 |
 |
 |
 |
Reset00 |
|
|
|
|
|
OK! So Arachne can be installed on a 286
antique with 1 Meg Ram and a 1200 baud modem. The modem will be
slow and the computer will be mediocre with graphics turned off but this
would still be enough to surf the WWW without graphics or fetch your email
(as long as it contained no large attachements).
Most of you would own something a little faster and very, very, few of you would ever have seen such an old computer in the first place. Now if you DO own such an old computer and it is the only way to get yourself to the World Wide Web don't despair... You can still "connect" and browse the internet at decent speeds on the antiques! You can install ARACHNE along with some of the appropriate downgrade packages OR as an alternative, use one of the many non-graphical web browsers that you will find at FDISK.com. Another great place that covers just about the same stuff but breaks it down to computer size is the accessmasters DOS page...
Now modem speed itself determines the speed at which you can connect to the internet with any combination of PC/OS/Browser (Personal Computer / Operating System / Browser). Today's standard telephone line modem is 56,000 baud (56K). An ANTIQUE shop may be the only place where you may find a 286 computer with a 1200 baud modem; while a "Used Computers" parts shop may still have a 14400 (12 x faster) or a 28800 baud (24 x faster) modem installed inside a 386 PC. Uncle Bob's old computer probably has a 14.4 modem. A 33600 or 56000 ISA modem would probably be available at the second hand computer shop and would be faster. These modems are commonly referred to as fourteen four, twenty-eight eight, thirty three six and 56K modems.
When it comes to surfing with a graphical browser, the faster the modem, the better, providing the graphics card, the CPU (the Central Processing Unit of the computer itself) and the drive used for file swapping, can handle it. Now if either one can't, and they cause a general S-L-O-W down in speed of things, you simply tone down the amount of work to be done with the computer you do have -- surf the WWW in non graphical mode!.
Whether the slow down is caused by an old modem, an old CPU or difficulty file swapping on the drive, there will be a tremendous increase in speed if you tone down the graphics or turn the browser's graphics completely OFF. Arachne is a DOS Graphical Browser that can offer you the option of surfing with or without the graphics and yet offers the option of obtaining the images that you would like to see. The bulk of the work to be done by both a modem and a computer surfing the internet is in bringing the graphics to the screen. It is also, bu not to any great extent, a certain amount of work for the browser to render the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) of the web page. This can be seen in pages containing multiple complex table lay language...
For any type of a slow down caused by old or smaller tools, the solution is better management of what you do have up to the point that you can surf the net at a satisfactory speed. This can always be done. In fact, it was ALWAYS done before the HOAX of bigger is better...
You should especially take note of the following...
For Using Email, ANY modem/computer combination will do.
This website was made on a 486 DX50 computer - and sometimes less. I do my research and email with the first available computer I find. Sometimes a Pentium running Window9x sometimes a 486 (or 386) running Arachne/DOS.
Now small computers and modems do have some disadvantages but so do bigger computers... The biggest problems that I run into on Pentium computers running Windows and faster ADSL or Cable modems is the loss of control over my own computer. Huge hard drives and oversized multitasking operating systems coupled with faster modems, allow allot of parasitic programs to collect and run unnoticed in the background. These parasites use alot of resources and often bring the computer to a crawl speed if not a grinding halt thus perpetuating the MYTH that a larger computer is needed!
Many of these parasites come from the internet while other parasites are built into the brand name software that came with the computer. Because of this I have found that, up to a certain point, the smaller the computer and operating system, the better.
Parasite programs collect personal data on the hard drive and send it back (to the coportate) World Wide (Web). All the while, they allow more parasites to come and this uses up computer resources and slows down the computer.
Computers equiped with BOTH unmanageably large hard drives AND unmanageably large multitasking Operating Systems actually surf the web slower than smaller computers. When a parasite tries to move in and feed off of smaller computers multitasking windows, it is immediately noticed and removed quickly and this keeps the computer running up to speed. Single tasking 16BIT DOS operating systems cannot run two programs at the same time therefore NO PARASITES can run in the background. A faster modem on a smaller computer will run faster than the same modem on a bigger computer.
DOS alone is not capable of running programs or parasites in the
background. DOS and Arachne or a similar browser that runs a on 16BIT
(means DOS) operating system usually surfs the World Wide Web faster.
The following Treasure
link leads to a regular computer school that teaches it's students how
to optimize and use computers, and/or get on the internet with as
few resources possible ( a 1.44 Meg floppy disk!).
It is a truly an educational free site made primarily for those of us who are less fortunate and reside on the other side of the (tracks of the) digital divide. More is taught, on those few pages, in a fun learning environment than is taught in most college computer courses... And all of this in the name of eradicating poverty and the digital divide in third world countries and on the "other side" of town.
It now seems that the term Digital Divide, which I first saw
on that site, has itself been highjacked.
and is now being used by the social scientists/economic
engineers who live in the commercial district of the global village.
It is used as a "catch phrase" to sell you some digital product or other;
make you feel inadequately armed in possession of digital devices and
maybe offer you a free service while collecting your personal information
and habits .... Mind you, it is still being used, sometimes, to mean,
those people or nations that do not have access to large, latest fashion,
super (personal) computers.
Learn how to:
make a 1.44 floppy that will boot and lauch you on the internet from ANY computer at the Treasure section of the Computer School of Digital Divide. It teaches, among other things, how to installt an operating system onto a diskette along with a copy of the Arachne internet browser / email client. How to operate from a RAMdrive on a host computer without need of a hard drive or the pre-installed operating system. It also points to tools available on the internet to unlock the computer to be able to browse the internet from the floppy disk and use both the computer and the internet as the tools that they were intended to be. All from a single floppy disk!
Please feel free to link to the pages or download the zipped versions of
the site and re-post them elswhere. The zipped versions will also allow your
browsing the pages from your hard drive or floopy disk.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Expecting privacy on the internet is like expecting privacy in a public place!
