letter and doesn't impose on the recipient like a telephone call. For whatever reason, we just don't give up at getting older machines on the Internet. There's even a Web server running on a Commodore 64 - some people are truly determined!

TinyApps

Anyhow, I've been scouring the Web for low-end PC resources. The first requirement of a low-end PC application is that it ought to be tiny. Our first stop is, appropriately, TinyApps.org. TinyApps.org organizes the applications into categories: Internet, Text, Graphics, System, File, and Misc. Many of the applications work only on DOS, and require some form of Windows, but the key is that all of these applications are less than 1.4 MB in size and are either entirely self-contained in one file or have an .ini file in the same folder as the application. None of this "installing files in multiple other directories outside the program directory and many excessive .dll files" nonsense. Tiny apps are truly tiny.

NewDeal

NewDeal is another interesting product. It's an Internet and office suite with small system requirements. NewDeal has minimal system requirements to operate. Those requirements are:

• 286 CPU or faster (386 recommended)
• CGA Display (SVGA with VESA compatible 256 color capability or recommended for Web access)
• 640 KB RAM (2-4 MB recommended for optimum performance)
• 9 MB free HD space
• DOS 3.3 or higher (MS-DOS, Caldera DR-DOS, IBM PC-DOS*)
• modem* (28.8 kbps or faster recommended for Internet access)
• mouse recommended

* NewDeal can also run as a DOS application from Windows 3.1, 3.11, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, DOSEMU in Linux, and from several versions of OS/2.

NewDeal consists of

• Skipper, a Web Browser
• NewMail, POP3 Email
• Web Editor, Web Page Creation Tool
• Web Chat, IRC Chat
• NewBasic, Create your own NewDeal applications with the Visual builder
• Geosafari Sampler, Play educational Quizzes
• NewWrite, Integrated WYSIWYG Word Processor and Desktop Publisher
• NewDraw, Powerful Graphics Program
• NewFile, Flexible Database
• NewCalc, Spreadsheet Program
• New Banker, Personal finance manager and check writing application
• NewDesk, File Manager
• CD Player, a feature-rich music CD application

NewDeal sells for $70 as a single bundle of operating system and applications. Bulk discounts can drop that as low as $25 per station for schools and other large installations.

Last Resorts

Moving away from the Internet (but not entirely), there is a collection of applications that are nice, including tiny file managers and other valuable utilities, sold at Radsoft.net.

And lastly, Last Resort is an application that isn't specific to the Internet, but it is useful nonetheless. Last Resort is an application that records your keystrokes to a file on your hard drive - if you have a disaster (crash, power failure, forget to save a file) you can look in the Last Resort keystroke file and recover what you typed.

As a follow up to my article on licensing, I invite you to read this essay, The Ethics of Free Software, by Bertrand Meyer. Meyer goes into detail on why the word free is a difficult one to use in reference to software.

<back to the original article>

Recent Second Time Around

• More on Internet at the low end, 10.29. More on free and low-cost operating systems and Internet software for older PCs.
• Internet access at the low end, 10.22. Operating systems and Internet software (including browsers) for XTs and higher.
• The importance of the software license, 10.09. In fact, you don't own anything other than limited rights to use the software.
• Meeting your needs with a low-end PC, 10.02. You don't need to have the latest greatest software and hardware to be productive.

Other Recent Content on LEPC

• Networking 101, Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 02.10. An introduction to ethernet, hubs, switches, routers, and wireless networking.
• Pixels and points, screens and paper, Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal, 02.06. What you see on the screen corresponds to what you get on the printed page. A brief history of points, pixels, and the changing face of computer displays.
• Deliver us from evil: Thoughts on computer self defense, Dan Knight, Low End PC, 01.16. "Should you have the right to take active steps to stop a computerized attack on your computer system?"
• Why we need anti-spam legislation, Dan Knight, Low End PC, 01.02. "Unlike rain, sending spam is a human behavior which can and should be covered by law."
• Tying up loose ends on bitty boxen, Buttercup, and the state of tech, Michelle Klein-Häss, Low End PC, 12.02. Mandrake Linux rocks, Buttercup gets a new motherboard, and the sorry state of the tech sector today.
• Good Idea Bad Idea looks at operating systems, Dan Knight, Good Idea Bad Idea, 11.27. Good idea: giving consumers a choice in operating systems. Bad idea: competing with Microsoft.
• Good Idea Bad Idea Looks at disk format confusion, Good Idea Bad Idea, 11.21. Good idea: increased capacity for removable media. Bad idea: too many formats to pick from.
• Good Idea Bad Idea gets on the bus, Good Idea Bad Idea, 11.15. Good idea: an industry standard bus. Bad idea: a bus nobody else uses.
• more in our editorial archive

Second Time Around ©2001 by L Victor Marks.  Low End PC (LEPC) launched September 2001. The entire LEPC site copyright ©2001-2003 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. Copyright of individual articles resides with the author. All rights reserved.
  Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Computers are like that. Please report errors to the webmaster.
  Letters sent to LEPC may be published at our discretion. Email addresses will not be published unless specifically requested. If you prefer that your message not be published, clearly mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  LINK POLICY: This site allows and encourages links to any public page, so long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking the linked page.
  PRIVACY POLICY: In brief, we don't collect any personal information unless you explicitly provide it.
  Low End PC is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft, Intel, or anyone else. Many company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are hereby acknowledged.
  For more details, see our Terms of Use.