Classic Mac Rebuild

Thread Starter

mattmers

Joined Oct 17, 2012
11
Is it possible to re make the Classic mac? Like find the schematics and remake it? I kinda want to have a project for me and my friend, I was thinking of building some kind of classic electronic. or even team up with some people who are interested and making our own vintage hardware and custom os for it (me and my friend don't really have programming experience).

Let me hear your thoughts. All advice is wanted. Thank you in advance.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
It is not likely that Apple would release the schematics. Even if they did you might have a hard time finding components. Many of them went EOL decades ago.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,708
The schematics for the Mac are available. But that would not get you very far. You would need to get the ROMs in order to run the original Mac software. Or you can write your own software.
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
Circuit schematics for the PC/XT are readily available as is the complete listings for BIOS. Boards are becoming rare, but you should be able to find them. Rather than rebuild a complete system, you could alter exsisting boards. For instance, increasing base memory, pulling off unused mux lines to enable I/O hardware and adding handlers in extended boot rom, etc.
 

Thread Starter

mattmers

Joined Oct 17, 2012
11
I was able to find the schematics and roms online but it would probably be easier to make our own basic hardware. I'll post the links to each when I'm home. But would anyone be interested in making a basic os and hardware? I think it could be a cool community project. I'd want to post a how to and release it as a project anyone could do. Instead of a project like linux which makes just an os that's compatable with tons on premade computers, this requires you to make the hardware yourself and then put the os on it yourself.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Please don't be offended, but I truly cannot grasp why you would want to build something that, once made, you would have to literally pay the trash collector to take away. I have several Macs in my basement, and I'm sure there are many, many others still around. Why build something you can be paid for taking off someone else's hands?

I understand the fun of building something and I've wasted my share of time writing programs for ... nobody, but why wouldn't you spend your precious time on something more innovative or new or fun or lucrative or ... you get the idea.

Again, I'm not at all trying to discourage you but trying to understand your motivation.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,708
I too wax nostalgic over old machines. I too have about a dozen Macs in storage. It would be neat to convert a Classic Mac to run on an LCD monitor. But what's the use. You would be better off to take a modern single chip microcomputer such as an ARM or a raspberry pie board and learn how to program it to do something useful that you can share with others.
 

Thread Starter

mattmers

Joined Oct 17, 2012
11
Please don't be offended, but I truly cannot grasp why you would want to build something that, once made, you would have to literally pay the trash collector to take away. I have several Macs in my basement, and I'm sure there are many, many others still around. Why build something you can be paid for taking off someone else's hands?

I understand the fun of building something and I've wasted my share of time writing programs for ... nobody, but why wouldn't you spend your precious time on something more innovative or new or fun or lucrative or ... you get the idea.

Again, I'm not at all trying to discourage you but trying to understand your motivation.
I understand where you are coming from am not offended at all. I guess I'm just liking for a project. I had an idea for text message walkie talkies but don't have enough experience in this stuff to know where to start. If you are interested in becoming part of that project or the custom retro pc project (not mac once because I can tell your not interested in it) let me know. Or if you have a project, I'm more then willing to participate. Thank for all the replies.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
...not mac once because I can tell your not interested in it...
Ha ha, well, whatever small interest I might have in a Mac project is many fold higher than the interest I would have in a peecee project. ;) Mac user since '84, even before the days of Excel v1.0.
 

THE_RB

Joined Feb 11, 2008
5,438
Some of those old monochrome CRTs were fantastic to look at, there is no "dot pitch" in the phosphor coating (it's juts a solid coating), no pixel alaising just beautiful sharp detail.

I had an Atari with a white phosphor mono monitor and it was really nice. I think the early MACs had a very similar mono CRT.
 
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