modder crams g4 cube mac into mac plus
filed under: computing | hacks-mods | retro
May 31st, 2008 post a comment (8) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
Got an old Macintosh or Mac Plus lying around? There’s got to be something better to do with it than turn it into an aquarium, right? That’s what this enterprising modder did when he managed to cram the guts of a Mac G4 Cube into his trusty old Mac Plus, replacing the old B&W CRT with a modern color LCD monitor, as well as the ability to run Mac OS X.
Mac modder Charles Mangin really did an amazing job seamlessly integrating Macs from both the 20th and 21st centuries. At first glance, the machine looks like a stock Mac Plus, but look closer and you’ll see all the detail work that Charles did, like adding a hidden Superdrive (from an iMac G5), a pair of USB ports underneath, as well as a third one tucked away behind a sliding door inside the floppy drive slot.
Thanks to improvements in miniaturization, all of the newer technology fit neatly inside the old case, leaving plenty of room to spare.
He even went so far as to swap out the innards of an old Mac ADB mouse with a modern optical USB one.
The Frankenstein’s monster of a machine is nicknamed “Marvin” after the paranoid robot Marvin from The Hitchikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. If you want to see more of how Marvin came to be, check out photos of entire build over on Charles’ Flickr album. (The mouse mod is documented separately here).
Now all we need is to figure out a way to cram this whole thing inside a Commodore PET, and we’ll be all set.
[via MacMod]
May 31st, 2008 post a comment (8) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
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8 comments post a comment
1. DoesWhat | June 1st, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Very nice idea, there is something quite aesthetically pleasing about this piece of dated technology.
2. karen | June 1st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Super cool idea! I love how the newer technology is so much smaller that it all handily fits inside.
3. joe | June 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
a mac ‘classic’ indeed!
4. Dourado | June 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I adore it. I love mac.
5. Dourado | June 2nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Can I do this in my PC?
6. morgn | June 5th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Wow, so cool. I just got a little misty thinking about my old mac plus, now long gone…
7. Kev | October 15th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Where did you buy the 8″ color monitor? What brand was it and was it a new one of current standards or taken out of some older color macintosh? If so, what Mac? Know of any 9″ color monitors that would fit? Also, I was thinking of throwing a DVD Burner drive in it.. Which drives do you think this might be possible for? Now, you should try to install GarageBand 3 or 2 on this computer…. Then you can make your own songs!!!!!
8. Oliver | November 16th, 2008 at 3:27 am
That’s pretty cool modding up a mac plus to run Mac OSX but don’t you think maybe the sacrifices were a little extreme?
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modder crams g4 cube mac into mac plus