For a while now, a go-to solution to replace mechanical SCSI hard drives was the SCSI2SD. It’s still a great way to add high capacity storage to a vintage Mac – but now there’s a new kid in town, the BlueSCSI. This post covers what makes the BlueSCSI special, and a strong contender to replace your classic machine’s mechanical drive.
One of the coolest visual mods available today for the SE and SE/30 has to be the custom transparent cases created by https://maceffects.com. In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of swapping out the stock case for one of these beauties.
It’s not every day that new software comes out for antique computers – but a few days ago, the insanely cool “MacFilm” was released! With it, you can play full-screen movies on your black and white compact Mac. It seems to run well on the SE/30 and can even run respectably on a 68000-based Mac SE, Classic, or Plus!
You can download it, complete with instructions from the link below:
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:
Enjoy!
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.
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!
Back in the day, Mac users generally shrugged off the dreaded “Y2K” problem. Macs since the beginning could store dates in 4 digits and work with dates well after 2000. However, back then we knew there was a time in the distant future where we would start running into date-related problems… unfortunately that time is now. Classic Macs may have trouble setting dates 2020 and beyond, but the good news is there’s a solution – at least for now. Continue reading
The answer to most technology questions is “it depends” – and this is certainly true for selecting an OS for a classic Mac. Each option comes with pros and cons.
If you’re a fan of classic Macs, check out Classicbot! This cute little guy was created by playsometoys, a Hong-Kong based startup.
They also make an iBot, a classic black Classicbot, and a plushie version along with various other retro goodies.
Take a look here: https://classicbot.com/
If you’re just getting started with a classic Mac, or are a long time fan – there are some pieces of software that are downright essential to have on hand. The best part is, most of these are freely available online and take up very little space on older hard drives. Continue reading
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