Macintosh Classic Project

[PepPi]

Hi everyone, I create this thread to show us my new Macintosh Classic Project with Raspberry PI.

First, I bought a Macinstosh Classic with Keyboard and Mouse (Apple Design Keyboard M2980 model). Here the machine:



The seller say me that the Macintosh dont run, but I open it, and after a lot of cleaning and reconnect some cable, it start perfectly... . 2/3 days with Macos of 1990 is good, but I have a different idea for this Project, I want to do it usefull.

My first premise: Conservate all components of the Mac Classic, don´t break anything, or alterate something that has no reverse gear. I have saved all original components, and lets go to start with it. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now I get to mount the Vintage Macintosh again.

Serve this first post as the beginning of the thread of the process that I am going to carry out ... First Step...RetroBrighting !!

PD: worry about my English ... many years without practicing it.

[PepPi]

First Step: RetroBright

When the Macintosh arrived, I see that the color is very... yellow... . Yes, its a machine with more than 30 years old, and formerly the cases of these Computer are make with a bromine compound, to act as a fire retardant...curious, but with years, its provocate this color on these components (Computer, keyboard, mouse, etc... ). I searched on the WEB, and find a method that call RETROBRIGHT, there are a lot of technies to apply them (you can find it in google too), but I applied the one that i Read the mosts positive comments, and the less complicated method for me.

First, I disassembled the Macintosh (yes, again ). Much caution with its dissambly, because it has some electric components that give you some scare (like the CRT Monitor). I recommend you to see some videos of how to dismount a Macintosh Classic/Classic II or similar model. Here a photo of all its components.



Then I bougth a product, thatt women use in hardressing salons to bleach their hair, its a carbon monoxide of 40 volumens, with 12% of concentration.



Caution: I read that some people who use it (or similar), get some stains when apply the proccess, take it on on your own risk (and I recommend you to use first in some product that you do not have much affection for).

My Proccess: 3 days of apply the product and 8 hours per day in the Sun (the was no bright sun, they were somewhat cloudy days). Some days, I wrapped the Macinstosh with transparent paper, but my recommendation is no use this paper, because this make me some stain on the plastic. And for that, I applied some days more the proccess, so that they would disappear as much as possible. With these word, I wanted to tell you that this proccess exists, and I obtained a very good results, but not a perfect result. Constantly monitor the proccess result, dont leave the product in the sun, and return when the 8 hours pass.

Later, i washed very well the Macinstosh, with a non-abrasive sponge, and a neutral soap. Dry very well with a soft cloth, and the next day, when its dry completely, I applied a special lacquer (as a UV protector, to delay the reapperance of the yellowish color... yes, that color will return after a time, hopefully many years). Here the lacquer I use (glossy finish).



The final result of the body of this project... I think that is a 8/10, compare how it arrived. Check Yourself...



Note: Before applying this method, read a lot on the internet, because it is not valid for all cases, and it has some very particular specifications.
DANGER: Use gloves and glasses protection for use the monoxide product, it take damage your skin.

[PepPi]

Step 3: The Keyboard & Mouse

Hi everyone ! When I arrived the Macintosh at home, it has one Keyboard, but when I should put in on the connector...ups...one pin is broken... .

My Model is Apple Design Keyboard and Mouse. They have some Yellow color like Macintosh, but with some retrobright session (more easily process than other), them looks perfectly. I clean all the internal pieces, dismount everything, and clean with Isopropyl alcohol. Here you are a photo of them (you can see the difference between the photos of the first post):



First, I tried to put one more modern Keyboard, but the connector of this machine is ADB (Apple Device Bus), and i thought that its a PS2 connector... bad luck. For a looking on Google, I found some cable, but so expensive, and finally, I learned that ADB is the identical that a S-VIDEO connector. And you can find a lot of cheap offers of S-VIDEO connectors, I bought one and mounted (sold require). For this model of keyboard, the wire is directly connect to his motherboard, other model have an individual wire... .

I want to share with us a picture that can help you if you have to do that (With the color of each wire, that are connect directly to the keyboard motherboard, to maps it).



In this model, the ADB connector for the keyboard go to the Macintosh, and the mouse is connect with the keyboard (with a ADB connector too).

But... if it is a Raspberry Pi Project... How do you want to connect this ADB to your PI? ... I will tell you later.

Bye friends !

[PepPi]

Step 3: The Brain

I think a lot of the new Hardware for my machine, with two premises:

• Price: I know that this project have limit function, because with the time, I dont use this everyday... for that, I dont want to spent a lot of money.

• Size: The case of Macinstosh classic is very particular, and I dont want to break anything of it. These objetive dont bring me a lot of oportunities.

These answers directed me to Raspberry PI, I heard something about this hardware, and will work with it in some moment. Finally, this was my decisión: and here that I bought:



Specification:
- Raspberry PI 4 Model (8GB RAM).
- Original Case.
- Original Fan.
- Some sink.
- USB-C Power (switch cable and DC).
- One micro HDMi-HDMI Cable.

I think that it was a correct decisión, because I wanted use it for Music, Games (I am not a full gamer), Video, and something else... . And because the Macinstosh Classic is an original machine, I wanted use the original component for Raspberry (I bought too some fun details, that I mush show you later ).

Next Step, and for the momment, the most dificult part... The Screen.

[ejolson]

I just found this thread. I'm interested in how it turned out. Did you replace the screen or find a way to drive the original Macintosh CRT?

[PepPi]

Step 4: The Screen

The decision for the Screen was fluctuating over time.

First: When I bought the Macintosh, I believed that screen is broken. Consequently, I want to take advantage of the CRT Crystal, for make my own new Screen (insert a LCD, maybe 7-8 inch into de CRT Crystal). I saw some videos for people that cut the original CRT Crystal with a Dremel (with a diamond edge), and I thought that it maybe be a good decision. But when I managed to fix the original Macintosh, I discard this option, because as I have already told us, I want to keep the original parts instact.

Second: From discard the first option... I decided to include a LCD monitor behind the monitor case. Originally, the Macintosh Classic have a 9 inch 4:3 format Monitor (more info here, https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Classic), but when I use it, I saw that the monitor have a black overscan. The people that make a similar project, includes a LCD for 8 inch (most popular in store), but I want to aproach the maximun of the hole for the monitor. I discart the option for a LCD with too much overscan).



Third (and finally): I want a really good Screen, because honestly, it will be the most eye-catching for the project. After some WEB analizyng, I decided to buy this option: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/hdmi ... t-1024x768, a 10 INCH SCREEN 4:3 FOMAT for PIMORONI. I thought too for the Screen LCD for IPAD, but it was to much expensive, and I read that have some dificults to configure and install.

Inconvenients for my choyce (Pimoroni 10 inch 4:3):

- The screen (with his frame) is bigger than the hole for the monitor. But I think and search a lot for make a solution. You can config the Overscan for your PI, to displace the screen image. I will explain this step in the furure.



- The Hole is curve: The original Macintosh have a CRT curve monitor, and the LCD is flat, I want to resolve this for make a beatifull finish. Some people put the monitor behind, and ignore de the curve (badly finish for me), but I found a person that make a 3D frame for this project, to hide this curve between the LCD and the Case. Here I bring yoy the URL for this: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3551263 (I printed it with a good quality material). I reuse the original up screw for the Macintosh, to hold the screen well. Here the detail of the finish:



- Protection the LCD Panel: I bought a transparent acrylic panel (1mm thickness), and with that, make the LCD protection, and a structure to put the mainboard for the screen (some similar like a view for the PICADE projoect, that mount this screen). In summary and iin order: Front Case, 3DBezel, Acrylic, Screen, Acryclic. Here the structure with acrylic panel:



Finally, the results for me is very very good. But I'm still giving it a spin, for aproach all the hole size (now I have a besel of 2-3 mm that not have image). To do this, I want to rotate the Screen image, because the original orientation of the screen, dificult me the project. Even so, i like so much. The detail for the actual overscan (that i want to fix later):



See you in next Step... Rear Connection Panel !

[PepPi]

Step 5: Rear Panel

Hi everyone, I'm here again. I took a while to write this post, because I've some dificults situation to make the rear panel. Specifically, because I've two or three possibilities for make the rear panel, and how to distribute the connector in the panel. I tell us...

First Point: Make a Rear Panel
I said every times, that I want to conservate the original structure for the Macintosh, and for that, I thought to make a steal real panel, similar of the original motherboard of the Macintosh. WIth this, I can use the can use the same mechanism to anchor the steal rear panel. 1mm thickness steal panel specifically. Hera some photos:

Side view


Up view


Front view


Second Point: Power On/Off Button
I want to put the power on/off button outsite de case of the Macinstosh. First I thought to use the left side button for the Macintosh, to push the Pi button power, but its very delicate, and discarded this option.
Then, the longitude for the original button power cable for the PI was so short, and its dificult to distribute the PI inside the Macintosh. I tried to use and extension cable (Male USB-C - Female USB-C) for make a solution for it, but these option lose some power for the PI, and the system became unstable.
The final decision is to use some of the whole of the rear panel, the rightmost hole (located on the back opposite the apple logo), this option make me posible to distribute ok the PI inside.

Third Point: Lose energy of the PI
When I connect the PI to the Screen, and all the other connect for all connector, I saw that the PI Screen start to blink, I analize the power of the PI, and read that all USB connector can give a power of 1200 mA (total). And that is insuficient for all my connected device:

• Screen USB Power

• ADB - USB Adapter

• PI Power

This make that when I light the led for the keyboard, or connect and USB device, the PI dont work correctly.
The solution, I use a whole for the rear panel to put and extra USB (Female), who are connect directly to the power of the Screen (with an mobile power adapter). Then I have the enought energy for all the connector.

Distribution (Left to Right on the image): Power On/Off Button - USB 2.0 for Screen Power - Pi Power Connector - HDMI Second Screen Connector - One free hole - ADB Connector - Jack Audio Connector.


Bonus: I put an USB 3.0 Connector on the front of the Macintosh, in the hold of the Disket. The truth is that it is very concealed, and it is very useful.


For today that its all. See you again on next Step.

Bye everyone.

PD: And sorry for my english again.

[gaming_gamer01]

This is an amazing project and your English is very good!

[PepPi]

Hi everyone !!

Here a photo of my new old desktop !



Looks good eh ?

Comming soon ... OS, Themes, Configs, Game Emulator, etc...

[PepPi]

Step 6: ADB- USB Connection

Hi everyone again !!

Its the moment to tell us how I connect a vintage Macintosh Keyboard&Mouse, to a moder PC, Raspberry or similar. First, I thougth to buy a new keyboard for this project, but when I searches about similar project, I read something about some people that came to live his old Mac Keyboards. There is an ADB-USB Adapter that can help you to do it. I found various alternative on google, but for me its important 2 things:

• The price: Some adapter cost 60-70€ or more

• The size: I want to put the adapter on the rear panel, for that, the size compatibility is important.

I saw one too that you must connect to the AC... .

Ok, finally, I decided for that adapter from Drakaware (https://www.drakware.com/shop/p/adb2usb). It arrived very fast and well, and the support of the page was fantastic (They ship from U.S to all the countries).



With this step, Step 3 and 5 are accomplished. Now back to those days when you had to clean the mouse mechanism of fluff

See you again on next step.

Bye !

[Unounited]

wow I am pretty surprised that this project is using a macintosh computer, keep up the good work!

[PepPi]

Step 7: The OS

I have never worked with Raspberry PI until this project. So, I read a lot about which OS to install. In this proccess, I found a posibility to install a OS, that emulated the appearance of MacOS... a Macintosh Classic from 30 years ago, with an actually OS...this sound good.

I decided to install Twistter OS, this is a very good OS for Raspberry (only for PI 4), that you can emulated the OS for Macos, Linux, or Windows... . Here you can download it, and read more about (https://twisteros.com/). The WEB have a DISCORD support too, that work very good (I solve some problems with it).



This OS bring you many utilities like: Spotify Desktop App (base in Chromium), Netflix, Lutris and Steam (for games), RetroPie preinstalled, Discord, and more... .

The OS is frequently update, and you have an App to manage your Pi Apps. I like it so much too.

I burn it with de official Raspberry Pi Image tool (you can download it here https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/). Its very simple to use, so I don't think it necessary to indicate how the process is carried out.

Here you can see the MacOS Desktop config, with the Apple Toolbar and Icon, it looks great. Switch Desktop theme is very simple, you only will to select the one you want, and Twister confir all for you (in next reboot).



I did some personal config, that I want to tell you later. See you.

Bye.

[cyrano]

Wow! Really nice!

[sebcoe]

it's amazing what you've done !
i'm trying to do same with a Macintosh SE / 30.
Could toi tell us how you manage the audio output ?
thanks

[PepPi]

it's amazing what you've done !
i'm trying to do same with a Macintosh SE / 30.
Could toi tell us how you manage the audio output ?
thanks

Hi !! For audio I put on the rear panel of the Macintosh, a 3,5 jack audio for the PI, with a cable extensión (Male - Female).

But I use bluetooth speaker/headphone all the time, because for me is more useful.

You can too put into the Macintosh some speaker connect, but I am not within the perspectives of the first stage of the project.

Thanks for view and like it.

I have other post to attach...

- Personalize Splash Image.
- Boot config.
- Fan Configuration.
- Bluetooth config.
- Twistter OS Config.
- Conky Spec config.
- Full RetroPie config (PS One, Dreamcast, PC...).
- Lutris (for games like Age of Empire...).
...and more...

Bye !

[Dylanli]

This is so cool, very detailed post, I love it.

[PepPi]

Step 8: Screen Config

Hi again !

You know that I put a big Screen on my Macintosh Classic (10 inch), and I make a solution for center the image, this function calls overscan on PI World.

To make it, you want to config something:

1. Overscan Hability: You can select the option "Start Menu > Settings > Raspberry PI Configuration > Display -> Overscan Enable (reboot is necesary). You can make this step too by edit /boot/config.conf, like this line:

Code: Select all

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
disable_overscan=0

2. Config your overscan parameter: You can edit the file /boot/config.conf (pi is my user, you must replace it in the url). Here is mine configuration, but remember that I put my Screen reverse (phisicaly):

Code: Select all

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
overscan_left=18
overscan_right=35
overscan_top=0
overscan_bottom=98

3. Model type Screen: on /boot/config.conf too, edit this line with this parameter (this say that is a pc monitor, resolution 1024 and ratio 4:3):

Code: Select all

hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=9

With that, you will see good your screen on your Macintosh.

I also configure a new personalize Splash Image for the boot sequence os the PI, something like new and old Macintosh computer, with the two logos, that I make with Procreate (Ipad Pro). If you see with detail, you can see some Easter Egg for Raspberry PI too ) Here you are if you want to use:



To config it, you want to:
1. edit the file/boot/cmdline.txt like that:

Code: Select all

console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=ea7d04d6-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait splash plymouth.ignore-serial-consoles plymouth.enable=0

2. Put your image on this directory (and dont rename it): /usr/share/plymouth/themes/pix/splash.png

With all of that, you must have a beauty config of your Screen...

See you !!

[basrite]

Hey..

Brilliant work!

how do i get these parts? Already have a work Mac Classic.

Regards,

Jamie

[PepPi]

Hey..

Brilliant work!

how do i get these parts? Already have a work Mac Classic.

Regards,

Jamie

Hi Jamie, on the distinct post you have the link for the differents used components.

Thnks for you opinion !!

See you soon