I bought myself an original Mac 128K—the one from 1984—this weekend. I saw it on the streets of Williamsburg for $US35, almost completely new, and I couldn’t resist. Now I want to do something with it.
Now I’m having a dilemma.
Should I download the original system, save it to floppies, and leave it as it is so I can play Crystal Quest? In a way, I feel like I’m in front of some kind of god of the old times, a god that I should revere and keep in its pristine condition forever.
On the other side, I’m itching to make it into something else. Something that doesn’t require to break the case in any way, which will allow me to put everything back together at a later date.
I’m thinking about taking all the guts out except the CRT and convert it into a mini-stereo. It should be a simple hack. Get my Apple TV or a big hard drive iPod, wire it to the tube, add a couple of good mini-speakers inside the case, and control it with the Apple remote. Simple and elegant, but I don’t know if it’s doable or not.
Any DIY expert wants to help? Send me your ideas.
M@
May 26, 2009 at 8:15 AM
Back in my college days I had the 128 as a goldfish bowl. Fairly easy to do and with a couple of strips of white ELW under the ‘top’ it really shows up the fish…
The wife made me give it away years ago.
Report PermalinkJamie
May 26, 2009 at 8:42 AM
You could always burn it…
Report Permalinkben
May 26, 2009 at 9:23 AM
Fishtank?
Report PermalinkAndreas
May 26, 2009 at 10:27 AM
I think it would be great to retro-fit a Mac mini inside the case. Yeah, the chances of putting “everything back together at a later date” are slim, but it would be cool.
Just gut the machine and find a small LCD which can be mounted where the CRT is now. Then mount the Mini inside, hopefully in such a way where the slot loading optical drive can be used via the original floppy drive slot (after a bit of work to make it wider).
Report PermalinkBejay Waddell
May 26, 2009 at 10:54 AM
I have two of these, I use them as book ends. About the only real use for a mac.
Report PermalinkThey make great book ends because they are lead lined (they gave of a ridiculous amount of radiation)
hugh
May 26, 2009 at 9:27 PM
get the old firmware and a mouse and keyboard and put it in the living room as a conversation piece, we had one at school set up a bit like that and everyone thought it was awesome.
Report PermalinkCaptain Pajama Shark
May 27, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Mini Pizza Oven!!!
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