While it's cool that a 486 can actually play Youtube videos, having to watch them in a window the size of a postage stamp make it's pretty pointless. What version of Flash player are you running with this? I'm actually surprised Youtube still allows any version that still works with a 486 and Windows 2K to function. Usually if you fall a couple versions behind, all you get is a black screen and a message to upgrade your Flash player.

sliderider wrote:

While it's cool that a 486 can actually play Youtube videos, having to watch them in a window the size of a postage stamp make it's pretty pointless. What version of Flash player are you running with this? I'm actually surprised Youtube still allows any version that still works with a 486 and Windows 2K to function. Usually if you fall a couple versions behind, all you get is a black screen and a message to upgrade your Flash player.

Its not flash player. It is youtube-dl piped into mplayer.

Flash 7/8 doesn't work on youtube now and Flash 9 needs MMX

you'd think one would do an extension or something to embed mplayer2 over any youtube video by now or fork an old seamonkey to do exactly this

Lukeno94 wrote:

LunarG wrote:

Meant to write 2G of course...

EDIT: Also, I've not seen youtube mobile default to 144p at any point while having a mobile phone capable of playing youtube videos.

At my parent's place, I struggle to get a 3G signal, so it's not necessarily anything to do with how much money you have, and far more to do with what your area actually provides. Let's not forget that there are areas of the UK where you barely get ANY mobile signal, even now!

I realize that some areas have lesser mobile signal. I just normally don't use internet on my phone when I'm in areas with such poor signal. The question then would be... Do those areas lack broadband, and would you normally use a 486 to watch that 144p youtube stream at about 8fps?
Youtube and 486s are of of such different eras of computing history that it's pretty irrelevant whether it's possible to play youtube on the 486. It can play 90's scene demos, which is much more relevant and usually more rewarding to watch on such a system.

Do those areas lack broadband,

Sometimes. My area has limited cell coverage and the broadband frequently experiences severe speed drops.

and would you normally use a 486 to watch that 144p youtube stream at about 8fps?

That depends. A few months back my main system was down for maintenance so I used my 486-120 as my main machine all day.

It was sluggish but I was able to do everything I normally do on the internet and off.

Youtube and 486s are of of such different eras of computing history that it's pretty irrelevant whether it's possible to play youtube on the 486. It can play 90's scene demos, which is much more relevant and usually more rewarding to watch on such a system.

By the same token, it could be said that all vintage computing is irrelevant because of emulation. Or because newer programs/games can take their place.
But the fact is sometimes it is less about practicality and more for experimentation, tweaking, demonstration etc

smeezekitty wrote:

A few months back my main system was down for maintenance so I used my 486-120 as my main machine all day.

You're brave 😁

smeezekitty wrote:

But the fact is sometimes it is less about practicality and more for experimentation, tweaking, demonstration etc

Personally I agree with you, even if it's not practical, useful, whatever, it's still fun, and that's the whole point I think. I'm also a big fan of making old computers do stuff they were never intended to do or didn't exist when they were new.

Updated version with a better camera: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wl7rZMtjJE