On Monday, September 25th, 1995 - Evan Langlois wrote:
 
 RR> to  the Herc mono monitor on my PeeCee.  My only point in brining it 
EL>  Get a new PC.  I'm using a green mono monitor now (I'm calling from
 
Okay, I will order my new Pentium-133Mhz or PowerMac as soon as the
check from you arrives.  I assume it is in the mail?   :-)
 
EL>  my very own AT&T Mini-computer and a dumb-terminal as the root
EL>  console).  I'd rather use a green mono than a 4x7 font or some damn
EL>  flashing interlace screen.
 
Not me, but I'm using the 16 color ANSI for playing on-line games, so
the color is necessary.
 
 RR>  
EL> The point is that you can't scale fonts small enough to be readable in
EL>  ST LOW.  The best you are gonna get is a single custom 4x7 - choosing
EL>  a true-typ font just isn't gonna be readble.
 
Point well taken.  For example, most of my modeming is done on my Atari
800.  For all text-based on-line stuff that I do, I prefer readability
over other features, and it doesn't get much more readable than giant 40 
column characters!  :-)
 
I guess another idea for those interested in graphical web browsing
would be an ST medium mode for text and scalable fonts, and have the
program drop down to ST low mode for graphics.  My point is that any
sort of true graphical web browsing on the old ST is going to require
some kind of jumping around from one display mode to another.
 
EL> Actually, you CAN shut them off.  It's an option on every browser I've
EL>  ever seen.  Somewhere in your set-up on your browser, there is an
EL>  option to automatically display graphic images - uncheck it.  You
EL> will have to click on an image to see it once that option is turned 
EL> off. Trust me - graphics are optional!
 
I stand corrected.
 
 RR> computer club told me that the Atari 800 could not display 256 colors
 RR> simultaneously.  Then I wrote the assembly code that made it happen.
EL>  I must be getting old.  Hackery like that just doesn't impress me
EL>  any more.  I'm not intereted in doing hacks.  It normally refuses
 
I wasn't trying to impress you.  The point I was making is that doing
things on older computers are only impossible until somebody does them.
I seem to be talking about the technical issues involved in making them
possible, and you are discussing the reasons why doing them are
undesirable.  Believe me, I understand completely what you're saying,
and I agree it probably is VERY undesirable.  But "possible" and
"desirable" are two different issues.
 
If we're just talking about what's possible, we can concieve of all
sorts of convoluted hacks designed to run on a TOS 1.0 Atari ST with 1
meg.  Something that runs in Medium that calls up www pages, using HBIs
to extend the color palette of the text, then flipping to a low res
display for displaying graphics (maybe even a Spectrum512 type display).
The display screen could be toggled with the right mouse button or
something.  Now, I understand you hate this idea and don't find it
desirable at all (mainly because it would crash on your system, it would 
have to be 100% illegally written code), but do you agree that it is
technologically possible?  If not in 1 meg, then in 4?  With a hard
drive?  Are you saying TOS/GEM is too much of a roadblock, and that only 
MiNT and XWINDOWS can bring salvation?
 
EL>  Lets get the job done first - and then worry about optional hackery
EL>  to get things prettier.
 
I have no problem with that.  As I've said, this is an academic
discussion on my part - at this point I really don't care about web
browsing because of my perception that it is ungodly slow (and costs
money!)  All I'm discussing is the technical aspect of the possibility
of graphical web browing on a 1985 vintage machine for those brave
(insane) pioneers out there who would dare do such a thing.
Sure, I agree it's crazy.  It's nuts.  Much better to buy a TT or Falcon 
with an multisync SVGA monitor & 28.8k modem for such a thing.
But that fact doesn't change the reality that there are a lot more
people out there with older STs and STEs than there are Falcon owners,
and these people are just annoying enough to do the insane.  Given that, 
I say that graphical web browsing may be possible for them.  Annoyingly
slow, ugly, and impractical, but possible.  What do you say to that?
 
--- RiBBS v2.10        

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