Over on the 68kmla forums, a website dedicated to old Macs built before 1994, [zydeco] released his Android port of Mini vMac, a Macintosh Plus emulator that puts the power of a Motorola MC68000 processor and System 7 on any computer.
Unlike the original Macintosh, or the subsequent revision that bumped the RAM up to 512 kilobytes, the Mac Plus was actually useful. With the addition of a SCSI port and support for 4 Megabytes of RAM, it’s not only possible to browse the Internet, but also act as a server. There’s a reason [Sprite_tm] chose to rebuild one of these classic, all-in-one machines to act as a home server; they really do epitomize the elegant computers from a more civilized age.
68kmla user [FlyingToaster] even went so far as to put a Mac Plus in his nook touch. With this, he’s got a full-blown installation of System 7 running on an e-ink screen, complete with Lemmings, Gauntlet, and Tetris.
It should be possible to plug this emulated box into the Internet. Unfortunately, experience tells us it won’t be a very pleasant browsing experience outside Hackaday’s retro edition.
Sacrilege!
then why won’t they port some useful software to android, say SolidWorks or CATIA
Very cool! Probably not very useful, except for some nostalgia and playing old games, but still cool. I used Macs from System 7.0.1 through 8.6. Good Times!
Frankly, if you aren’t using this to run the amazing game ‘infotron’ you’re wasting your time.
Also, Escape Velocity. I’ve been waiting a long time to conquer the universe.
YES! Awesome game.
The swedish game Dubbelmoral comes to mind too…
I have a Mac Plus emulator running on my gps ^^ :P
This is very misleading. He didn’t rebuild the Mac to be used as a home server because it was a competent machine. He gutted the machine and used the case because he liked the case. The computing power was provided by a Dockstar.
Agreed, but the reason I chose this particular case is because the hardware it housed was so awesome and I had such good memories of it, so I wanted something physical to remind me of it.
Its amazing how the mind works.
It must be fifteen years or more since I saw that screen-saver’s logo, and yet I recognised it instantly- before I even read a word on the webpage.
Older versions of iCab might improve your browsing experience. Just for kicks, I’m posting this using iCab and System 7.55
http://www.icab.de
I’ve been running Mini vMac on my idevice for years no – was there really never a port for droids??
It’s damn cool, I think, that I managed to image my Mac SE’s harddrive a long time ago before I put it in storage (It’s a whopping 20MB!) and can play all my old games, look at my old macpaints, or even grade school homework.
Mac II ROM – https://sites.google.com/site/oldmacarchive/roms
Now you can retrovert your MacQuariam.
I’ve had Mini vMac on my Evo 3D since I got it. Sound gets a little scratchy at times but overall it’s a nice little diversion. (Plus I can type things up in a real word processor!)
What I’d really like to see is a complete port of Basilisk II, which emulates 68k Macs up to the 68040-powered Quadras.
I cannot quite vouch for it, as I have barely gotten it to work, but the DroidMac project (now dead) seems worthwhile. It boots up fine immediately after an install (using a Quadra650 ROM and a 7.5.5 .img), but it seems to either freeze once it’s done booting, or just refuse to accept input. If you can figure a way around this, or feel like taking up the reins of the project, go right ahead. If you get it working, please do share with the rest of us. :)
It’s based on Basilisk II, so it might actually play games like the above-mentioned (@Juliansr, @Brian Benchoff) Escape Velocity, which requires at least 8MB RAM to function. Considering MinivMac only has 8MB to begin with, EV won’t run.
Getting Escape Velocity to run on a portable device has been a dream of mine since the first port of MinivMac to Nintendo DS. I would love nothing more than to miss my stop on the train because I was playing EV. :D
Wups. stupid me using a Quadra 650 ROM, even though it’s only compatible with a IIci and a Q900. Unfortunately, changing to a Q900 ROM didn’t fix the problem. The mouse input still seems to be ignored.
Also, here’s the link I forgot to attach to my last comment: http://droidmac.blogspot.com/
@HAD, please consider adding “edit comment” functionality. I feel bad for double-posting just to correct myself.
Hah, I wandered into that thread just a couple days ago. Glad to see others are keeping track of the cool stuff at 68kmla.