As regular readers are aware, I enjoy spending time logged in to a few personal favorites of the myriad telnet bulletin board systems that are presently online and serving as discussion communities for their users. As often as I can, I use one of my vintage systems to “dial” in and read the latest gossip rather than a modern Mac or PC. I use serial-to-WiFi bridge devices to make the process simple and as clutter-free as possible.
Another “modern day” (if you can call it that) use of these vintage systems I like to engage in is keeping an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) instance open on this or that system to glance at across the room and occasionally wheel my chair over and chat a bit on said system. (I hope you didn’t learn about IRC on TV…) This pursuit is less well served by the aforementioned serial-to-WiFi bridges given that many of the systems on my desks lack a proper IRC client. If I want to use such systems to IRC, the best way to go, from my perspective, is to telnet into my always-on desktop Mac and launch my go-to IRC client, the terminal-based irssi, which works quite well as accessed from a remote VT100 terminal. And, nearly all of the systems in question have VT100 emulation supported by a several software terminal emulator programs such as ProTerm on my favorite vintage IRC system, the Apple IIe to my left.
For years (and on many different systems) I would achieve this by utilizing a USB-to-serial adapter on the Mac and running a serial cable from the vintage system in question to said adapter on the Mac. But it was a cumbersome process. And, several OS updates ago Apple redid the USB stack in macOS and rendered the adapters I had on-hand inoperable. To get around this I setup a Raspberry Pi connected via WiFi to my network, specifically to serve as the host system for the remote terminal, as it maintained support for my adapters — it worked (video), but it was a configuration I was never really happy with.
So, I headed to the Apple II Infinitum Slack channel and asked if it was possible to setup a listener on the desktop Mac to allow a vintage system equipped with a serial-to-WiFi adapter to “dial in” to the Mac and be granted a wireless terminal connection. It turned out, it was.
I learned that in a few simple steps you can setup a listener macOS daemon that will allow an incoming telnet connection to a specified port and present a shell session with a login prompt where you can login and execute terminal commands. When I do so, I’m usually there to launch irssi and connect to an IRC server, but other commands work nicely, such as the system monitor top, if you want to keep an eye on how things are doing when fullscreen apps are hogging the displays. (Another nice terminal-based IRC client is WeeChat, by the way.)
I currently have this arrangement up and running on my 2022 Mac Studio (M1 Max) but I originally set this up on the 2017 5K iMac (Intel Core i5) — it will work on either Apple Silicon or Intel-based systems. Here’s how to do it.
If your Mac doesn’t have a static IP on your LAN, it’s a good idea to configure your router to assign it one so that you’ll know what IP to “dial” up. I’ve configured my router to assign the Mac Studio the static IP address 192.168.1.150 on my LAN.
Now it’s time to install the required relay / bridge utility, socat. There are several ways to achieve this. If you use Homebrew, as I do, then you can simply issue the following in the terminal:
brew install socat
Next, the listener is a .plist that needs to be loaded as a daemon. The file I am using, com.retrogeeks.bbs.plist, was shared with me on the aforementioned Slack channel. Here it is in its entirety:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.retrogeeks.bbs</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/opt/homebrew/bin/socat</string>
<string>-</string>
<string>EXEC:"/usr/bin/login -p",pty,setsid,setpgid,stderr,ctty</string>
</array>
<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
<dict>
<key>TERM</key>
<string>vt100</string>
</dict>
<key>SessionCreate</key>
<false/>
<key>Sockets</key>
<dict>
<key>Listeners</key>
<dict>
<key>Bonjour</key>
<false/>
<key>SockProtocol</key>
<string>TCP</string>
<key>SockServiceName</key>
<integer>6666</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>inetdCompatibility</key>
<dict>
<key>Wait</key>
<false/>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>As can be seen, the daemon sets up a listener on TCP port 6666 (edit the port # as you see fit) and presents a login prompt to any connection established there, using VT100 terminal emulation (edit the emulation as you see fit). The path here to socat is in the standard Homebrew install location — if it’s elsewhere on your Mac, edit the string accordingly.
You can move the .plist from your user directory to its intended destination by issuing the following (and entering the root/admin password when prompted):
sudo mv ~/com.retrogeeks.bbs.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons
To register the daemon with launchd, issue:
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.retrogeeks.bbs.plist
This should have you up and running to allow a remote vintage system equipped with one of the serial-to-WiFi “modems” out there (I use the WiFi232, several others are listed on my BBSing resource page) and a standard terminal program to “dial in” (via telnet) to your Mac using its IP and port number, à la:
ATDT192.168.1.150:6666
And everything will stay nice and put … and listening … after a reboot, as well.
Something that I had to work around after setting this up on the new Mac Studio is due to the shell I’m using: Z shell. In 2019 with macOS Catalina, Apple moved to Zsh from Bash as the default system login shell, and it seems that despite the emulation indicated in the TERM environment variable, Zsh is a little cavalier about outputting fancy prompt characters that are more aimed at an xterm than the comparatively basic VT100. As such, I was seeing characters that ProTerm on the Apple IIe wasn’t able to translate.
To get around this, I added the following code to the top of /etc/zprofile, which is a script that executes for all users when a login shell is presented.
# Added to facilitate remote login from simple client (WiFi232)
if [ _$TERM = "_vt100" ]; then
exec bash ;
fiThis simple conditional tells the system to present the Bash shell, rather than Zsh, to users logging in with a TERM type of VT100. (If you changed the emulation in the .plist, change the emulation above accordingly.) Problem solved.
[UPDATE – July 2023]: After about six months without connecting to the Mac from one of my vintage systems, I connected and found that I was once again seeing the aforementioned characters that my terminal in VT100 mode could not decode. Looking around the shell config files on the Mac, I found that a recent macOS update ( I’m currently running Ventura ) overwrote /etc/zprofile, and so I had to add the above bit of code back in. That solved the character issue upon connecting, but none of my Homebrew binaries were in the path. To solve this, I created the file ~/.bashrc and placed the contents of ~/.zprofile within it:
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"All this done, I was back in business. [ /UPDATE ]
Whatever the reason to login to your modern Mac from a vintage “terminal” across the room, it feels like a great way to exercise your systems of olde. I hope this guide is found to be of help for those interested in setting up such a configuration.
Nice job! I just love the fact that you can “dial in” to your modern Mac from your IIe.
ATDT! It occurs to me that AT/DT would be an excellent name for techie tribute band.
You are off the leash.
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Blake,
Very nice. Good work. Thanks for detailing the .plist for use with SOCAT. Tagging in the login command is very clever. Using SOCAT is a neat idea, as although MACOS now allows remote login over the network in System Preferences, it appears it will only present a SSH secure shell and that leaves out our Apple II’s.
I’ve been using a serial getty (as you USED to do) login from my IIgs with ProTERM 3.1 to an older Mac running OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) for over 10 years and it has done a great job for me, but I’ve got a new Mac Mini on order and I’ll be changing my setup to stay away from the serial stuff on the Mac side. In order to fine tune my serial setup with the getty, I had to use special gettytab entries and added login stty commands and I’m not up to doing that much work again.
You presented a great idea, but I’ll think instead of using the Wifi modem like you did, I’ll buy one of the inexpensive serial to ethernet hardwire adapters (with RTS/CTS) that allow you to place them in ‘client’ mode and are then pointed at a specific IP address and port. The only serial will be on the Apple II side, and I imagine I’ll need to make a special cable, but that’s OK.
We’ll see how it goes. BTW, I installed rzsz on my old Mac and can Zmodem files back and forth between the Apple IIgs and the Mac at 57,600 baud. I’m hoping that I’ll still be able to do that over SOCAT.
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This article really highlights the charm of keeping vintage systems alive! I love that you found a way to make your Mac work seamlessly with older technology. I remember setting up a similar connection years ago and the sense of nostalgia it brought me when I could access my old files. It’s fascinating how communities like the one on Apostate Verity keep these discussions going and help with troubleshooting. Your detailed steps are sure to inspire others to dive into retro computing. Thanks for sharing your journey!
Using a serial-to-WiFi bridge is a neat way to preserve the character of a vintage terminal session while avoiding a desk full of adapters and cables. The important practical detail is to document the connection settings before changing anything, since older systems can be less forgiving about baud rate, parity, or flow control. A small configuration checklist can make the dial-in process repeatable across different machines.
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This is such a cool setup! I love seeing vintage tech repurposed in creative ways. It reminds me of how some artists use old hardware for digital art tools to create unique glitch effects. The idea of dialing in from an Atari ST feels nostalgic yet refreshingly modern.
Honestly, I’ve been overcomplicating my vintage setup for years by sticking to physical USB-to-serial adapters and dealing with all those messy driver issues. reemplazar fecha en foto Seeing how you use a daemon to listen for telnet connections on a specific port totally changed my perspective on how to get my Apple IIe talking to modern hardware.
Connecting a modern Mac Studio to a vintage Apple IIe feels like trying to teach a Victorian aristocrat how to operate a space shuttle. It is honestly so real how we jump through these hoops just to see a terminal prompt on an old green phosphor screen. EditTextImage’s free tier Watching an M1 chip handle a telnet session for hardware that predates the internet is like using a particle accelerator to toast a single slice of bread. It is totally overkill but I lowkey love the vibe of it. The way you have everything tucked away in a daemon is clean, though getting the plist permissions right always feels like voodoo magic to me.
Using the terminal via an older machine is honestly such a vibe, it really brings back that cozy aesthetic of actually feeling like you’re part of the network rather than just browsing it. I totally get why you’d want to keep an irssi session running on a dedicated machine like that, though I’d push back on the reliance on telnet for everything. edit text in images online Even on a local network, I’ve found that sticking to plain telnet can get a bit flaky if there is any packet loss, so I usually prefer wrapping it up if the vintage hardware allows for it. That said, getting this running on a modern Mac Studio is a hilarious contrast that I absolutely love.
honestly, the bit about keeping an irssi instance open on a vintage machine to glance at from across the room is such a mood. i used to mess around with various serial-to-usb bridges back in the day, but it was always such a pain when the drivers would break after a random os update. the idea of just offloading the connection to a daemon on the mac studio instead of relying on extra hardware is lowkey brilliant. заменить текст на скриншоте it feels so much cleaner to just fire up a vt100 session and have it ready to go whenever i feel like hopping on the terminal.
That said, I’m not sure I’d fully agree with relying on telnet for this in 2024, even just over a local network. cambiar la fecha de una captura de pantalla While the nostalgia hit is real, those vintage systems are often sitting on local segments where security can get a bit sketchy if you aren’t careful with your port exposure. Plus, dealing with the Zsh shell quirks you mentioned can get pretty frustrating once you start trying to do more than just run a basic terminal-based client like irssi.
Man, this is so real. I’ve been running a dedicated Raspberry Pi just to bridge my old systems for years because I thought I absolutely needed a physical middleman for the serial connection. I honestly believed the Mac wouldn’t play nice with those vintage terminal signals anymore after the updates to the USB stack. Seeing you just set up a listener daemon on the Mac itself makes me feel kinda silly. pic text editor I was so convinced that I had to keep that extra hardware overhead, but turns out I was making it way more complicated than it needed to be. Reading about the plist configuration finally clicked for me, and now my desk is gonna be way less cluttered without that extra pi sitting there.
The idea of just firing up irssi on my old machines by dialing into the Mac Studio is honestly such a vibe. I spent way too long trying to get those clunky USB-to-serial adapters working back in the day before they just stopped playing nice with newer macOS updates, so seeing a way to use a listener daemon instead is pretty brilliant. Lowkey love that you can keep an eye on top while your main screen is busy with other stuff. It really makes the retro setup feel like part of the modern workflow rather than just a dusty display piece. Edit text in image with the same font. adn the fact that it survives a reboot is the cherry on top for someone like me who forgets to save their configs half the time.
Man, seeing someone else actually using their vintage gear to hop into an IRC session on a modern Mac brings back such fond memories. I spent the better part of last winter trying to get my old terminal to talk to my desktop setup, and honestly, the serial-to-WiFi bridge stuff was a total headache until I stopped overcomplicating the connection side of things. replace text in images It’s so satisfying to just glance across the room and see irssi running on a screen that’s older than most of the people I work with, tbh.
Getting a modern Mac Studio to talk to an Apple IIe feels a bit like trying to teach a jet engine how to operate a spinning wheel. It’s honestly wild that you can just bridge that massive generational gap with a few lines of code. Trying to force vintage hardware to behave on a modern network usually results in a total headache, but this setup makes it look smooth. AI image generator I remember messing around with serial cables for ages, and this approach is lowkey a lifesaver for keeping the desk clutter-free while still getting that satisfying retro terminal experience. It’s like bridging the 1980s and 2020s through a tiny little pipe, and seeing the login prompt pop up on an old CRT is just pure magic.
man, seeing this brought back so many memories of me messing around with my old apple iie last winter. i spent an entire weekend trying to get a stable connection going and honestly felt like a total wizard when the login prompt finally popped up on that tiny monochrome screen. one API for all AI models this is so real though, having that terminal session ready to go just by typing a simple command on vintage hardware is such a satisfying feeling. i remember the first time i launched irssi this way, it felt way more rewarding than just opening an app on my laptop. the way you laid out the daemon setup is super clear, way better than the headache i gave myself back then trying to hack together a workaround.
This is so real, honestly. I totally get the appeal of having a vintage machine running an IRC client in the corner while you work. I did something similar with a spare terminal setup, but I always found that managing the terminal sessions via telnet could be a bit finicky depending on the specific vt100 emulation quirks of the older hardware. nanobanana pro tbh, while using socat is super clean for a persistent listener, I usually prefer keeping a dedicated screen or tmux session active on the host machine so I dont lose my scrollback history whenever the connection drops out.
Setting up a listener like this is honestly such a nostalgic trip, and getting an Apple IIe to handshake with a modern Mac Studio is a vibe I never thought I’d see. While I totally get the appeal of using a terminal-based setup for IRC, I personally find that the latency on some of these older wireless serial bridges can be a bit hit or miss during heavy chat sessions. MiniMax H3 API For me, the real bottleneck usually ends up being the terminal emulation itself rather than the connection method, since some of those older programs dont quite map all the control codes perfectly.
Honestly this brings back so many memories. I remember spending a whole weekend last winter trying to get my old Apple IIe to talk to my newer machine, and it was honestly such a headache dealing with those finicky USB-to-serial adapters that kept dropping connection. ai video generator prompts The way you described using that listener daemon to handle the VT100 emulation is exactly what I was looking for back then. It makes using irssi on a vintage rig feel so much more native than relying on those clunky external bridges. I lowkey miss the sound of an old modem handshake, but this setup makes the transition feel seamless enough that I dont even mind the lack of screeching.
Man, this brings back so many memories. Last year I spent a solid weekend trying to get my old hardware to talk to anything modern, and it was honestly such a headache. gemini image generator I kept wrestling with those finicky USB adapters until I just gave up on the physical cables entirely. Reading about your setup with the daemon listener and port 6666 is honestly so real, especially for someone who still wants to keep an IRC client running on an older machine just for the aesthetic of it. It’s wild how much effort we put into these retro setups just to see a terminal prompt on a vintage monitor. It feels like such a victory when it finally pings back.
Reading this takes me way back to the days of fumbling with modem configurations, honestly such a blast from the past. I totally get the appeal of using a vintage machine for IRC, it just feels more immersive than having another browser tab open. Though I’d push back on the idea that these setups are always “clutter-free” once you start factoring in the sheer amount of cables and adapters involved, it usually turns into a total birds nest behind the desk pretty fast. AI Album Cover Generator Still, using a real VT100 terminal session to monitor a modern machine is a flex I can really get behind.
brought back so many memories reading this. i spent a good chunk of last winter trying to get my old commodore 64 talking to the local network and it was such a headache before i finally got the terminal emulation sorted out. honestly, seeing that familiar login prompt pop up on a crt screen feels like pure magic, even if it is just to check irc. the bit about setting up a daemon to keep it persistent is smart, i definitely wasted way too much time manually re-launching things back when i first started tinkering with this. AI Album Cover Generator its such a satisfying way to actually put those vintage machines to use instead of letting them gather dust on the shelf, totally worth the effort.
Trying to get a modern M1 Mac to talk to an Apple IIe feels like teaching a quantum physicist how to use a stone tablet to do long division. Honestly, the way you bridged these decades together is impressive. It’s like watching a majestic, high-tech spaceship get hitched to a covered wagon just to see if the horse can still trot at warp speed. I used to wrestle with those temperamental serial adapters for hours until they eventually just gave up on life. ai generated thumbnail for youtube Its funny how we go to such ridiculous lengths just to see a login prompt on an old glowing phosphor screen, but that little hit of nostalgia is worth every bit of the configuration headache.
I have spent years struggling with USB-to-serial adapters and annoying hub setups just to get my old gear to talk to my modern Macs, tbh. I always assumed the only way to bridge these worlds was physical cabling, so seeing that you can just set up a daemon to listen for telnet connections like this really blew my mind. Gemini Watermark remover I was convinced my vintage systems were destined to be isolated islands, but now I realize I was making it way harder than it needed to be. Honestly, the idea of just using a listener for a shell session is so elegant and feels so much cleaner than my old mess of dongles.
Getting this kind of bridge working on a modern Mac Studio is honestly such a satisfying project, and seeing that login prompt pop up on an old Apple IIe never really gets old. I’ve gone down similar rabbit holes to keep my vintage gear connected, but I’ve always found that relying on a dedicated daemon like this is way more stable than keeping a terminal window open manually. remove text from picture However, I’d push back on the idea of just forcing VT100 for everything; sometimes when you’re dealing with different terminal emulation settings, the formatting on modern command-line tools can get a bit wonky.
Seeing that Apple IIe setup specifically using irssi really hits home for me. I’ve spent way too many nights trying to get serial-to-WiFi bridges to play nice with older hardware, but the idea of just running a listener daemon on the Mac side to bridge everything is honestly such a cleaner approach. remove people from images tbh I never even considered that approach for keeping an IRC session alive, but now that you mention it, using the terminal-based irssi from a vintage machine sounds like the absolute perfect way to spend a weekend afternoon. It’s pretty wild how well those old vt100 terminal emulation programs hold up today when you give them a modern shell to talk to.
Honestly, this takes me back to when I spent an entire weekend last winter trying to get my old terminal-based irssi sessions running on a shelf-queen system. I used to rely on these messy USB-to-serial adapters that would just flake out every time there was a major OS update, it was super frustrating. Seeing how you set up the listener daemon to handle telnet connections makes me realize I really overcomplicated the whole process back then. ai obejct remover online free Ngl, watching the login prompt pop up on a screen from the 80s while connected to a modern Mac Studio is such a cool vibe.
This is a super cool way to keep the old hardware relevant, honestly. It’s wild to see a modern M1 Mac Studio effectively playing the role of a BBS host for an Apple IIe. I get the appeal of using those serial-to-WiFi bridges to bypass all the cable clutter, but I’ve always found that the latency over local WiFi can be a bit hit-or-miss depending on how congested the 2. image upscaler for printing 4GHz band is in my house. Sometimes it feels like you’re fighting the network stack just to get a clean character echo, which can take the fun out of the terminal session.
This is such a cool setup, honestly. Getting that classic iron back on the network via telnet is the kind of project that makes this hobby so much fun. stunning ai image generator I’ve done something similar to keep an irssi session running across multiple old machines, but honestly, I think pushing it through a launch daemon is way cleaner than just leaving a terminal window open indefinitely. Though, I’d push back on the vt100 emulation choice; depending on what specific terminal software you’re running on the vintage side, I’ve found that using ansi emulation sometimes handles the screen redraws a bit smoother when you’re actually inside the chat client.
Getting my vintage Apple IIe to chat with my Mac Studio via telnet feels a bit like teaching an old dog to perform quantum physics. Honestly, watching those ancient terminal characters crawl across the screen while the M1 Max does all the heavy lifting in the background is just pure magic. Trying to force these disparate eras to shake hands is usually a recipe for a headache, but you made it look surprisingly smooth. Swap Clothes in Any Photo Free It really is like trying to plug a 1920s telegraph into a modern fiber optic cable, yet somehow it actually work perfectly. This is so real, I spent the whole evening just staring at the login prompt feeling like a retro wizard.
honestly, reading about running irssi on a vintage machine like an apple iie brought back so many memories. i spent hours tweaking terminal settings just to get that perfect vt100 emulation, and seeing you link it all to a modern mac studio is wild. there is something so satisfying about the contrast of using a modern setup to keep the old hardware relevant. ive been looking for a way to ditch the extra pi hardware i have cluttering my desk for this exact purpose. AI to Real Photo Converter the way you set up the listener to just pop up a login shell is pure genius and makes total sense for hopping into a chat session without fumbling with adapters.
This is such a cool way to bridge the generational gap in a home lab. I’ve been doing something similar to get my old terminals talking to modern hardware, but honestly, I usually find that the terminal emulation quirks are where most of the frustration kicks in. Getting VT100 settings to play nice across different baud rates on the vintage side can be a total headache, though I suspect you’ve got yours dialed in pretty well by now. 8K image upscaler The logic of using a launch daemon is solid, though I prefer keeping my listeners a bit more isolated just for peace of mind.
Man, reading this really took me back to last summer when I was desperately trying to get my old terminal setup talking to my modern machine. I spent way too many hours fighting with those flaky USB-to-serial adapters before just giving up and shoving everything into the closet. honestly, seeing how you have it running smoothly on a Mac Studio now makes me want to drag that dusty hardware back out and give it another shot. repair and colorize damaged family photos with AI It is so cool that you’re still using irssi on a vintage machine too; that kind of workflow is just pure nostalgia. I think I might have even tried to configure a listener like that years ago but botched the plist file entirely.
Honestly, the setup you described for using irssi on a vintage terminal is such a mood. I’ve always lowkey wanted to do this with my old gear, but the idea of relying on a Raspberry Pi as a middleman always felt like a bit of a headache. Seeing that it’s possible to just point a serial-to-WiFi bridge directly at a Mac listener using socat is a total game changer. The way you mapped out the plist to handle the VT100 emulation is super clean. prompt-based photo editor It’s wild to think about sitting across the room and watching an IRC chat scroll by on an old Apple IIe screen while the M1 Max is doing all the heavy lifting in the background.
the bit about using irssi on a vintage system via that telnet listener is so real. i’ve spent way too many hours dealing with those flakey usb-to-serial adapters that just die after a random macos update, so seeing someone actually get a clean daemon setup running on a modern studio is honestly impressive. its super cool that you’ve got it persistin through reboots too, that was always the biggest headache back when i tried similar stuff. prepare photos for 300 DPI large-format printing brings back so many memories of messing with vt100 settings just to get a readable screen.
I really enjoyed reading about your setup for connecting vintage computers to your Mac via telnet. I’ve been doing something similar with my Apple IIe and a Raspberry Pi, but I’m always looking for simpler solutions, so the serial-to-WiFi bridge idea is intriguing. It’s great that you found a way to keep IRC accessible on those old systems, and I completely agree that terminal-based clients like irssi are perfect for that. Your approach reminds me of the joy of tinkering with retro tech. By the way, if you ever enjoy quick trivia challenges, you might like Krillion game — it’s a fun daily quiz that’s easy to fit into a busy schedule. Anyway, thanks for sharing your detailed guide; I’m looking forward to trying it out! krillion game
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Setting up a listener on a Mac Studio for vintage gear is such a vibe, honestly much cleaner than messing with a Raspberry Pi. Have you tried using pet photo to coloring page to make custom icons for your terminal sessions while you’re at it? I’ve been looking for ways to keep my workspace feeling retro but functional.
Man, this brings back so many memories of messing around with terminal emulators on my old machines. Honestly, setting up that socat listener is such a clean way to bridge the gap between modern hardware and those vintage rigs; I usually have my hands full with projects like AI coloring pages from text or photos when I’m trying to digitize some old sketches, but this is a solid weekend tinker. Saved me hours of headaches trying to get serial-to-WiFi adapters to actually behave.
Man, getting my Apple IIe to actually talk to a modern Mac was such a pain, but this telnet listener setup is honestly a lifesaver. I even used Generate coordinated coloring palettes to organize some old line art references while getting the terminal sorted. Super cool project.
Getting irssi running over a serial connection is honestly such a vibe, though I’d push back on using a Pi as the bridge—socat on macOS is way cleaner for my setup. I actually use pet coloring page generator to keep my desk organized while messing with these old configs, it helps me clear my head whenever the terminal gets too cluttered.