The Old Net
A proxy that serves archived pages as period browsers expected them, so a 1998 machine can still get online and see 1998.
Opens in a new tab. We do not control this site and it may have changed since we catalogued it.
How to get the most from it
The Old Net sits in Retro Web under Retro, filed as coffee break.
- Set aside five to fifteen minutes and give it your proper attention.
- Use a laptop or desktop computer — we file it as desktop only.
- It works with the sound off, so it is fine on a train or in a quiet office.
- No account needed — you can start without signing up.
- Go in expecting something nostalgic and clever.
About this category: Simulated TV channels by decade, old operating systems and the specific texture of an interface designed for a CRT.
Good for
- Filling a coffee break properly
- A trip back to the older internet
- Being impressed by a clever idea
- A quiet break at your desk
- Trying it with zero commitment
The Old Net: quick answers
Is The Old Net free?
Yes. The Old Net is free to use and needs no account.
Do I need an account to use The Old Net?
No. You can use The Old Net without signing up for anything.
Does The Old Net work on a phone?
Not well. We file The Old Net as desktop only, so open it on a laptop or desktop computer.
Is The Old Net safe for work?
Yes, we file it as safe for work. It also works muted.
How long does The Old Net take?
We file it as "Coffee break": Five to fifteen minutes of proper attention.
More in Retro Web
All 18 in Retro WebA shared Unix server where members publish plain HTML pages under their usernames. Started as an experiment in 2014 and still going.
Screenshots of thousands of websites from 1991 onward, arranged so you can watch entire interface conventions appear and die.
A parody desktop that gets progressively stranger the more of its programs you open. Start with the solitaire and keep going.
An operating system that never existed, built in a browser, with its own applications and a genuine sense of its own history.
Same mood: nostalgic
All nostalgic sitesA hand-maintained index of free books online, run out of Penn since before search engines were any good.
- 10 min
Millions of uploaded Minecraft skins plus an editor, which is the closest thing that game has ever had to a fashion scene.
- 2 min
- Desktop
Ripped sprite sheets from thousands of games, sorted by console — half reference library, half nostalgia trap.
Cecil Adams' archive of exhaustively answered daft questions, invented decades before you could just ask the internet.
- 10 min
Keep exploring
Category
Time and mood
Have a site of your own? Suggest it for Detour or browse the AltFTool backlinks hub.