System 8? We don't need no stinkin' System 8! Want to see a really old system in action? Raul Gutierrez was kind enough to send me a copy of System .97. If you want to download it feel free, but I take no responsibility for what might happen when you install it on your machine (It works fine for me....)
Anyone working with an older Mac owes it to him or her self to get a copy of BBEdit Lite.. This great freeware text editing utility will enable you to create HTML documents quickly and easily with the appropriate extensions.Those extensions and much more great software is available from the INFO-MAC Hyperarchive. It's searchable, and can be your key to productivity and fun galore.
Another great free text editing program to use with an older Mac is Anarcho. It's easy to use, takes up almost no space, and works great for basic projects.
A number of people have written looking for software for older Macs. This page has a nice collection of games and other sharware programs for black and white Macs.
Steven Cosper was nice enough to email me some of the original software that came with his 512k. If you're interested, feel free to downloadMacPaint, MacWrite,, and System 1.0. He also sent along a startup folder containing System 3.2, Finder 5.3 and Apple's HD20 init (necessary for hooking up Apple's hard drive to a 512 or Plus).
This kind soul has a wonderful collection of information and software for your perusal