Building a $14 Macintosh

[@TaijanDean]

I was amazed by how sharp and clear the image was more than anything else. It's amazing what can be made these days by devout hobbyists and tech wizards!

[@MePeterNicholls]

The old monochrome Mac classic display was small but very sharp. I had one 😂

[@m4tt_314]

tbf I was playing around with SheepShaver and Basilisk… I was surprised that you can get 1920×1200 or even 3440×1440 no problem

[@aachaion]

One note -- the sound isn't a limitation of the hat. The umac emulator itself doesn't emulate sound. This looks fun! I'm totally building one for the heck of it. I wonder if you could use a Pico 2 and get 488K of RAM...

[@andrewr1355]

Hey action retro! I just wanted to say I finally got my iMac G4 lampshade working with Mac OS X the other day and I was able to visit some wonderful non-SSL websites with it! Thank you so much for all you do to preserve these machines. They hold a special place in my heart as well.

[@cardboard8073]

seeing the Sillicon Graphics monitor makes me want to see Sean do SGI IRIX shenanigans, since he did mention before that he got a load of SGI hardware. the whole "build a macintosh using a Rasperry Pi Pico and some other stuff" idea sounds fun tbh.

[@SenileOtaku]

I was thinking of AIX, but I don't have access to RS/6000 (pSeries or System-P) hardware anymore.

[@gaioum7]

Yeah to SGI

[@suitandtieguy]

The Pico is unreal. I'm developing a MIDI-CV interface with one right now and the PWM is working great as my DAC. My last microcontroller product was significantly more complicated and expensive as this.

[@CyanTiger]

I wonder how hard it would be to add a hardware midi port. It would be awesome to use some of the old midi software like the Music Mouse and others.

[@strepeherbata]

Man, it frightens me that I understand what you've written here... How am I doing this?

[@suitandtieguy]

@@CyanTiger it's not difficult you can actually have a few ports because the PIOs can be configured as UARTs. Web search "midi uart optocoupler circuit"

[@BlueTiger-c7b]

I remember in 1997 trading for a complete 128K Mac kit with the drives, accessories, and I think the printer as well, probably $50 worth of stuff. I don't know which is more ironic, that back then it was "only" 13 years old, or that 1997 is now 27 years ago. Anyways, I had it only about six months, just couldn't see anything I could do with it; and of course today that setup is over $2,500. Now you can build one out of something so small it looks like a VGA adapter.

[@thomasschuler5351]

evwryone did. that's why they're valueable now. if everyone kept it, it'd still be seen as garbage

[@EricsEdgeVideos]

“The most cursed thing I’ve ever done.” - that sir, is a throw down!

[@LoganKaval]

Nice OpenSUSE install. Glad to see a modern Linux user

[@tomwagner4516]

Hi Sean- I sent you a TRS80 mobile a few months ago with the case and accessories. You are one of my favorites. Thank you. Love it!

[@dataterminal]

The original Macintosh was clearly an all in one computer. You need to open up a LCD or CRT and embed that tiny microcontroller. There is loads of space for it.

[@JohnPorter4096]

WOW. This is SO COOL. Could we go crazy... and... emulate a 512K version?!?!?!?

[@DonVintaggio]

It should be mandatory that each video shows a censored thermal past scene, a graceful shutdown or an adapter chain of 4+ links.

[@tngaskell]

Next I'd like to see this thing running the Advanced Mac Substitute's ROM instead of an actual Macintosh System.

[@MF_Plissken]

audio on this would be nice :D. i always liked the old styled tracker and sequencer software^^

[@aytviewer2421]

Man... I thought this was gonna be click bait. I thought wrong. AWESOME and VERY COOL PROJECT!!!!

[@DimNussens]

Well, I was about to go to bed. Guess I'm putting that off for another 13:33 minutes.

[@BulbasaurForever]

Same

[@joelcarson9514]

How far chip design and manufacturing has come. An early computer clone for nearly free. I now have a silly urge to put together an Amiga clone with an Rpi.

[@SnipE_mS]

There’s another project with the pico that essentially runs like a Commodore 64. I think it’s called pico56. It’s pretty cool what this little microcontroller can do!

[@Dreamshadow1977]

Recently discovered Basilisk II and enjoying running it on my Linux desktop. Being able to play Empire and Technomaniac again was amazing. Still trying to get Spaceward Ho! and Pax Imperium running under Mac os 7.5.3.

[@kirishima638]

I’ve found Basilisk to be unstable. You will have better luck with SheepShaver.

[@EvertG8086]

@@kirishima638I’ve been playing old macOS visual novels. Using sheepshaver. I can recommend

[@webmonkees]

now if I could drive the mac's monitor I'd be set. what, they're valuable? huh.

[@andrewnugent9625]

I had a Mac 512 and still have a working Mac SE/30, awesome project!

[@andresbravo2003]

This sounds fantastic.

[@pseudotasuki]

Fun fact: it will run Doom. Just not in Mac OS.

[@appleleptiker]

Right, didn't expect to see a "$14 Macintosh" today, but here I go, I guess

[@3rdPersonProductions]

Awesome video, TYSM!! Love watching the soldering.

[@yoshi314]

it's a real show of technological advancement.

[@Spectere]

10:35 Not gonna lie, I really wish AdapterZilla would have somehow made that setup work. :P

[@HenrikVendelbo]

The pico 2 might get you close to 500kb ram

[@MegaManNeo]

Interesting. I'll share your video with others who are into old Macs too. This looks cool, maybe I'll look into it myself someday.

[@Verightess]

Well, Once you hit the $20 mark.Why not just grab a Raspberry Pi Zero?

[@chadmasta5]

Because with a pi zero you still have to wait for an entire Linux distro to boot before you can do anything. This is mostly just for novelty's sake anyway.

[@user-misho712]

Can you release more videos of the apple lisa?

[@Francois_L_7933]

This is pretty much on par with the ESP32 Vic-20 project, as in fantastic I want one good 😊

[@ConnahComputerSmith]

I would love to see someone build a drop-in replacement motherboard for a 128K/512K Mac that drives off one of these! Obviously, it would take a lot of work to get the signal to a compatible with the analog board, and to also get all the ports set up, but I'm sure with some skilled PCB designers (and maybe some more pins available to the Pico), it could be done! Great video as usual!

[@murdockscott]

This is pretty fun, think I will build one! I am looking forward to future versions with more capabilities. 😀

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

Sadly, EU shipping is 47€ according to the website shipping cost calculation. Maybe i can build my own.

[@maxandroverinc.]

People should make Macintosh clones on single chips like they do for the NES

[@curiousmind4870]

It's incredible how much technology has advanced. And has brought us fun, much fun to play with. Thanks!

[@JamesTenniswood]

I love it. I don't need it. I do want it.

[@cammelspit]

Holy shit, I had that exact model, at least the 22 inch drafting variant of it. Actually had several dozen of them, first time I ever used triple head mode in Windows ME/2000. Had my a friend who worked for an art firm who upgraded all their monitors just a couple years after getting them and I took a whole truck load of them, LITERALLY a proper ruck load of them. I used two of them plus an S-Video output to my TV. This is how I watched my first DVD as an aside. Ah the HOURS and HOURS of PC gaming I did on those monitors...

[@yetzt]

I can't belive you traded your TAM for this.

[@ActionRetro]

TAM = Tiny Apple Macintosh

[@GalenlevyPhoto]

Amazing how technology made these things really tiny in 40 years.

[@TeionM83]

I swear these people are insane. But, in a good way.

[@CameronReape]

It’s the Mac Pico!

[@donkimble]

Would it work with an old ADB Mac keyboard with an adapter? I’ve got a huge Mac keyboard that this might fit inside of. How cool would a Mac in a vintage Mac keyboard be?

[@philtkaswahl2124]

"Misusing the marvels of modern engineering" could be a tagline for this channel.

[@abdelali9279]

Yup, we all have that drawer full of raspberry picos 😂

[@bobobear1977]

Loving your openSuSE

[@andrew.nicholson]

Just ordered one. This will go great with my Drakware ADB2USB.

[@anumeon]

The day when Action Retro did some Retro Action. :)

[@CubicleNate]

What a cool project thank you so much for sharing! I was looking for the software development kit for the Pico and outside of Thonny or VS Code, I am not sure what else there is so I think I'm missing something!

[@JapanPop]

I hit the like so fast. I can’t wait to do this with my pico!❤

[@glennorr3568]

Is there one with HDMI out.?

[@iou4152]

Finally decided to try out microcontroller shenanigans because of this video! Love the vids ❤

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Apple How DARE you!!

[@cmedeir]

This is freaking amazing! I love this.

[@tea_bonica]

How come nobody is commenting how Sean is looking like a snack with that haircut?! 🥰I hope we get to see more Raspberry Pi shenanigans ❤ !

[@rager1969]

Graceful shutdown. LOL! Now, can you get Haiku running on it?

[@በተሰበ]

Pico micro micro pico pico pikachu!

[@HisVirusness]

Is it cursed, or is it... ascended?

[@singletona082]

Now for a challenge. Try daily drivering one of these to get work done that can be done on that computer.

[@TheRetroMacintosh]

They are a fun project and these have been a round for a while in the UK especially the SD Version, the annoying thing is the screen size limitation and its inability to scale up to the monitor or LCD you use, but still a cool project with heaps of future potential

[@simonupton-millard]

Bet it won't be long before sound is done, loads of cpu power and can use the Analog to digital pins to do it

[@alextirrellRI]

Even on a Pico it seems to be running a bit fast, although I realized the solid state storage vs a 400k floppy will speed things up.

[@aaroncheah2088]

Now I need something similar for an Atari ST especially STE or Falcon030.

[@JeffHeon]

Lode Runner!!! I played hours on the C64 😊

[@retropuffer2986]

Very cool project. Shufflepuck was def an awesome game! 😀

[@RussianSevereWeatherVideos]

That's awesome!

[@pheflin526]

Love this!

[@casperolesen9139]

Just watched this nice video on my 2008 MSI Wind U100 Notebook! 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor and 2. GB. Ram Not at all' a bad experience lowered resolution of course, but the screen is only 10 inches so perfectly acceptable! the wonder of Linux 32 bit still supported Many thanks for this exciting video

[@mikec4694]

I saw this video and went to the page to order this kit and it is out of stock😢

[@Kaztled]

Now i wonder if it's possible a PCB that has PS/2 ports, printer and ethernet for the pico in order to replicate the ports used in original models to make old systems still reliable Many universities and government offices use still 80's Macintosh and Commodore 64 for simple things and that would be very helpful

[@dave4shmups]

That is a really cool project! I played games on my Dad’s Macintosh 512K, back in the late 1980s, and it was fun! Action Retro, before you switched to Ubuntu, what Linux distro were you using on your laptop?

[@CralexKokiri]

Well shucks, I got mine a month or two ago but there wasn't an sd adapter available as an option at the time. I'll definitely be coming back later when I manage to get one.

[@Bu11er_Dawg]

Good Video!

[@CyanTiger]

I wonder how hard it would be to add a midi port to this. I really would love to run Laurie Spiegel's Music Mouse and other midi software.

[@tOSdude]

I wonder if you could make this output composite video instead of vga.

[@methanoid]

They should make this for the Wave share Pico which has HDMI, SD card etc and for only a few bucks more than stock Pico

[@HCoRE8]

Cool but very niche I would say.

[@mulad]

It would be interesting to know if PSRAM runs fast enough to allow for larger memory on the emulator

[@zsombor_99]

You should modify this tiny thing to have sound as well! 😉

[@christopherdecorte1599]

I was waiting for beos to be loaded in clasic mac lol

[@jordananderson8299]

That's cool, now stuff it inside an old Mac that has a faulty motherboard and also make it cursed just like the clear blue Cursed Mac. Also, where the heck do you find a Pico for $4?? Because everywhere online as far as I can see they want $25 or even 50 for a Pi no matter what kind or generation.

[@EagleRockney]

Aside from the nostalgia aspect, what can you really do with one of these old junk boxes? Don't get me wrong I have a few older computers, but at least then can still internet for now.

[@habeeb102]

As soon as the video started I went and bought the parts, there were only a few left for order.

[@sampellino]

10:35 I had the same issue trying to get things displayed on my Macintosh PowerPC. Something about sync-on-green is why it was not working? I tried the non-adjustable DB25 to VGA adapter and no dice. Those displays also have a really goofy refresh rate.

[@drunkenn00b]

HI! is it possible to activate noise reduction/filter for your vids? Sure - sometimes you want some noise from retro computer like when they boot up. But somehow the background noise was very unpleasent to me in this vid. thx

[@TheDigitalOne]

Cool, how about a Linux OS that turns a classic cellphone into a desktop computer is the challenge…👌😺💪🥰

[@naorunaoru]

Surely there has to be a way to reconfigure the output resolution by building a custom image from source?

[@coolduder1001]

I'd be really nice if I could do it over composite

[@nadirafurry]

openSUSE with KDE? Aren't you saucy.

[@Jackpkmn]

dang and i thought mini vmac itself was tiny!

[@ksagvold]

Does this mean you have technically made a PiMac?

[@DatBlueHusky]

you should be able to add more memory using the sd card

[@SenileOtaku]

7:21 Ah, so you *CAN* "download" more memory...

[@robot797]

can it do composite video out?

[@bpmadmasta98]

So idk if it would be possible but I think that it would be fun if someone could hack it into the case of an actual 128k or classic form factor Mac.

[@the_sjdo]

now built it in a real Macintosh

[@LordPaijo]

waiting for the lisa

[@kirishima638]

So you have to buy the board, the micro controller, find and buy/restore a working and compatible VGA monitor that will actually work with it, just to run a build of minivmac limited to 128k, to play a tiny selection of old games, with no sound? When you can just run minivmac with the same image on your modern PC? And get sound, more memory etc? I don’t get the point of this. BlueSCSI serves a real need; This is just an expensive way to run an emulator on a difficult to find monitor, which isn’t even from the same decade as the original Mac? If this were an FPGA recreation of the actual hardware, I would be impressed. But I know from experiences that emulators cannot run certain old games properly, Continuum for example. Or Final Impact. Or Rescue. You need an actual original 68000 Mac for that.

[@strapazoot7141]

I have 2 questions. Can I install Music mouse on this, and can i make it output midi?