37 years ago today, the first Macs went on sale – just a few days after the airing of the famous “1984” Super Bowl commercial that introduced them. With Macintosh approaching the big 4-0, could a 40th Anniversary Macintosh be right around the corner?
What’s new is old again. (Sonumi for Classic Macs)
Have you heard the tale of Sosumi? Long story short, when Apple began to produce computers that could play audio, the Beatles’ record label “Apple Records” threatened legal actions against Apple Computer. Apple (Computer) won on the premise that they don’t sell music and wouldn’t be competing with them (well, at least not then). As a gag, they boasted their sound capabilities with a sound effect called “Sosumi”. Get it? “So-Sue-Me”!
Well, Sosumi has been around for a long time, since System 7 in fact. It even survived the transition to Mac OS X and has been included in the OS up until last month when macOS Big Sur got released. One of the many changes that Big Sur introduced was remixed alert sound effects, including a remixed version of “Sosumi”, called “Sonumi” (So NEW me!)
I thought it might be fun to convert the new sound effect “Sonumi” down to a System 7 sound file and make it my alert sound effect on my classic Macs. It oddly doesn’t sound out of place, but sort of plays with your head a little in a fun sort of way. In any case, if you’d like a copy – I’ve included a link below. Hopefully Apple doesn’t have a problem with that. (Oh well, Sosumi!)
Download Sonumi for System 7/8/9
How to use this:
- Download the above file, and transfer to your classic Mac
- Use either StuffIt Expander or BinHex to extract
- Take the sound file and drop it into your system suitcase within your System Folder
- Open Control Panels and find the Sound control panel – you should now be able to choose Sonumi!
Enjoy!
Web Browsing with Legacy Proxy
Earlier this year I posted an article about browsing the modern web with classic Macs using Web Rendering Proxy (WRP) – and this is a great way to see modern web pages in your classic browser. It works by transferring an image of the page down as an image map… but wouldn’t it be cool to just browse natively with a classic browser on your vintage Mac? The short answer is… you can… sort of. Read on.
Raspberry Pi Mac Modem
A few months ago I wrote this article about using a Raspberry Pi to connect vintage Macs to the internet via serial cables and PPP. It’s a great solution I think, but it doesn’t exactly “look” the part. For a little retro-fun, I made a much more authentic looking case for my Raspberry Pi Mac modem! Check it out:
Long time, no LC
The LC series or “low-cost color” was introduced in 1990 as an affordable and easily expandable pizza-box Mac that was marketed mostly to school districts in the early 90s. The first of the series was simply called the LC and it was introduced the same time as the Macintosh Classic and IIsi. It was followed up by the LC II, LC III, and the LC 475 which all shared the same pizza-box form factor. Eventually the LC line was expanded to include other types of systems like the all-in-one 500 series and even some PowerMac systems.
Playing MP3s on 68k Macintosh
If you’re looking for a fun (and modern) use for your classic Mac – there’s one option you might not have considered: playing MP3s. Up until last year I didn’t even think this was possible without at least a PowerPC system – but most 040-based Macs and some 030s can actually play MP3 files quite well!
Change the background pattern of desktop accessories
Here’s a quick tip for System 7.5: you can easily set the background pattern of desktop accessories / utilities with the regular “Desktop Patterns” control panel. Simply, hold the Option key down and you’ll have the option to set the background of desktop utilities like Calculator, Find File, Puzzle, Key Caps, and others!
Mistaken Identity: Setting the model name under “About This Macintosh”
In the beginning, the “About This Macintosh” box told us all about our beloved Macs… but then at some point during the System 7 days, it somehow befell an identity crisis and no longer displayed the name of the system. Instead, the window simply said “Macintosh” with a generic icon. This was always a pet peeve of mine, but the good news is – it can be fixed!
Build your own classic Mac OS Web Server with MacHTTP
Your trusty 68k-based classic Mac can actually become a legitimate web server – and it’s fairly easy to set up! All you need is a TCP/IP network connection and MacHTTP.
