The old LC 475 is officially internet ready! I’m running Mac OS 7.6.1 with the PDS ethernet card I picked up last year. The LC 475 doesn’t have onboard ethernet, but thanks to its LC III-style PDS slot, getting it onto the network is quite possible.

Finding a web browser that actually works is another matter entirely. I started with an old Netscape beta, version 0.96, which wasn’t particularly useful. Thankfully I had Wannabe, a text-based browser that isn’t the easiest thing to navigate but at least allowed me to download some other software.

Next up was iCab 2.99, weighing in at around 1.8 MB. Unfortunately, getting a file that size onto the Macintosh was proving rather annoying because I didn’t have a suitable floppy disc. Never mind, I eventually got another browser running and it was time to try a few websites.

Naturally, I started with my own website, RetroJunkie.net. It was loading, which was encouraging, although I apparently made the thing far too complicated for an old Macintosh to browse comfortably. It’s easy enough to maintain, but the poor LC 475 was having quite a time displaying it!

I also tried YouTube, which was probably asking a bit much. The browser was chewing through RAM without getting particularly far. System 7 Today worked considerably better, and there were plenty of useful downloads and bits of information for classic Macintosh enthusiasts.

I eventually tried Netscape Communicator 4.08 as well. Seeing RetroJunkie.net loading with the old Netscape animations and my Dreamcast logo was rather entertaining. Scrolling around the website was another exercise in patience, but at least it worked!

For light period web browsing it works surprisingly well. If I had to compare it with anything, browsing feels a lot like using one of my 486DX2-66 systems. Even Netscape is similarly slow, but I rather like seeing the old software running.

No one’s going to mistake this for a modern web browser, especially after watching it struggle with my own website. Still, I’ve got a 68K Macintosh on the internet. I’ll take it!

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