Need help to connect to old SQL server w/o Heidi

Hello! I have some old web-server with MySQL 5.1 and Apache 2.2. I can connect to it via Heidi (9.5). But I can't connect to it via PHP or Python because of errors like "your server is too old, for security reasons we can't connect with it". I tried to install old local Apache and to install old PHP over it, but failed. I've found some recomendations regarding changing password options on old web-servers in such cases, but I'm not owner of this server, there is old website running there so I don't want to change anything in configs.

Typical php-error "SQLSTATE[HY000] [2000] mysqlnd cannot connect to MySQL 4.1+"

What API uses Heidi to connect to web-servers with any SQL versions ?

Heidisql connects to MySQL or MariaDB through the C Api in libmysql.dll or libmariadb.dll. You should have updated your MySQL server if it really runs a version older than 4.1

Thank you for a quick reply. I meant "I work with some MySQL" server not "own it". I want to get access via my scripts without changing anything in server software or configs.

So your question is how to connect to MySQL via php?

So your question is how to connect to MySQL via php? I found out it is impossible without changing password-processing options in server configs or without installing same old Apache+same old PHP on another (for example, local) server and running script from there.

I will try to make some script in C or C++ to replicate this SQL database to new server and make queries to it from Python I work with.