Questions tagged [apple-macintosh]
For questions about Apple's Macintosh line of computers.
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What Cherry MX mechanical keyboard switch is closest to an Apple Extended Keyboard II? [closed]
I would like to buy a mechanical keyboard, but even after using a mechanical keyboard switch tester to try out different types of switches, I can't determine which one I like the best (other than that ...
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Why did Borland ignore the Macintosh market?
During the 80s and 90s, Borland developed several amazing, cutting edge developer products. Their Turbo Pascal and Delphi, an Object Pascal development environment, were very popular on DOS and ...
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What purpose did the lower-right "Enter" key serve on the original Mac 128k keyboard?
The original USA release of the Macintosh came with the M0110 keyboard. Somewhat famous for not including arrow keys because Steve Jobs wanted to encourage developers to use the mouse instead, it also ...
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How do I interpret the old Mac character set?
Older Macintoshes and the Apple IIgs used a custom character set for documents and filenames. Each character was held in an 8-bit byte, using 0x00-0x7F for ASCII, and 0x80-0xFF for various symbols ...
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What is the title of this Macintosh programming book?
Back when Mac OS was called "System" and preemptive multitasking was a distant fantasy, I had a small collection of Macintosh programming books.
For the life of me, though, I can't remember what one ...
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Did this program exist? [closed]
The name is "pic view" or "picview" the OS is Machintosh (8 or 9, I don't recognize it), but searching on google I cannot find it, did anyone know more? The screenshot is from ...
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Which Old World ROM machines could officially run OS X?
The Wikipedia article SuperDrive–Floppy disk drive section, contains (at the time of writing) the following claim:
The end of the SuperDrive coincides with the demise of Old World ROM Macs; with the ...
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What file format was used for binary executables on Motorola 680x0 Macintoshes?
Current macOS binary executable files use a format called "Mach-O" and prior to that there was the PEF "Preferred Object Format", and Wikipedia says "It was optimised for RISC ...
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What was "Mac SLM" or "ASLM"?
While looking through a very old codebase, I found some preprocessor defines and comments referring to something called "Mac SLM" or "ASLM". From the context, it appears to have ...
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Name of application that showed cursor coordinates (both global and local)
There was a classic Macintosh shareware/freeware application - which may have been a CDEV/INIT (control panel or extension), DA (desk accessory), or an application - that displayed both the global and ...
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What were the most common software distribution formats for MacOS Classic?
What were the most common formats for distributing applications for System 6/7-era MacOS Classic? Were applications distributed on floppies/CDs or online/via FTP/via BBSs? And what format were ...
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Building a "hello, world!" program using MPW
I've been setting up a Basilisk II emulator to try my hand at developing apps for 68k System 7 systems, and have set up the Macintosh Programmer's Workstation (v.3.5 Gold Master from ...
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Building hello world on a Macintosh IIfx with MPW
I'm trying to compile a hello world object using MPW...
I've created a file called hello.c on my desktop, contents are as follows:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void){
printf("hello world!\...
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Setting email up on MacOS System 7
I recently got internet set up on my new Macintosh Color Classic and with a lot of hardship, set up the WebOne proxy, meaning I can load https websites. Most HTML 3+ websites still don't work in iCab, ...
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Reviving a Mac Mini (PowerPc) - Not booting correctly: video is out of sync, blinking, usb boot not enabled
I come from superuser.com where I asked this, but was told to post here for further help
https://superuser.com/questions/1772907/mac-mini-g4-powerpc-wont-boot-how-can-i-reset-it-to-factory-defaults?...
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How was it back then in 1984, when the Apple II had color, and the new Macintosh didn't?
I imagine it being a huge downgrade for some, not to have color on the Macintosh. Macintosh games were black and white in the beginning, while Apple II had color.
I'm especially interested in ...
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Anyone have a working Apple 13" Trinitron display?
I'd like to add an image of the Trinitron's tungsten wire that was visible on the lower half of the Apple 13" display to the Wikipedia article on the Trinitron.
If anyone has one of these ...
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Why did nobody ever succeed in "clean room" cloning the Apple Macintosh?
As is well recorded, in the PC/MS-DOS world, Compaq and Phoenix (among others) successfully "clean-room" implemented their own versions of the IBM BIOS, thus opening the door to the PC clone ...
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What was the first C compiler for the Mac?
When did a C compiler first become commercially available for the Apple Macintosh? And what was its name?
The only programming languages that I recall were available for the Mac at launch (January ...
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Does DB15 actually exist?
I have found a Macintosh Quadra 700 recently, together with an Apple High-Resolution RGB Monitor and want to try out if they are functional.
Since both came out slightly before my generation, I am ...
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Mac Plus refusing to read disks
OK, so I was gifted a Mac Plus a couple weeks ago, and finally got it up and running a couple days ago (had to wait for mouse and a couple lots of disks for it to arrive, since it came as just the Mac ...
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Side-scrolling shooter game for the Macintosh from the 1990s
I'm trying to find an early to mid 90s Macintosh game.
It was a side scrolling shooter in the style of R Type.
You flew a spaceship that looked vaguely like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek, albeit ...
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How does the Apple IIgs color compare to the Apple Macintosh color?
There has been an interesting discussion of how to convert Classic Macintosh Color to sRGB, which begs a second question. How does color on the IIgs compare to that of Classic Macintosh? I'm asking ...
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Classic Mac OS colors to modern RGB
I want to find a way to convert RGB colors used by classic Mac OS to RGB colors that are understandable to modern image editors and to web browsers.
The two palettes that are subjects of my interest ...
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What is the motherboard part number for the Macintosh IIci that required parity memory?
This is an extension of an answer I posted years ago to the Retrocomputing question:
How did Apple fail to tap the business and scientific markets?
Most (all?) IBM PC systems required parity memory, ...
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Macintosh SE 30 displays half of the lower screen
I have a problem with my Macintosh SE / 30. More precisely, I only see the underside on the screen, ie from the center to the bottom. The other half, the one from the center up, appears completely ...
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Why was MacOS unix certified?
As I understand it most Linux distros adhere to the UNIX specifications while only a few actually get UNIX certified. If plenty of Linux distros can happily adhere to the standard without being ...
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What HyperCard extensions did Myst use?
The original Macintosh version of Myst was written in HyperCard.
According to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20549685
Adding useful features, such as uploading those HTML files to a web server, ...
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Did the original Macintosh not have any MIDI or similar music capabilities?
The original version of Shadowgate for the Macintosh is an eerie experience after you have played the NES version, with its amazing soundtrack. The Mac version is entirely mute, save for some random ...
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Recently acquired a Macintosh Plus M0001A, and it won't boot
I recently got a Mac Plus model M0001A. It came with an Ultra Drive 20 external hard drive, a keyboard and a mouse.
Both the Mac and the external drive seem to work fine other than it won't boot up, I ...
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How and why did Intel make the PCI bus "CPU Agnostic"?
Intel invented the original 32/64-bit PCI bus in the early 1990s to replace the decade old ISA bus used in PC's. It was immediately popular (in comparison to Micro Channel or EISA), being both faster ...
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What were the 189 GUI design elements that Apple claimed 'look and feel' copyright over?
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microsoft_Corp.
Apple listed 189 GUI elements; the court decided that 179 of these elements had been licensed to Microsoft in the ...
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Was there a way to play an hourly custom sound on Macs circa 1985-1995?
I have a memory of my dad's old Macintosh playing a custom sound every hour. It was his a capella rendition of the Westminster Quarters.
This was decades ago and my memory could be faulty. Was this ...
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Can the Gotek floppy emulator be made to work with classic Macs?
The Gotek floppy emulators are really popular in the retro scene. I have one modified (firmware update) to work with my Amiga 500.
Can one be made to work with any of the classic line of Macintosh ...
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Which wires need to be changed to use a Gotek floppy emulator on an Apple Mac?
Preamble
I own a Gotek floppy emulator that I use with my BBC Model B. It is the latest model with the Artery AT32F435 MCU1, so there is a lot of memory space and processing power for future features ...
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How did early computers handle mice?
Early computer mice worked by sending a series of pulses; the more rapid the movement, the higher the frequency. How was this handled at the computer end?
At one level, it sounds easy: just run a loop,...
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What was the last Mac in the obelisk form factor?
In the 80s, most home computers had the CPU and keyboard in a single unit with monitor and disk drive separate; most business computers had the CPU and disk drives in a 'desktop' horizontal case (...
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Was The Telemark Assembler available for the Unix or Mac Environments?
I'm trying to build the recently released Infinity Game Boy Color source code on my macOS El Capitan box. The original development environment was a Windows box, and I'm trying to modify the build ...
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Will Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" Rosetta technology work inside a virtual machine for OS 9 applications?
I'm hoping this question sneaks by the 'is-it-really-retro' censors :-) because it involves a classic OS but running under (modern) virtualization.
As far as I can tell, Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard&...
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First Macintosh word processor with a built-in outliner?
The release of Think Tank and MORE are considered major events in the early history of the Mac. But these were standalone products.
Does anyone know...
when MS Word added outlining capabilities?
the ...
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Need help finding an old 90s edutainment game with "Number Line" Train
This is an old edutainment game that I used to play at school. We used Mac OS 9 there. This game taught you all about various subjects (possibly focusing on math?), all taking place in a zoo or ...
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Sending an executable to an old Macintosh SE using serial port
I'm working with an old Macintosh SE and with a modern computer. I've managed to establish a communication between the two linking the USB serial of my modern computer to the modem serial port of the ...
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How did the classic Macintosh come to use Eurocard connectors?
Almost all of the mainstream classic desktop computers that had internal slots relied on the card-edge type of connector. The classic Macintosh computers were one exception to this "rule" (...
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How to work around the PRAM battery for a "Titanium" Powerbook G4
Years ago I was the original owner of a "Titanium" PowerBook G4. Eventually, the unit bricked itself and refused to power on. Some quick research at the time led me to believe the PRAM battery was ...
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How prevalent is the CR (classic MacOS) line ending today? [closed]
In a parser library I am maintaining, I stopped recognizing singular Carriage Return characters as line endings to reduce complexity in the tokenizer's position tracking code, a perennial source of ...
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Which versions of StuffIt introduced backwards-incompatible changes to the file format?
In order to help people who want to integration-test tools which shell out to The Unarchiver's lsar and unar utilities, I'm trying to build a legally clean repository of test archives in StuffIt SIT ...
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Looking for a 90s Macintosh background pattern collection
I've been trying to find a collection of desktop patterns for Macintosh that I had for System 7 back in the day.
I remember it as a specific application that you ran to set the patterns (as opposed to ...
- 7,113
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Send serial data to Macintosh SE?
I am new to anything vintage computing and would like to build a simple project with my Macintosh SE. My Hello World goal here is to simply show a string of text received from the serial port on the ...
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What was this almost-magic Mac data conversion tool?
In the mid 1990s I was working for a large construction/engineering consultancy. We'd often engage the services of an acoustic consultant who used a wonderful piece of software to convert all manner ...
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Creating an System Extension (INIT) for classic Mac OS
I have some old Macs that I would like to remove their clock batteries so that I don't have to worry about them leaking and destroying logic boards. That being said I do want to operate them from time ...
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