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Table of Contents
Steptail Wayback Proxy Server
The Steptail Wayback Proxy Server serves older (circa 90's) web browsers with pages from the era. It is the easiest way to browse the Internet as it was in 1996 through 1998.
You'll need a working Internet connection on your retro computer. This can be either with a direct network connection, or by using the Raspberry Pi Virtual Modem.
The server address at this moment is wayback.steptail.com and runs on the port ???? for both FTP and HTTP Proxy. This is a closed beta at this time.
We are in the process of archiving popular websites with an emphasis in having a complete experience with working website features. This means that the data downloaded may not be 100% exactly original, as I work to fix broken links and dynamic features such as web search. Some websites have been manually and painstakingly restored to their original state from various sources (including archive.org), while some sites do not exist on the proxy server at this time. If you have ideas culturally significant websites, I take suggestions!
Proxy server is currently in closed BETA ! If you would like to join testing, please contact.
Setup Instructions for Browsers
To begin, you will need to connect your older machine to your network. Then configure your web browser of your older machine to use the proxy server as outlined on the following section. The proxy server will serve pages from the alternate archive to your machine, and the user experience will stay original to the 90's experience. You will only need to type in an archived web address you would like to visit.
To begin your adventure, make sure the proxy server is configured, then direct your web browser to http://swp.inode.com/.
I will be running and testing the proxy server on various old web browsers, so you'll know to expect that these work.
Netscape Navigator 3.0
- Open Netscape Navigator 3.0
- Go to Options –> Network Preferences
- Open the tab Proxies
- Type in the proxy server address wayback.steptail.com under HTTP Proxy. Type in the port number ???? under Port
- Click OK, then OK again to close out of the Network Preferences window.
Netscape Navigator 4.0
- Open Netscape Navigator 4.0
- Go to Edit –> Preferences
- Under Advanced, open Proxies
- Select Manual proxy configuration and click on View.
- Select the first field and type in the server name of the wayback proxy (wayback.steptail.com) and the port ????:
Netscape Communicator 4.5
- Is tested and supported. Instructions will follow.
Internet Explorer 6.0
- Is tested and supported. Instructions will follow.
Other Web Browsers
One of the early goals of the project is to test and verify that the web will be accessible with at least the following web browsers:
Internet Explorer
- Internet Explorer 1.0 - 6.0
Netscape Series
- Netscape Navigator 1.0 - 3.0
- Netscape Navigator Standalone 4.0 - 4.08
- Netscape Communicator 4.0 - 4.8
Mosaic
