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Using an retro computer for daily work
A guide
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I. Why?
There are many reasons to use old tech in the modern world, some of
them relate to reducing waste, some to nostalgia and some to the need
for privacy. Even if its not clear on first view, but using a vintage
computer can really improve security: You will never be safer
concerning ransomware as on a system that is totally incompatible with
anything modern.
Whatever your reason for this adventure is, it brings its own
challenges and the opportunity to learn much about IT history and
possibly opens up new ways to using old tech creatively.
II. Usable systems
Even it's entirely possible to do your daily work on an Commodore VIC
20 i view an C64 running GEOS as the bottom
end for an reasonable comfortable to use system that can achieve most
of in point III mentioned tasks.
It is important to state a warning if you really want to use an old
computer in your day-to-day work: As with oldtimer-cars you have to be
prepared for a breakdown. If you really want to rely on old hardware you
better look after your system and maintain it properly. And of course:
Its better to have two sets of backups of your important files! The author
of this file DOES trust in his MFM hard disk, but he also has everything he
really don't like to see vanish through a sector going bad or a head crash
backed up on a set of floppy disks and as an ZIP file on a server.
However good your system runs for months, nobody will guarantee you that you
are not inbound for a fatal crash just a day before the end of the
deadline for your thesis or important report for your boss. So, be warned!
This paper is centered around (and created on) an Atari 520ST,
a system which is at least in the Authors mind totally capable of
doing most of 2020s tasks.
The actual setup of the in creation of this guide used system:
- Atari 520ST with 4 MB RAM and DD Floppy drive
- Atari SM124 B/W CRT Monitor
- Atari SH205 Hard disk with 25 MB storage capacity
- Epson LQ-500 dot matrix printer
- WifiRS232 "Modem"
III. Tasks to achieve
Every computer user may have his or her own objectives, but most tasks
a system has to achieve will fall in one or more of the following
categories:
1. Text creation and printing
2. Spreadsheets
3. Image manipulation
4. Internet usage (Web, Email and so on)
5. File transfer
Update 2021:
6. Doing professional business
1. Text creation and printing
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This is a task even an VIC 20 or comparable systems could do with more
or less ease, most systems even dating back to the late 70s have some
really good word processors available which can get your work done.
What should always be considered is the portability of the generated
files: If your boss is expecting to get some work via Email he will
not be totally happy if he get it in some totally exotic format.
I personally have settled on saving everything i possibly need to
transmit to somebody else either in plain text or as RTF files. The
lack of unicode CAN be a problem, especially if you life like me in a
country which uses some funny characters, but i found most of the time
a way to work with the limitations. Interestingly some rather ancient
format are supported even in modern software, e.g. it is possible to
import files written in Papyrus for Atari in libreoffice. But if you
want to "play it safe" i highly recommend using TXT or RTF.
For my daily work i settled on following software:
-PAPYRUS for complex text and everything that needs to have a layout
(Saving as RTF is possible)
-EVEREST for any plain text i just want to publish online or sent
someone via email.
2. Spreadsheets
----------------
Luckily, this is a part of office work i rarely need to worry about,
and one part that would be really hard, not because there is no
software available for retro systems, but because there is rarely
software to be found that creates spreadsheets that are COMPATIBLE with
anything a modern workspace uses. Even said that, as an Atari user i
would be lucky in this department: With "Texel" there is a
spreadsheet software available which can save its files in an old
Excel format which can even to this day be opened with modern day
Windows or Linux products.
If sharing your spreadsheets is not so important for you, then every
available software in this department is good to go. For most part i
use the following:
TEXEL - If i need to share files
VIPprofessional - for everything else
3. Image manipulation
----------------------
Image manipulation is a part where the usage of vintage computers will
find its limitations, if you plan on working on multiple megapixel
images, you will have to stick with a modern system. If you just want
to paint a bit or create some pixel art, or even retouch something on
smaller photos (and i am speaking of something in the 640 x 480 - 1024
x 768 px range), then, it is possible on some 16 Bit systems like
Ataris or Amigas.
On the Atari front i would highly recommend using "Vision", a good
image manipulation program which is maintained to this day.
4. Going online
----------------------
Ok, now we are where the fun really begins, how to go online on an 30+
years old machine?
Luckily, there are multiple options: The first (and easiest) option is
to purchase a NetUSBee Rom-Port network adapter and install Sting on
your Atari. When proper configured you can access FTP sites, write and
receive Email with native software (Marijuana Mail is small but pretty
awesome) and even browse the Web using the CAB browser. Buter there is
a small problem: Even if the Atari packs enough power for most
day-to-day tasks, the modern web will bring it to its limits and far
beyond.
After a bit of playing around with CAB i decided to cheat a
little and give the second option to bring a retro computer online a
try: I had an RS232 Wifi modem lying around from messing around with
an 286 Laptop. With the Wifi-modem and a good terminal software
(i use Starcall) you can not only "dial" into BBS systems, but also
log into any telnet shell.
Because, as mentioned, the modern web is really a bit overblown,
i now use mostly my shell account on SDFEU.org for everything web
related. SDFEU.org is the European brother of the America SDF, the
"Super-Dimensional-Fortress", a compound of unix servers where you can
get a free (or super cheap) shell account on. On this shell account
you can use all the Linux / Unix tools you may be familiar with: For fast
web browsing you can use w3m, elinks or lynx, for mail you can rely on
mutt, pine and some other mail clients.
Besides this, there is a whole ecosystem of BBS systems out there,
a much more fitting environment for an vintage system. Some BBS systems
can give you even interfaces for reddit or twitter, weather forecasting
or the current news-headlines. If you really want to go "alternative"
then you can look to get a Fido email address - or create a gopher hole
on the SDF servers. The modern web has surely its benefits, but the
rising numbers of resurrected BBS, gopher holes and plain HTML web sites
are making a way better experience for vintage systems possible than
the normal web.
5. File transfer
------------------
Ok, this is the last and probably easiest part: If you have an NetUSBee
you can just use your Web browser to drop files to your Atari, but if not
than you have still at least to more "interesting" options left:
- If you have a Wifi modem based on Zimodem, you can just use the good
old Z-MODEM to transfer files from- and to your Atari. If you have an
additional Unix / Linux machine you can there just type the command
"sz FILENAME --tcp-server" and you will be prompted with a TCP port to
connect to. Now on the Atari side just open your terminal application and
connect to your Linux machine via "atdSERVER-IP:PORT" and now you can
transfer files over W-LAN. Who would have thought of this in 1986?
- The hard way: After i had first installed my ST i was confronted with
some sort of "Hen and egg" problem: I needed a terminal software with
Z-MODEM support to transfer files to the Atari, but how to get it there?
The problem with the Atari ST is, that it uses 3,5" DD Floppy Disks, that
are rarely supported with USB Floppy Drives. So i had nearly no way to
transfer the needed software to my machine.
The only solution i found to "bootstrap" the Atari was to copy a program
to a more common HD floppy, go with this floppy to my 286 PC (which had
a drive compatible with DD floppies) and copy the files from there to
the DD floppies for further use in the ST.
Somewhat over a year now has passed, for my private use, the ATARI is
still great, now i tasked myself with a new little challenge: Can i
really use this > 30 year old machine for my professional life?
For the most part i am sure it will be totally unspectacular: Most of
the things i do is write code and documentation, mail is already working
fine... it think the best and most interesting part will be how the other
people in the professional world will react to it.
As a first impression: Last week i had the first meeting where i used
my newly acquired ATARI Portfolio to take notes and file appointments.
The interesting thing was: Nobody even thought this device could be
30 years old. One of the coworkers even thought it to be absolutely
great to have such an 'mini laptop' instead of an smartphone or tablet
for this purpose... so, the old is really new again...
