I love retro computing in general, and despite never really using it back in the day, I have a soft spot for pre-OSX MacOS. It manages to feel retro without feeling clunky at the same time.
And I think it's that clunkiness that prevents me from doing more. Having to set up (or write!) a proxy to do something is, for me, a bit too much. This is doubly true since I don't have the programming chops to do anything like that, although with a more modern, networking-like language (thinking something like Go or C#), maybe it wouldn't be so bad?
Anyway, I thought very seriously about picking up an old PowerPC-based Mac from eBay awhile back, and really the only thing that stopped me was desk space. Well, that and the fact that a CRT would probably use more electricity than my work laptop, M1 Mac Mini, and two monitors combined :)
Have you seen any of the projects that seek to emulate/re-create OSes from that era in a web page?
interipelli
fwiw, if you do want to go eBay hunting again, a PowerPC G4 Mac Mini with the hacked up Mac OS 9 CD-ROM that's found on macos9lives works very well and doesn't take up much desk space.
It's not a beige box, but given enough of a suntan, it'll come naturally!
The biggest issue I had in setting it up was that it's suggested to get a DVI to VGA connector and plug in your monitor through VGA (either via an HDMI-to-VGA convertor box or natively), since the included Mac OS 9 display ATI drivers don't play as well with DVI as standard VGA.
Some models of G4 Mac Mini also have trouble with OS 9 audio, though I think the problem's limited to the fastest and most sought after ones. The slower the Mac Mini, the better.
I ended up getting my G4 Mac Mini through Mercari, where they're mostly regarded as slow Mac OS X machines. They absolutely rock on OS 9.
zampano
Oh cool, thanks for the info! I could wall mount it right next to my M1 mini :D
Is there anything specific you find yourself doing on the OS 9 machine rather than something newer?