Note the really old versions of NetScape (the v1 series)
 will not work on a modern machine (spelled with newer
"other" programs) since some of the original DLLs have
changed too much, and are not backward compatible...
(This version did not have e-mail built-in anyway, so
it would be a bad choice.)
So, before we started "running into trouble", we ran
NetScape 3.04 for a long time, and it was swell...

Just a few words of what I have had on a 486dx2-66:
1G-HD, 40m ram, Win95a, MSIE4, MSOE4, OutLook98,
MS Office97Pro. NAV 5 with NSW2000.
(I think we left off Access since we never used it.)
PowerPoint printed VERY slow, but that is a known
problem (with some partial workarounds).
It was on my home network and it "hosted" an HP 820Cse
that worked as a network printer, (no mean feat
in itself for this model...), plus several other printers
through the network to other machines, and LPT2...

I think it did very well until we added OutLook98.
That seemed to overload it, and was the beginning
of the end for whatever speed it had...

When the (third) hard drive went at 5 years five days,
we "replaced" the machine with a 233mmx,
and saw all the difference in the world...
(Imagine what a 1.5G-CPU would be like!)
But, as an old trusted machine that had always been
there, it was getting the job done...

If you are doing it for the experience, go for it...
It will let you make all your mistakes on something
that is not "necessary" for day to day stuff...

As long as you have some patience, (spelled slow),
it might serve you well.

Keep in mind that MS "might?" have abandoned
any more patches to MSOE 4 for security,
and the certificates in older NetScapes expired
long ago...
(I could be wrong about some of that, check it out...)
Remember, with older software, you will have to dredge
up all the Y2K issues and patches too...

PS: I got a 1GHD on EBay, and am toying with the
idea of "playing with" my 486 some more too...

                  Rick Glazier

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