I built a classic Macintosh text editor that allows users to do shared bidirection live editing with a web browser on a modern computer. Essentially it allows allows you to really quickly and easily share and edit text snippets on a classic Macintosh. I've tested the software on System 2.0 through System 7.6.1, but it should work on all PPC and 68k Macintoshes running up to MacOS 9.2.2 assuming they have a modem serial port available.
In addition to the github repository, I wrote up a blog post here: https://henlin.net/2022/10/02/Introducing-FocusedEdit-for-cl... outlining how to get up and running. Both the repo and the blog post have a demo gif to help explain exactly what FocusedEdit does as well as how it works.
If you have any questions or decide to try it out on your Macintosh or in an emulator, let me know! I'd love to hear about it!
by digitalsankhara on 10/2/22, 6:54 PM
I like your idea and I'd not heard of CoprocessorJS. If I had only a serial port for networking (e.g. the Mac Classic I wish I'd never parted with), I'd be tempted to emulate tail -f on the Mac side sending to the filesystem on the "remote" machine but not bi-directional. But, IIRC, AppleTalk to ethernet adaptors existed I think so maybe that's the route I'd go.
Writing on the Mac to a remote file for onward processing is cool, so have fun.
by kiawe_fire on 10/2/22, 5:45 PM
I love the classic box art, and love the concept of building new tools for beloved legacy systems like this.
by ireflect on 10/3/22, 1:31 AM
Consider adding an RSS feed to your blog! I tried to add it to my NetNewsWire and was disappointed.
by bitwize on 10/2/22, 7:06 PM
This is a nice little utility that supports a conjecture of mine: Powerful modern computers can enhance the utility, and extend the useful lifespan, of old computers.
by bananamerica on 10/2/22, 4:03 PM
I guess I have to be that guy: Emacs have a mode/Browser addon combo for that :P
by akkartik on 10/2/22, 3:34 PM
Why do you call this bidirectional? It doesn't look like you can edit in the web browser and pick up the edits inside the Macintosh emulator?
by akkartik on 10/2/22, 3:44 PM
What is the goal? Is it to make using the classic Macintosh more ergonomic in a modern world?
by gandalfff on 10/3/22, 1:22 PM
Any way to run this on an iMac G4 700Mhz, running MacOS 9.2.2?