arcadimac: best use for an old imac [casemod]

October 8th, 2008 comments (2) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob

Got an old Apple iMac lying around? Here’s a great way to put your computing dinosaur to good use.

Mac modder Napes took an original bondi blue iMac, built it into a custom cocktail-format arcade cabinet, and transformed it into a full-fledged arcade gaming system. Thanks to the scan lines on the iMac’s bubbly 15″ color CRT, it’s the perfect display for that retro arcade feel.

The arcadiMac runs on a 233MHz PowerPC 750 (G3) processor, which may not seem like much by today’s standards, but it’s plenty powerful to run most classic arcade games (other then NEOGEO) using MacMame emulator software.

To get all the real arcade buttons and joysticks to work with the iMac, Napes wired them through an iPac USB controller interface, and set up all the key mappings with QuickKeys. The total cost for the entire project was under $200 bucks (plus several months of blood, sweat and tears).

Ready to build your own arcadiMac? Napes plans on posting a build guide over on MacMod so you can make one for yourself.

filed under:  computing hacks + mods video games

October 8th, 2008 comments (2): stumble it! digg it! by: technabob