[HN Gopher] Infinite Mac: Infinitemac.org
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       Infinite Mac: Infinitemac.org
        
       Author : mariuz
       Score  : 100 points
       Date   : 2023-03-28 17:53 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.persistent.info)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.persistent.info)
        
       | Drblessing wrote:
       | Wow, this is mindblowing. Oregon Trail is on the most recent
       | version if anyone wants to check it out.
        
       | EricE wrote:
       | Good times and brings back a lot of memories! My favorite hack
       | (right after upgrading my Mac Plus to 4MB of RAM) was using
       | SteppingOut! to create a large virtual screen to improve
       | scrolling in Sim City (basically by eliminating scrolling in game
       | and using SteppingOut! instead to virtually pan around). The
       | amount of hours I spent playing Sim City - yowza!
       | 
       | This inspired me to dig into a box I haven't yet unpacked after a
       | recent move and I have MacUsers from 87-91, a few MacWorlds and
       | some other misc late 80's/early 90's computer mags. Should be
       | some fun going through them again. Looking back at the
       | advertisements are hilarious - also looking forward to re-reading
       | some of Dvorak's columns again. He sure served his purpose well -
       | I would often turn to the back page first when I got a new Mac
       | User - looking forward to getting incensed at his hot takes. Ha!
        
         | tomcam wrote:
         | > right after upgrading my Mac Plus to 4MB of RAM
         | 
         | Sure, lord it over the rest of us plebs
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | Also: no full emulator needed with the ROM and the disk image.
       | m68k translator on the fly.
       | 
       | https://github.com/autc04/executor
        
         | bacchusracine wrote:
         | >Executor
         | 
         | Wow, now there's a name I haven't heard in a very long long
         | time. I must have missed when they opened the code. Nice! I
         | remember back in the day when I was first learning about 68k
         | emulation and Basilisk II was the one everyone I knew used
         | despite Fusion PC and SoftMac (with prerequisite rom card) was
         | also popular. There was always something amazing about
         | Executor's vision to make a complete solution which required no
         | rom file. I wasn't sure if they'd ever get there but I was
         | enthralled that someone was actively pursuing such a path.
        
           | duskwuff wrote:
           | There's an interesting project along those lines here:
           | 
           | https://mace.software/
           | 
           | Sadly, the source isn't available (yet?), but there are some
           | demo executables available.
        
       | kitsunesoba wrote:
       | Playing with 8.x/9.x in these VMs makes me wish that modern OS
       | light mode themes would go back to using light mid-grays instead
       | of stark whites. The color choices in Platinum are so much more
       | usable... it doesn't make me feel the need to flip on dark mode
       | immediately.
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | Conversely I also think dark modes shouldn't be plain black; it
         | should be a dark shade of gray.
        
           | post-it wrote:
           | Except on OLED displays (or whatever Macs have), where black
           | looks extremely nice.
        
           | sharkjacobs wrote:
           | I like black blacks on OLED screens but otherwise agree with
           | you
        
         | crazygringo wrote:
         | Not sure what you mean, current macOS uses light gray for UX
         | backgrounds, no stark white at all.
         | 
         | Except for content areas like your document or the Finder
         | content, but those have always been 100% white.
         | 
         | Or are you talking about a different OS?
        
           | kitsunesoba wrote:
           | Current macOS light mode isn't technically white, but it's a
           | lot closer than platinum was. iOS is even brighter, as is
           | Win10/11.
        
       | trm42 wrote:
       | Oh wow, before this I haven't used old System versions than 6.0.8
       | or so and it's just super amazing how ready and well thought even
       | the System 1.0 feels usability-wise! Compare to any Windows
       | before Windows 95, which finally caught on enough of the
       | System/Mac OS classic desktop metaphor and made things feel not
       | too clunky.
       | 
       | I've probably said it before and I say it once again: the old Mac
       | OS windowing and spatial Finder feels even today better and more
       | usable than any of the current DEs, macOS included. They managed
       | to cram bunch of windows and widgets in the paltry 512x384
       | resolution when nowadays we manage to have max 2 windows in one
       | screen or one window per display. (and yes, there are tiling WMs
       | etc but that's a different story...)
        
         | kitsunesoba wrote:
         | On my personal mac there's a couple of folders that I only ever
         | use in a specific workflow that I have spatial mode flipped on
         | for. It's nice to know that a folder's window will always open
         | at a specific on-screen location with a specific size every
         | time... might sound silly but the removed friction is
         | significant.
        
       | nobleach wrote:
       | I used the original vMac! I had a Mac SE that I tried to pull the
       | rom from. I ended up having to find a rom from "the internet". It
       | was the holy grail at that point in my life. I had the demo
       | version of Excecutor (from ARDI - a clean room reimplementation
       | of the Mac ROM/OS). A year or so later, I had Shapeshifter
       | running INSIDE WinUAE (the Amiga Emulator) I was able to procure
       | a ROM from a Macintosh Quadra. Man.... such good old days!
        
       | metadat wrote:
       | Direct link to the goods:
       | 
       | https://infinitemac.org/
       | 
       | > Using a new Emscripten port of Mini vMac, it is now able to run
       | almost every notable version of Mac OS, from 1984's System 1.0 to
       | 2000's Mac OS 9.0.4.
        
         | lockhouse wrote:
         | This is a very impressive effort. It is mind blowing that the
         | computers and game consoles of my childhood are available
         | online via efforts like this.
        
       | PcChip wrote:
       | is there anything like this for Win 3.x and Win95/98SE, with
       | games pre-installed just like this?
        
         | mihaip wrote:
         | https://www.pcjs.org/ is a similar project on the PC side.
         | 
         | The Internet Archive also has some collections:
         | https://archive.org/details/classicpcgames and
         | https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-28 23:00 UTC)