Unboxing new-old-stock sealed 3.5' 1MB double density floppies from some company called KAO, then formatting in my Mac Plus so I can make some Asante network box driver floppies!
Quick look at my Mac Plus, which started life as an early-production original Macintosh before being upgraded with the official Apple Mac Plus upgrade kit in the late 80's.
Check out this sweet grape iMac G3 I scored for $15! It's in awesome condition, but a bit dirty. Well, a bit disgusting. Let's run through the specs and clean it up a bit, and talk about what future crazy things we can do with it.
In this video, we're installing 20 year old Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 on our $15 original iMac G3 from 1999. But a Linux install on an iMac G3 PowerPC ain't easy. Watch me struggle to figure out video settings because I did almost no research ahead of time. It's the ultimate obscure 1990's Linux party.
I finally found my dream vintage computer, a Macintosh SE/30. I've been looking for one of these for years, and I finally found one. In this video, we'll be putting in all the parts I've been hoarding for SE/30s over the years, maxing it out with 128 MB of RAM and a Rominator II pirate ROM. I also maybe kind of destroy it a little bit.
This Hyperdata 486 laptop from the early 90's is really weird, so let's review it! Why is there a number pad in the palm rest? Who thought that was a good idea? This thing has a 486 66Mhz and 4 (yes FOUR) megs of RAM. What can you actually do with that? Well, we're going to run it through a few tests, and then we're going to see if it can Linux! I've got Slackware Linux 1.1.2 on ten floppy disks ready to go.
In this video we're tearing apart the $15 Grape iMac G3 to install a modern SATA SSD! This is a first-gen tray loading iMac revision D released in 1999, so the best fastest version of the original iMac. We're going to make it even faster (and way quieter!) by installing a cheap modern SSD from Amazon, along with a cheap SATA to IDE adapter.
Does the Ultra 486 color laptop computer live up to its name? Weird 90s Laptop Reviews #2 In today's video, we'll take a look at the Ultra 486 laptop, a strange off-brand laptop from the mid 90's that could well have been the best 486 laptop ever released, if not for one small issue. This late 486 DX4 100MHz is special in that it comes with a built-in sound card, very rare on a 486 laptop.
Check out these three latest eBay finds. First is an old retail boxed Linux, new and sealed. Then, we have a Gateway Solo Pentium II with Windows 98. Finally we have a 386 laptop from Hyundai... yes, from the same conglomerate who also makes those nice cars.
In this video we'll take a look at my Apple Titanium PowerBook G4. It's an 867 Mhz upgraded to 1GB of RAM, and I've fitted a mSATA SSD in an IDE enclosure. We'll take it apart, look at the RAM and SSD upgrades, and then put it back together and see how it gets along with the modern internet and a few awesome games. It boots into both Mac OSX Tiger and Mac OS 9.2.2, the last and fastest PowerBook generation able to do so.
I recently picked up this super cool Hyundai LT-6 386 laptop, but it turns out it's not in the best condition. Although it powers on, "rickety" might be an understatement. It won't boot from hard drive or disk, and when we take it apart to try and sort it, a few surprises lurk within. Thanks to Eric from NTICompass Computers for pointing out that the floppy drive isn't broken, it's just upside-down. I always miss that kind of thing! Check out his channel here: / @nticompass
Installation process starts at 3:52. Click "show more" below for handy links if you want to try the install yourself! Today we're installing a modern Linux on a 1999 iMac G3 revision D, the fastest version of the original iMac. We're using Adelie Linux, a relatively new distro that has PowerPC 32 bit as a first-class install target.
Today, I just received this sweet graphite iBook G3 SE, the final version of Apple's clamshell iBook G3. This special edition is even special-er, because aside from having the fastest processor in a clamshell, it's also the only one ever released with a DVD-ROM drive. This means it's the only one that's officially compatible with Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger! Let's check out the original box it came in, with some cool original documentation, max out the RAM, and fire this thing up!
Today we'll see how to install Mac OS X Leopard from a USB flash drive! We'll be using our PowerBook G4 Titanium 867Mhz, which is the minimum officially supported machine for Leopard. It's been upgraded to a SSD and 1GB of RAM, so it should run Leopard pretty well.
Over on the MacRumors forums, user Wicknix has just released an update to his TenFiveTube app, which lets PowerPC Macs running 10.5 Leopard browse and watch YouTube! But how well does it work? To find out, we'll upgrade our 867 Mhz PowerBook G4 Titanium from Tiger to Leopard, and give it a spin. This PowerBook is the oldest and slowest officially supported Mac laptop on Leopard, so will this actually be usable? Let's find out!
In this video we're resurrecting a sick iBook Clamshell Special Edition, which is a very special iBook indeed. It's the last and fastest of all the iBook Clamshells at 466Mhz, and the only one with FireWire and a stock DVD drive. That makes it the only Clamshell iBook to be officially Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger compatible.
In the waning days of the PowerPC to Intel transition, Apple was still developing OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. In this video, we'll walk through how to install the never-released OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for PowerPC beta on your Mac G4 or G5. NOTE: This is unreleased beta software. If you install this, you do it at your own risk.
The original white polycarbonate Macbook, specifically the first few Core 2 Duo revisions of the original model, are an incredible value for vintage and classic Mac enthusiasts. In this video, I'll talk about my history with the PowerPC to Intel transition, why I love my Macbook 4,1, and we'll upgrade the RAM and toss in an SSD.
Amazingly, here in 2020 there are still companies making brand new batteries for the iBook G3 Clamshell, a computer that hasn't seen store shelves in 20 years. So of course I bought one. Let's take it apart, test it, and see if it's worth the $60 on Newegg!
In this video, we're upgrading the 1.5 Ghz final PowerBook G4 12 inch to its maximum 1.25GB of RAM and installing an mSATA SSD using the IDE enclosure we've had so much success with. We'll also see if we can figure out what's wrong with that darn latch. We'll then install 10.5 Leopard over FireWire. I may or may not also ramble a bit about why I like this computer so much.
Today we'll be swapping out the hard drive of a PowerBook 1400c with an 8gb CF card with a super-inexpensive IDE adapter that we'll use as an SSD. Although it has a beautiful active-matrix screen, my 1400c is the very slow and cache-less 117mhz version made even slower by a clunky spinning hard drive and just 32mb of RAM. Does it really make a difference? Let's find out!
Today we're upgrading a 2.0 Ghz Dual Processor Power Mac G5 with an m.2 SSD, and maxing out the RAM at 8 GB. We'll tear it down a bit and check out the internals, replace the battery, and talk a little bit about why this computer is so cool (not literally of course - it runs hot as crap). We may or may not run into a few problems with the m.2 to SATA adapter, or SSDs in general, though in the end I still really love this beautiful but inefficient machine.
Today we're taking a look at my Performa 6200CD. Although some very smart people call this the worst Mac of all time, I love it. Let's max out the RAM, and talk a little bit about why this classic desktop Macintosh is so controversial.
How far can you push a Power Macintosh Beige G3 desktop from 1997? Well, today starts an adventure that I've wanted to take for more than fifteen years. This is the first episode in a series of upgrade videos where we upgrade the Beige G3 as far as it can go, and then some. In this episode, we're combining two Beige G3 desktops into one using the best parts from each, and then we'll upgrade the video card and max out the RAM.
How far can you push a Power Macintosh Beige G3 desktop from 1997? Well, today continues our adventure! In this second episode, we're swapping in the G4 processor from a Power Mac "Yikes!" G4, and overclocking it! That's right, we're trying to build the mythical Beige G4! But will it actually work?
How far can we push our Power Macintosh Beige G3 desktop - now a G4! - from 1997? Well, today continues our adventure! In this third episode, we're putting in a ton of upgrades to compliment our newly-installed G4, which we've also managed to overclock just a bit faster. Honestly I'm even more excited about one of these upgrades that I was about the overclocked G4 - we're putting in a PCI SATA controller card! Oh yes, forget that slow 16.6 MBps IDE, we're going 133 MBps! We'll put a SATA SSD off that card, and we should be able to use that as a boot drive. Boot drive for what you may ask? 10.4 Tiger! By the end of this video, we should have Tiger natively booting from an SSD on real-deal SATA. Paired with the G4, this really should be the fastest possible Beige G3 desktop.
This is a very special episode where I'd like to say thank you... with PowerBook 1400's. For details on the giveaway, please read below.
Today we're doing something I've always dreamed of - we're putting a Sonnet Encore G4 1Ghz ZIF upgrade into the Beige Beast! If all goes well, we should wind up with the fastest possible Beige G3. But can this ancient 1997 Power Macintosh really handle 1Ghz of PURPLE POWER? Let's find out! I found this wonderful upgrade at the Apple Rescue of Denver: http://www.applerescueofdenver.com/
The UMAX SuperMac S900 is a beautiful relic from the very darkest days of Apple, where the foundering company attempted to license Mac OS to other manufacturers in a desperate bid to increase their dwindling market share. Although this backfired and nearly killed Apple for good, the UMAX machine is an amazing alternate-universe Macintosh with some interesting features and a surprise hiding inside... In this series, we'll see how far we can upgrade the SuperMac S900 and maybe even bring it on to the modern internet.
Today we're going to be fixing some of the issues we ran into in the last installment, in our quest to make this G3-upgraded 1996 UMAX SuperMac S900 into a souped-up beast that can maybe even live on the modern internet. We'll also install the special UMAX version of Mac OS 8, and poke around the system to see what cool extra utilities and apps come with that system.
I recently picked up this crazy black compact Mac that looks to be a Macintosh SE with a 1GB Jaz drive instead of a floppy, and a CD ROM hacked into the case!I have no idea what's going on with this machine, so let's crack it open together and find out. I think we shall name him Darth Maccus, and we must fear his cursed drives.
It's time to really crack into Darth Maccus, the modded-up Mac SE that I recently picked up. Let's see if we can get this to boot from it's own drives, instead of just from the ROMinator II's ROM disk image, and see if we can find a SCSI optical drive that works. We shall fix you, oh glorious Darth Maccus, and we shall no longer fear your cursed drives.
Aw man, I made some progress... but have we lifted the curse of this crazy modded Mac SE turned SE/30? Let's figure out all of these drives, and see if we can't get them all working at the same time! And while we're at it, let's upgrade this to a version of Mac OS that many think impossible.
Today we're installing a super-rare Sonnet G4 upgrade card in a PowerBook Wallstreet G3, and upping the MHz from 266 to 500! The PowerBook G3 Wallstreet is one of my favorite PowerBooks, not least because it was the last PowerBook ever with the rainbow Apple logo. This upgrade should bring it in line with PowerBooks and iBooks released years afterwards! But did this upgrade survive being sealed in its original anti-static plastic for 20 years? What was the Sonnet upgrade experience new out of the box like? Let's find out!
Welcome to part three of my UMAX SuperMac S900 series, where we're upgrading our rare 90's Macintosh clone with a ton of cool stuff to make it a more modern machine. Absolutely nothing goes wrong, as per usual for our channel.
This Macintosh G4 Cube was heavily upgraded, but at what cost? I've had this beautiful machine in my collection for some time, but I've only ever turned it on twice because it's kind of scary inside. Will a magical blue board from Japan bring this computer back to life? Let's find out together!
Now that we've sorted the scorched power regulator board, how far can we push this incredible piece of early 2000's computing art? I want to stick an MSATA SSD in this thing, but it involves way too many adapters to be viable... maybe. Also, since we've more than doubled the clock speed to a 1.2GHz G4 and maxed out the RAM to 1.5GB, can this thing do the unthinkable and actually play YouTube? Let's find out together!
How can we take our crazy upgraded Mac G4 cube to the next level? The cube's clear acrylic case has some interesting refractions of light shining through it, so let's harness the extreme speed upgrades that only blinky colors can provide, and see just how cool this thing will look with RGB light shining through! I bet this Cube could even run Crysis when we're done.
Today we're upgrading my favorite machine, a Sonnet G4-upgraded Power Macintosh G3 Desktop, with probably the best possible video card - an ATI Radeon 9200 Mac Edition! Taking the machine from 2mb on the motherboard to 128mb, this should be the best possible PCI graphics card for a vintage Mac. But will it give us more than our current 0.5 FPS on YouTube in Tiger?
Just in time for Halloween, it's the return of the Cursed Macintosh SE/30! Now freshly recapped, is it finally un-cursed? Let's open up the spooky package from Steve at Mac84, wrangle this oddball machine back together, and find out!
My beloved iBook G3 Clamshell Special Edition works great now that we've fixed the power jack, and upgraded to an mSATA SSD. It still has one glaring problem though - it's freaking hideous. The once dignified Graphite colors have degraded into a blotchy mess on the rubberized portions of the case, and the Apple logo is long gone. Let's do the famous transparency mod, and see if we can transform this wrinkly old fella into a looker again!
For the longest time, I really thought the PowerBook G3 Pismo was terrible. From the "unique" color of the transparent keyboard to the gigantic white Apple logo and lack of a rainbow anywhere, this and the Lombard seemed like just throw-away bridge machines before the Titanium PowerBook G4 came out. Friends, I think I was very wrong. Come along for my journey of Pismo discovery, and we'll also throw an mSATA SSD and max RAM in here while we're at it! Oh, and stick around until the end - I have big plans for this machine.
So I found a late-90's PS/2 mouse with a land-line telephone built in to it, new in the box. Let's open this up and try calling people with it! I'm sure it sounds amazing... Check out the Tedium article about why this mouse exists, and so much more: https://tedium.co/2020/11/13/technolo...
Minecraft is one of my favorite games of all time, and there's no way it should ever be able to run on the Apple G4 Cube. Well, not a stock one at least. The fine folks at Macrumors have created finely-tuned versions of Minecraft for PowerPC, and our souped up Cube with upgraded graphics and processor should theoretically be able to run it now. Fun fact - our GeForce 6200 video card has twice as much VRAM as the stock Cube had regular RAM! So let's install the tuned Minecraft on the Cube, and see if we get anything close to a playable experience.
Today we're doing an upgrade I've always been curious about - a processor swap in a Powerbook Pismo to take it from G3 to G4! As you probably know from my last video on the Pismo, I was never a huge fan of these machines - but this one is growing on me. So let's push it to the limit! Maybe even far enough to run the IMPOSSIBLE CAT, the beta version Snow Leopard for PowerPC that was never released? 10.6 on a Pismo!
Today, I'm really excited to tell this quick story about the how Apple's PowerBook became the first line of modern laptops with trackpads! We'll also try out an early external ALPS trackpad from the 90's that's directly linked to Apple's history, still sealed in its original packaging.
With the help of an awesome viewer of the channel, today we're finally de-janking the Cube's fancy upgraded 6200 graphics card!
Today we're getting ready for the PowerPC Challenge, where I'm going to use only PowerPC computers for as much of my daily computering as possible for an entire week! I'm choosing the massively-upgraded G4 Cube, along with a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet. Let's make a checklist of everything I'm going to need to do during a typical week, and see if we can get these machines to cover it! Read more about the PowerPC Challenge at MacYak! http://mac-yak.com/2020/12/10/introducing-the-2021-68k-ppc-challenge/
Today we're turning our 2005 Power Macintosh Dual G5 tower into a retro PowerPC Minecraft server! To help PowerPC Minecraft players get the most out of their limited machines, a server can take the load off of world generation, allowing PowerPC Macs to get the highest possible in-game framerate. It should also be a lot of fun to play multiplayer with other people also using vintage Macs! But will this 16 year old one-time monster of a machine enough to handle multiple players? Which PowerPC Linux distro will work best? Let's find out!
Today we're taking a trip into our retro Minecraft server, running on an upgraded Power Macintosh G5 tower, to see all of the cool stuff that you've all built! The server is running Minecraft 1.2.5 on a dual-processor G5 with 8gb of RAM, using Adelie Linux to get a full 64 bit version of Java. We've been live for over a week now, and in that short time you've built some really incredible stuff - more than 100 of you!
oday we're back with our favorite frenemy, the Cursed Macintosh SE/30! The person who originally modified this mutant Macintosh used it for music production, and haphazardly glued a bunch of random speakers all over the case. Let's fix that by installing nice new fancy speakers in it, along with something special to really punch up the volume!
Oh my goodness. Today we're swapping out the Sonnet processor upgrade in the G4 Cube for an upgrade that's even more ridiculous. Just how much G4 power can we squeeze out of this Cube? What will it take to make this the ultimate MEGA CUBE? Most importantly, can we get playable framerates out of the Cube on our Minecraft Server spawn area?! Answers to all this and more in this week's Cubey shenanigans!
It seems like everyone has a cool miniature version of their favorite classic tech - except us Mac fans! Today, with the help of long-time friend of the channel Taylor, we're out to right this wrong. What does it take to turn this awesome 3D printed mini Blue and White G3 case into a working Power Mac? Stay tuned and find out!
Now that the Mac Yak PowerPC Challenge is over, it's time to take our community Minecraft server off of the loud and power-hungry PowerMac G5 tower and on to a machine that's a little more reasonable. Is a 12 year old 2ghz Mac Mini up for the challenge? Or, is a new Raspberry Pi 4 actually a stronger computer now? Let's install Debian Linux on these two machines, pit them head-to-head with some benchmarks, and transplant our server into a new home!
The Toshiba Libretto - a computer I've dreamt of owning since I was a kid, and I finally have one to experiment with! This Libretto 50CT is decked with with a Pentium 166 MMX, 32 megs of RAM, and Windows 98 on an incredibly loud and clicky hard drive. Let's give this tiny miracle of a machine a new lease on life with a solid state hard drive, and the most interesting operating system of its time - Apple's Rhapsody OS, the precursor to Mac OS X, which was actually released to developers on Intel!
I hope you have your bits-and-bytes diggin' gloves on, because it's time for operating system archaeology! After playing around with Apple Rhapsody on my Toshiba Libretto, I started to really curious about the origins of Mac OS X and modern macOS. Is there anything in modern macOS left behind from the old days of Steve Jobs' NeXTSTEP? Lets install NeXTSTEP on an old Compaq Presario and Apple Rhapsody on a PowerBook G3 Wallstreet, compare them to Mac OS X and macOS Big Sur, and find out!
Today we're tackling the last of the Cursed Mac's gremlins - a sketchy original power supply which was literally hack-sawed apart by the previous modder, and barely provides enough power for all of our mods. To do so, we're going to modify a modern Seasonic ATX power supply to cram 300W into this little guy. I hope you enjoy white-knuckle soldering, because one wrong wire and I'll wind up blowing the whole thing up!
Today I'm getting artistic, and trying to upgrade the Cursed Mac's looks to match all of the goodies we've crammed inside. Will our super special case mod arrive in time? Will I completely ruin the case by trying to get a little too creative? Bonus: let's mount all of the crazy hacked-in drives, but with metal and screws instead of double-sided tape!
Today we're going online, 90's style! Well, a retrofuturistic 1990's where Hayes-compatible dial-up modems could connect to a magic internet signal that permeates the air - WIFI! We're trying out an awesome RS232 WiFi modem emulator from TheOldNet, which requires a little bit of work to get running on old Macs. But maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live out a dream I mentioned in my very first-ever YouTube video.
Today I'm going to go all-in on fixing the Cursed Mac's case, with some bondo - and a new blue transparent case from MacEffects! What could possibly go wrong?
It's finally happening, after weeks of of not-so-subtle hints. And some of you totally guessed right! Today we're exploring one of the rarest upgrades in existence for the Macintosh SE/30, and then we're installing in the Cursed Mac. It's going to be wild!
It's no secret that the internet has become mostly terrible over the last decade or so. Long gone is the open web, and in it's place is a quagmire of ads, trackers and social media blobs that have gotten so complicated, we have to buy new computers each year just so Big Tech can track us better! Well, forget all that. I've built a service that strips the modern web back down to basics - text and images. So far, in fact, that even ancient web browsers can handle it again! Here's the story behind FrogFind.com and 68k.news.
Today we're taking a modern NAS, graciously donated to the channel, and seeing if we can turn this into the ultimate bridge machine for vintage Macs! Can we use this thing to make files available to all of our vintage machines? Better yet... can we get it to run Snow Leopard Server?!
Today, we finish a long journey of case modding that began long before I found this 1989 compact Mac on Craigslist, already painted black with the case chopped up to fit a CD ROM and 1GB Jaz disk drive. Oh, and stick around until the end for a special announcement! For Peter Parker, it was a radioactive spider. For the four turtles, it was a canister of green goop. For this lowly Macintosh SE/30, it was a fateful encounter with modding culture that led to this, it's near-final form! After adding a ton of internal mods myself - solid state hard drive, 68040 processor upgrade, modern power supply - today I'm taking the cosmetics to the highest level possible... whether that level is beauty or gaudiness, though, depends on your taste I suppose. All I know is that I love it, and I think you might too. So join me today in adding a wonderful MacEffects transparent blue case and a tasteful amount of lighting, so that we can all marvel at the heavily upgraded internals of this machine whene
I went to the amazing vintage computer swap meet hosted by VCF in Wall, NJ, and I found entirely way too many amazing vintage computers! Mac stuff, vintage UNIX machines, and some super funky laptops. Plus, I got to hang out with Steve from @Mac84 and Mike from Mike's Mac Shack! Check out Steve's finds from the swap meet here: • VCF 2021 Swap Mee... and here: • VCF 2021 Swap Mee... I hope you're planning on going to the VCF's Vintage Computer Festival East this October - because I'll be there!
Today we're fixing up a PowerBook 540c, a beautiful laptop from 1994 that brought many firsts to both Apple and the entire computer industry, but with a fatal flaw - the most comically under-engineered hinge in the history of Mac laptops. Thanks @ThisDoesNotCompute for letting me include some footage from your similar PowerBook 145B fix!
Today we're going to take a look at a Quadra 700, Apple's first Mac minitower and an absolutely iconic machine which, for some reason, makes me think of dinosaurs... We're also going to max out this machine with a really incredible purple upgrade with an interesting story, and talk about some big plans I have for this machine. Thanks @Mac84 for the cameo!
Today we're installing a really interesting Japanese G3 accelerator by InterWare, which will hopefully add the incredible power of a G3 266mhz to our lowly 133mhz PowerBook 1400c! Hopefully we won't run into any super obnoxious issues along the way... Bonus - the accelerator still has it's original packaging, including the super cheap-o installation tools!
Today we're putting UNIX on the Quadra 700... but not just any UNIX! This is last and greatest version of Apple's A/UX. Let's see what kind of shenanigans we can pull, and get this Quadra ready to be a game server at this year's Vintage Computer Festival!
Today we're turning the Quadra 700 into the mythical Power Macintosh 700, using a Daystar PowerPro 601 accelerator that radically changes the entire architecture of the computer. Just how much of a difference will it make, and can we install a completely unsupported version of MacOS?
Today we have the most powerful G4 machine that Apple ever released, and we're using a custom-built CPU to turn it into the fastest G4 in the world! Well, one of them at least. But we're not stopping here - this is part one in our quest to build the world's fastest G4 Power Macintosh!
Today we're tearing into the achilles heel of Macintosh gaming - graphics cards! In this second installment of our quest to build the world's fastest Power Mac G4, we're hacking a Windows-only GPU to work in our dual 2.0 GHz Mac G4. Oh, and we might accidentally kill the power supply, and have to hack in a modern ATX PSU!
The PowerMac G4 MDD comes with some of the fastest IDE available on Macs: ATA-100. Using a cheap IDE to SATA adapter results in blazing fast performance. But, can we push our speeds even further with a dedicated PCI to SATA controller card, flashed for Mac? Also, is buying a pre-flashed SATA card from eBay worth it? Let's find out together!
Today we're upgrading the Quadra 950, an absolutely BEHEMOTH tower from 1992. Can we fit the full (and bonkers) 256 megs of RAM in there? Better yet, can it run A/UX? This might be the perfect server to run our MUD at VCF East this year.
Today we're tearing back into the Quadra 950 to up the cooling, make a few internal changes, and get it ready to be a CircleMUD server at VCF East this year! Also, I make a dad joke.
In today's very special episode, we have the Mac that got me into vintage Macs... literally. I bought this LC575 from a thrift shop way back when I was in high school, and I promptly ruined it while trying to upgrade it. Today, it has no motherboard, no screws, and no drives... and it hasn't been turned on in well over a decade. Fortunately, thanks to Alex from @appleontheapex I not only have a new LC575 motherboard - but it has an INCREDIBLE PowerPC upgrade card on it! Can we bring this Mac back to life? And if so, how far can we push it? Let's find out!
Today we're checking out the RaSCSI, a device that connects to a Raspberry Pi, and lets it communicate directly with the SCSI bus on your vintage Mac (and other machines too!) Using the RaSCSI software, you can emulate drives, networking adapters, and even cool stuff like video cards are possible (in the future). There's amazing functionality in the web interface, including absolute magic like download a file from the internet, and mount it inside an HFS cd rom image on the fly! Getting files from the web onto a vintage Mac was never easier. We also have the BEAUTIFUL PotatoFi case, an Apple-esque Snow White design language case for the RaSCSI and Raspberry Pi together. Let's put this stuff together, and see just what it can do!
A few months ago, we had a grand ol' time with TheOldNet's Serial WiFi Modem Emulator. Well, those boffins have released an updated version! Today, let's pair it with our Apple //e, and pit it against our tried-and-true Uthernet ][ ethernet card. Then let's use the //e as a terminal to our Quadra 950 running A/UX!
Today we're taking an amazing mid-90's Macintosh clone, the Power Computing PowerWave 150, and starting on an epic journey of extreme upgrades. We'll talk about the history behind this strange machine, and how it fits into the weird world of mid-90's Macintosh. Then, we're going to answer the most important question: How far can we push this rare machine?
What happens when you upgrade a Mac from 1995 to 1ghz? Today we have one of the rarest SoNNeT Macintosh accelerators ever produced - the SoNNeT Crescendo PCI/G4 1ghz! I cannot believe I have this absolute grail of a mythical upgrade. But will it work in our Power Computing Macintosh clone?
Today we're taking out 1995 Power Computing PowerWave Macintosh clone build across the finish line - or at least that's the plan! We've run into a bunch of problems so far with our ancient and rare upgrades, so we'll see if we can fix them up while adding in a whole host of cool upgrades! Will we end up with our dream build - a 1GHz Mac clone running OSX Tiger with 1gb of RAM? Join us for the exciting conclusion of our extreme Mac Clone build!
Today we're doing the impossible - Minecraft on a computer from 1995!
Today we're answering a question that no one has ever asked before - will two 90's Macintosh clones, based on the same architecture, actually be able to use exactly the same set of upgrades and accelerators? And if they are, will the perform exactly the same? Well buckle up, because who knows what kinds of problems we'll run into!
Today, we're talking a look at FlappyMac, a brand new and incredibly fun game for vintage Macs, designed from scratch by the one-and-only @gruz ! This game should work on pretty much any vintage Mac, from PowerPCs down to black-and-white compact Macs. We'll even try it on a Mac Plus! Check out the game here: https://gruz.itch.io/flappymac
The Cursed Mac is getting a spooky upgrade for VCF East - We're modding a transparent MacEffects case to fit all the upgrades, and let people gander at the crazy accelerators inside! But will the Cursed Mac lose some of it's Cursed Magic with this new set of digs? Let's find out!
Today we're hitting the road with a bunch of the heavily modded Macs, and taking them to VCF East!
At VCF East this year, I rescued a pretty beat up PowerBook 540c, which just so happened to have a PowerPC upgrade and maxed-out RAM! Today, let's combine my two 540c's to make one perfect one, and test out the PPC upgrade to see if it's really as mind-blowing as 1994 Apple claimed it to be.
Now that TenFourFox is no longer in development as of October 2021, how will we ever subject our PowerPC Macs to the horrors of the modern web... safely? Today, we're trying out a few options to keep the web alive on PPC.
Today we're taking Apple's amazing 90's subcompact PowerBook, the 2400c (which was actually built by IBM!), and upgrading it to solid state storage. But before we do, can we save it from ITSELF?']
The Macintosh Portable was an iconic machine released in 1989. The problem is, I don't own one. Let's build a bootleg Mac Portable and see if it's any good!
Well, it's the holidays, plus I'm in the middle of moving to a brand new house. So, it's the perfect time to procrastinate and check out an old sealed PowerPC software compilation! Let's break out the G3 iBook Clamshell and have some good ol' fashioned shareware shenanigans.
Today we're exploring a brand "new" version of OSX released for PowerPC Macs - the unofficial 10.5.9 Sorbet Leopard! Combining parts of 10.5 and the unreleased 10.6 PowerPC Beta, and throwing in a bunch of interesting quirks and features, Sorbet promises Tiger-level compatibility and speed, with Leopard-level compatibility. Does it live up to this promise? If I try it on my G4 upgraded Pismo, will it literally explode?! Let's find out!
Today we're upgrading a very neglected iMac G4 to fix some of its issues, install an SSD, and get it ready for some big adventures I have planned for it! Plus, Sorbet Leopard!
Many moons ago, we installed Adelie Linux (the hard way!) on an iMac G3 to get a modern Linux kernel on a machine that should run no such thing. Well, Adelie has a lot of update live install DVDs that make things much easier! Unfortunately, they don't work right on PowerPC Macs. So today, let me show you the work-arounds I've figured out to get a fully-functional modern Linux desktop on your gracefully-aging PowerPC Mac! Also, low-key face reveal lol.
Today, I want to do something a little bit different - an Action Retro-spective! Let's look at some highlights from 2021, get a sneak peak of the computers we'll be looking at in 2022, and oh yeah... my face is in this one!
Adelie Linux, my favorite PowerPC Linux distro, has recently released a bunch of live media with bootable modern desktop environments - which work on PowerPC Macs! Let's try them on a whole bunch of old and weirdly-upgraded Macs, to see just how well KDE Plasma 5 runs on our beloved yet neglected architecture.
Today we're installing the latest version of OpenBSD 7.0 - from 2021! - on a 333mhz iMac G3 from 1999. That's right - a totally modern OS! And in the spirit of the PowerPC Challenge, I want to see just how modern of a computing experience we can eek out of this thing.
Today we're going to try and install Debian 11 Sid on a PowerMac G5, which is known to have a broken bootloader and almost installing from the netinstall CD. The catch is - I've already successfully installed it once, but I don't remember exactly how I did it. So today, let's try to reproduce the install for posterity, and then explore bleeding-edge Debian Linux on a 20 year old Power Mac!
Today we're checking out a Quad G5 - that's right, there's TWO DUAL-CORE PowerPC G5 processors in this 20 year old behemoth!
What does it take to become a Twitch streamer? Do you really need the latest and greatest hardware? Nope! I became a Twitch Affiliate by streaming with NOTHING ELSE but a Power Mac G5!
Today we're going to try running a PowerMac G5 from modern NVMe on PCIe! How much speed gain can we really get from it, and can we install most or all of Linux on the drive for a super souped-up monstrosity of a Power Mac?
Industrial disks on modules - neat little SSDs that come in tiny packages meant to fit directly into IDE or SATA motherboard connectors in industrial machinery - no bulky data cables required! But, how well do they work in old computers? Could they be a way better solution than CF card adapters? Not only are they faster, likely more reliable, and leave much more airflow room in the case - but they might even work out to be cheaper. Let's install one, take a bunch of benchmarks against other modern retrocomputing IDE replacement solutions, and find out!
Today we're taking a humble 600Mhz iMac G3 from 2001, tossing in a few upgrades, and installing OpenBSD 7.0. Why? So we can stream it directly to Twitch with ffmpeg, of course!
Today we're cracking open the best WORST compact Mac that Apple ever released - the COLOR CLASSIC! Can we upgrade it beyond all recognition, or will I absolutely ruin it? Let's find out!
Today we're exploring an adorable little Macintosh clone from 1996 - the UMAX SuperMac C500! We'll tear it down, install a flash disk module, and then reinstall MacOS from the original UMAX install CD! Make sure you stick around until the end - there's a surprise!
Today we're looking at a bunch of PowerPC, G3 and G4 upgrades - including an "impossible" one for Macs with no real upgrade path.
Today we're checking out the BlueSCSI, a fantastic open source and open hardware SCSI replacement device. Have a failing old Mac hard drive? This one's for you!
Hot Dog Linux is an incredible labor of love for vintage computing GUIs. As a ridiculously convoluted Linux window manager - by design! - Hot Dog Linux is the best and worst of the vintage computing experience, backed by the power of Slackware 15.
I absolutely love the BlueSCSI, an open hardware and open source replacement for your old SCSI hard disks. However, we got some less than stellar benchmarks last time. Today, let's try and get as much speed as possible!
Today we're building a brand new STEALTH Apple IIGS, in a beautiful transparent case, with a brand new mechanical keyboard!
Today we're running Windows 2000 on top of Mac OS 9, and Mac OS 9 on top of Windows 2000. What software can rwe run? Which one will be worse? What in the sweet Spindler is wrong with me? Let's find out together! Try this madness yourself: Virtual PC with Windows 2000 on Macintosh Garden: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/virt...
Today, we're installing a CUSTOM dual 2GHz G4 processor card into a Power Mac Quicksilver. Then, we'll take a look at the new version of Sorbet Leopard, and see just what kind of crazy performance increase we'll see.
I found a Kaypro with a bunch of crazy modifications. Let's dig in, and I'll tell you the miraculous story of how it came back to life at VCF East.
Today, we're going through the wacky upgrades in this cursed Kaypro, and fixing up all the exploded bits. Then, we'll get it ONLINE!
Today, we're going to upgrade the Stealth Apple IIGS with an extremely rare accelerator - the ZipGS! We'll finally be fast enough to play the IIGS port of Wolf3d. Let's explore this weird accelerator!
Today we're installing Windows 95 from floppy disks on our totally normal 90's industrial Pentium PC! Also, we'll see how the membrane keyboard works out for gaming.
Hello supporters! Today, we're installing Sorbet Leopard on the Big Chungus Cube to try and get the best possible Minecraft performance for VCF East next week.
Hello Patreon friends! Lets get the TAM ready for VCF East by fixing a few remaining issues - new install of BeOS so Doom works right, and we'll get the DosDude1 card working! Oh, and we'll install some silly stuff on there.
I was at VCF East this weekend - absolutely amazing. World famous soldering wizard Colin Mistr (aka DosDude1) was there too, and performed a world-first upgrade to a very special Macintosh. Full story coming soon, but see if you can guess what exactly is going on here ???? (I know I saw a lot of you there - no cheating!!)
Hi Patreon friends! I picked up a really neat terminal at VCF East... but it doesn't work. Let's fix it! Also, Sol-20 update. It was so awesome seeing some of you there!!
Let's try to get an OS X installer booting on the G3 TAM. I'm sure it's probably super easy.
Hello Patreon friends! I found a Rev B iMac G3, which is PERFECT for a super secret upgrade that I might spoiler in this here bonus video... It's not totally happy though. Let's check it out!
Hello Patreon friends! I found a tiny potato of a computer - a Psion 5mx with 16mb of RAM and 32 whole megahertz! Let's check it out, have some fun with it, and of course - run DOOM.
Hello Patreon friends! I recently picked up way too many Zenith Supersport laptops. Like, an unreasonable amount. And boy howdy are they ever in a state. Will we ever get any of them to run ELKS Linux?!
Hello Patreon Friends! Today, let's solve that flickery iMac screen once and for all with a BRAND NEW flyback transformer! Plus, we'll test out the HARMONi in a different revision iMac, to see if it really won't work - or if that's just an old time urban legend. Flyback link: https://t.co/QficJW8062
Hello Patreon friends! Remember that funny Hand386 we were messing around with? Well, it grenaded itself. Come watch my ill-fated experiments, and my attempts to resuscitate it.
Hello Patreon friends! Time to break out some SGI goodness. I've had an Indigo2 for a while, and I just recently picked up another from a friend. It's slightly faster! Let's crack them open and check 'em out.
Hello Patreon friends! Holy cow did I find some cool stuff at the VCF East June 2023 swap meet. Let's check it out together!
Hello Patreon friends! I just got an SGI Indigo2 10000 IMPACT, a nearly top-of-the-line machine. However, it was sold as "untested" - which we all know means "definitely doesn't work". Let's tear into it, and see if we can find any shenanigans lurking inside!
Hello supporters! My Libretto started chewing through SD cards, so I want to replace that with the perfect bootable CF card adapter. Plus, let's goof around with my new full size dock!
Hello Patreon friends! I recently got wind of an IPS display that's supposedly a drop in replacement for the Hand386. So, let's drop it in!
I found an iMac G3 with a touch screen! Come join me mid-tinkering and let's see what's up with this thing!
An old high school friend contacted me about another old friend, who was clearing out his grandfather's workshop. What I found was incredible...
Hello Patreon friends! Steve and I fixed BOTH of the dead Macintosh TVs I recently found! Ok well fine... STEVE fixed them and I hung around and cracked jokes.
Hello Patreon friends! Today, let's try to repair a PowerBook Duo 270. It goes great, no problems, everything is fine... Bonus Video
Hello Channel Members! Today I'm prepping a few computers to bring along to VCF Midwest... at the very last moment. Here's hoping they all work!
Patreon Video
Hello Patreon friends! Today we're building a modded GBA for use in a future video!
Hello Patreon friends! Today we're building a nice classic Pentium system out of a bunch of garbage parts!
Hello Patreon friends! Let's check out the cool stuff I picked up at the VCF East Swap Meet 2023!
Hello Patreon friends! Today I've got something goofy for you - I've been hanging on to an ancient South Park fan "game" I wrote as a young angsty high school junior! Let's walk through it in excruciating, cringey detail.