Category Archives: Apple

Building a Classic Mac Support Server

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If you’re a classic Mac enthusiast, you know that it’s sometimes difficult to enjoy if you don’t have the right tools. Things like the choosing the right system software, the right version(s) of Stuffit Expander, and so forth. Then, getting that software to the machine can be a challenge. Floppy disks are problematic for a number of reasons. Using AppleTalk to connect your classic Mac to a modern network if challenging as support was removed years ago from MacOS X.

Luckily for us, there’s a great pre-made installation called “MacIPRpi” for Raspberry Pi. It delivers a suite of tools that are already configured and ready to use. I’ve used it for a couple of years and it’s worked great. For most folks, this will serve you well!

However, recently I’ve attempted to do certain things it couldn’t handle. This is mainly due to netatalk being updated since the image was created. This blog post contains my notes as I set out to create a newly updated version of this suite of tools from scratch.

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Installing an Ethernet card and video card and other upgrades for a Mac SE/30.

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(The following was a Twitter thread on March 10, 2021 for #MARCHintosh.)

But there’s only one slot, you say? It’s all a matter of using a clever part to adapt a pass-through.

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Another Visit to The Computer Museum at System Source in Baltimore MD.

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On July 10, 2021, I visited the Computer Museum at System Source in Baltimore MD as part of the Vintage Computer Federation (VCF) Repair Workshop. I also visited the museum in 2020.

Warning: Image heavy page ahead!

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A Visit to The Computer Museum at System Source, Baltimore, MD

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On Feb 15, 2020, I visited the Computer Museum at System Source in Baltimore, MD as part of a VCF Federation Repair Workshop weekend. The museum there is mind blowing. Want to see some pictures?

Warning: Image heavy page ahead!

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Recapping the Apple PowerBook 160 LCD Display

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(This was originally a Twitter thread from May 26, 2022)

May 26, 2022

Today I’m going to recap the LCD display on this PowerBook 160. It has a passive matrix LCD display capable of displaying 4-bit grayscale (16 shades of gray). The display was dim before with some severe artifacts (after adjusting the contrast slider) but now it will only show a black screen.

@mac84tv has an excellent page that lists the capacitors needed for this recap along with the links to Mouser to purchase.

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Make an Apple // disc for BASIC week at Reddit RetroBattlestations

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Apple //e for BASIC weekBASIC week at Reddit /r/retrobattlestations is over but you can relive the fun on your Apple // without any typing! Simply follow these steps to download the disk image to a new disk for your machine.

  1. Connect your laptop, tablet or phone’s headphone jack to the tape input jack on the back of your Apple // using a 1/8″ mini headphone cable.
  2. Turn the volume up to maximum.
  3. Turn on your machine and hold control and hit reset to get to a ] prompt.
  4. Insert a blank disk into drive 1 (it will be erased!).
  5. Turn on caps lock and type LOAD and hit return.
  6. Begin playing the .WAV file below on your device.

If all goes well, in about 2 minutes you should have a floppy that you can now boot from. When it’s finished, hit return to reboot your machine. ProDOS should load BASIC. Once it does, type LOAD REDDIT and then RUN.

[Apple // .WAV file to disc for BASIC week program 5.5MB]

Credit for creating the .WAV file from a .DSK image goes to C2T found at ASCII Express.

Enjoy!

 

 

Create a local web-based Apple II disc server

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Here are the steps I used to create a local web-based Apple II disc server. This method uses the c2t tool for converting .dsk disk images to .wav audio files suitable for playback into the tape in jack of the Apple II. The Apple Disc Server site does this with preexisting disk images already converted to .wav files. I thought it would be nice to create a web-based service that would allow you to convert .dsk images to .wav files on the fly. This enables you to browse Apple II software with your iPad and instantly convert it to a disk.

 

  • Enable Apache server on your Mac
  • Create a directory (default is “c2t”) for the new service in /Library/WebServer/Documents
  • Create a new temporary directory (default is “tmp”) inside this new directory
  • Change ownership and permissions 
     sudo chown www:www /Library/WebServer/Documents/c2t/tmp
     sudo chmod g+w /Library/WebServer/Documents/c2t/tmp
  • Download c2t and wget and install in your path

DIY NES Gamepad to iPad Adapter

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In my last post, I showed that I could use my homebrew C64 USB keyboard with the iPad using the Camera Connection Kit. What was interesting was when I opened iMAME (you were lucky enough to snag it, right?) and accidentally pressed keys on the keyboard. iMAME said it was enabling iCade mode. I thought this was interesting and looked it up.

iCade connects via Bluetooth and acts as a Bluetooth keyboard. My keyboard was connected via USB. Could a USB keyboard work to control games on the iPad? Maybe the connection type didn’t matter? Could I create an adapter that connects via USB and lets you use standard game controllers in iMAME?

iCade sends key strokes when a button is pressed and once again when it’s released. The keys are documented for developers. I launched iMAME again with the USB keyboard plugged in to confirm and as expected the keys worked to control the games.

The next part was pretty straight forward. Make a USB keyboard with an Arduino (see previous post on how this was done) but instead of an actual keyboard matrix, use a game pad. I chose to use my trusty original NES game pad since they’re so easy to interface with.




I threw together a quick case from LEGO and hot glued in two jacks, one for the NES controller and one for USB. The iPad powers the Arduino and the NES controller so no power supply is needed.

And there you have it, a DIY NES Gamepad to iPad via USB adapter. I’ll post the code later when it’s been cleaned up a bit. The only other game I’ve tested was Atari’s Greatest Hits and it seemed to work fine. In theory, any game that supports the iCade should work.

C64 USB Keyboard works with iPad

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Just a follow up to the C64 USB keyboard Arduino project that I made last week. I was curious if it would work on the iPad using the iPad Camera Connection kit. So I tried it out and was greeted with the error “Cannot Use Device” and “The connected USB device is not supported.” I dismissed the window and tried anyway and it worked! I was able to type in any application.

Any application that is except the Manomio C64 emulator on the iPad/iPhone. I doubt that any USB keyboard would work there, not just mine. Maybe support for USB keyboards could be added?