I Made an Internet Time Machine

I put together a little device that lets me take my retro computers onto the retro internet.

Try out the Wayback Proxy:

Music Used:
Shawl Paul - Norma Rockwell (0:01)
Church of 8 Wheels - Otis McDonald (5:49)
Tiptoe Out the Back - Dan Lebowitz (8:23)
Some Other Place - South London HiFi (11:08)

Clips in Order of Appearance:

[RichardG]

Hey, WaybackProxy author here. Thanks for featuring my work. I had originally started working on it for the same reason you've gone through - there's such a magic element to the 2000s Web that I grew up with.

It really is a bummer that the Wayback Machine doesn't archive more complex Flash and Java stuff, but I did my best to try and fill in gaps in images and such.

With all this attention, I'm planning on making improvements to the proxy in the near future, like a Dockerfile for easy installation, and maybe a better API for the Time Machine to communicate with.

[thetruemrbeard]

If you provide a tutorial, I'd be really interested to try and build this little time machine! I work at a public library, and I think patrons would have a lot of fun if we had an "internet time machine" to try out.

[Dhips.]

Being on the internet from '99 to '07 was such a magical time.

[archdukegrand]

Well the shift from desktop browser design to mobile compatible design is what really destroyed 2000s era web design. That's why youtube got rid of custom backgrounds on channels. There are of course more factors than just that but I think it's a big part.

[chadtronic]

tap into the power, in all seriousness this blew my mind. This seems like black magic to me. I kind of want to build my own now.

[AntVenom]

In b4 10, 000, 000 views. This project is pretty incredible! It doesn’t have to be complex to be a well executed good idea.

I’m old, lol, but I lived through all of the eras of the internet you showed off. I feel like you hit the nail on the head with just about everything you had to say…

…including your dislike for… some executions of “material design”. I hated when that era began.

[eatsteas]

this is really cool. going through random wayback machine pages is already one of my hobbies. i miss 2000s web design

[matthewfanous]

20 years from now: “I built a time machine that reminded me of what it was like to be in VR for the first time. It’s not as interesting anymore now that we’re in it 24/7.”

[Pixelcraftian]

I love how old logos and websites look and really want that retro skeuomorphic look of web design to return because my god it looked so much cooler. This time machine is incredible!! Really wish that most websites worked or that the style would transfer over to current day technology, but hey, I'm not a smart guy and don't know how things work haha. Awesome video!

[CommodoreFan]

This really does bring back so many memories of going online in the 90's, and early 00's when it really was an event using dial-up. I met so many people during that time in chat rooms, some I'm still friends with, and even my long time girlfriend in the finally days of Yahoo chats. I'm for sure going to be looking into this with my Pentium 4 retro gaming system that dual boots 98se, and XP. 👍🏻

[NoReplyAsset]

12:54 "this program isn't VERY complicated..."
you just made an early 2000s childhood simulator, you may as well be a necromancer at this point... a technomancer. this was an incredibly engaging video, it really took me back. back to when I was 7 years old and looking forward to going to the school library to use the computer with the internet in it. however, gaming was forbidden on those computers because they didn't want kids hogging the internet for flash games. 😂

[michaellacock]

I hate modern web design with a passion. I hate pop-ups asking for cookies, ads in the middle if articles, and several javascript trackers slowing down the page. Early to mid 2010s web was the peak in my opinion. I however don't mind full page images when done right, like apples site lol.

[jerrud]

way, you're that small channel I used to watch a couple years back??? Damn, you've come a long way!! It's so awesome, u deserve it!! I still remember when u got that better mic

[col.johnson]

could not help but laugh when you said “all the way back to 1996…” as i remember my first experience with the internet back in the mid 1970’s on an IBM 1130. great video, hope you do a tutorial on the build. got yourself a new subscriber

[knowncupid]

That really took me down memory lane 😁

[YTPensionaru]

This brings out so many memories! I agree, there was something special and more personal about the web back in the day. I guess people were not really used to it yet.

[ananttiwari]

This did such a good job at emulating the entire feel, which is probably why it was your favourite

[susangz]

Watching this video brought out all the memories in an instant. From the first time i would hang around with dial up modem internet on websites like cartoon network online flash games, then slowly by slowly moving on to YouTube and the now the technology we have now. Brought a tear to my eye. Thank you for reminding how the journey of World Wide Web was in the early time and how it has progressed in the modern times.

[TheOldNet]

Wow, that knob to switch years is an awesome feature!!

[willtaylor]

This is really cool! Such a neat way to streamline the experience of using retro computer hardware as it was originally intended in 2022! It's very smart to hide the wayback machine behind a proxy