Kabootie computey!

Retrocomputing fun.

Hot take: beige is a very nice color for computers.

Kabootie!: https://www.kabootie.com
Classic Macintosh Game Demos: https://classicmacdemos.com/

Public Key

npub18kve35ypyrg9w0ev5yw4lae843thu6gzfmy0q3r9wv9sja8zex4s6ss6p7

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrmxvc6zqjp5zh8uk2z82l7un6c4m7dypyaj8sg3jhxzcfwn3vn2cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dscsc59g

Publishing to

nostr.land

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub18kve35ypyrg9w0ev5yw4lae843thu6gzfmy0q3r9wv9sja8zex4s6ss6p7

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Last Notes

2026-03-18 17:18:55 GMT

With some editorial decisions and BlueSCSCI shenanigans, I was able to make my entire library of 422 commercial game demos for Classic Macintosh systems available via #GlobalTalk . Come grab one!
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/116/251/307/410/878/972/original/550c1e63d421041b.png

2025-08-15 01:19:33 GMT

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I remember that pattern a lot too... some software would refuse to launch from a write-protected disk. It's worth a shot! ... And sadly, looks like no dice. Thanks for suggesting it.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/030/145/711/810/828/original/a6f550a1e1002aa8.png

2025-08-14 01:24:06 GMT

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https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/503/322/531/760/original/ab875a62a3f35d0f.png

2025-08-14 01:21:40 GMT

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Okay, this just reminded me that I have a physical copy of one of these CDs. Let me try physical CD / physical machine.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/492/313/298/157/original/0477c82f99c040e5.png

2025-08-14 01:19:59 GMT

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Here are three CDs with this janky installer on them - all of which fail in the same way.
* https://archive.org/details/macaddict-cd-002
* https://archive.org/details/mac-addict-s-games
* https://archive.org/download/NEXTGenerationDiscs/NEXTPlay.iso

2025-08-14 01:12:17 GMT

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I think these are the files the installer is looking for. https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/17834/MacAddict%20S%20Games.iso/Game%20Demos/Zork%20Nemesis/Zork%20Nemesis%20Demo%20Installer/Zork%20Nemesis%20Demo%20Installer.rsrc/STR%23_5000.txt
I wonder if *ZNemDemo* had been an invisible folder that MacAddict was supposed to include on the CD somewhere, but missed because of the invisibility flag.

2025-08-14 00:57:17 GMT

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🙄 Never mind.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/396/502/583/624/original/f26d39cd32c901df.png

2025-08-14 00:56:33 GMT

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The installer on this CD https://archive.org/details/mac-addict-s-utilities is 288K, which usually means there are invisible files hidden somewhere on the CD. Looking around with Greg's Browser, nothing stands out except for that "find me" text file at the root. Maybe that's a pointer to the rest of the installer files or something? ...
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/392/773/011/650/original/26abb25eefab5850.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/393/148/891/549/original/b41e2c6ad60c5b0c.png

2025-08-14 00:30:13 GMT

I've run across this Zork Nemesis demo on maybe a half-dozen magazine cover CDs, and it fails to install - with the same error message - on every Mac OS version, emulator, or physical computer I try. Has anyone ever actually installed this? Was Infocom distributing a broken installer for years, and no CD editor noticed?
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/115/024/269/245/621/203/original/d6d82d7f6b46068a.png

2025-07-08 03:37:47 GMT

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This is one of the older air-cooled multiprocessor models. I’ve seen some nightmare photos of leaked coolant in the other ones, so I’m not sure I’d roll the dice on one of them.

2025-07-08 03:04:14 GMT

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Okay, I carefully mounted this second SSD and now I’m going to reinstall Mac OS X Server, this time using spell check.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/815/381/543/574/197/original/10c43ea80303ad48.png

2025-07-08 02:57:53 GMT

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Darn it. "macinotsh".
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/815/350/173/234/670/original/691d6b6a5b93f090.png

2025-07-08 00:40:49 GMT

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This looks promising…
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/814/824/893/857/609/original/9ade25890aeba0dc.png

2025-07-07 23:51:08 GMT

Maybe this will work? 🤞
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/814/629/623/636/186/original/6a1c877c3f78ae16.png

2025-05-23 19:09:40 GMT

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I can't overstate what amazing work the maintainers of https://everymac.com/ and https://lowendmac.com/ do. These sites were invaluable to me as I was figuring all of this out.

2025-05-23 19:08:23 GMT

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The Mac mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.66 (Mid-2010) is the fastest Mini that will run Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which is the first Intel-only Mac OS. It's notably noisier than the other minis, and I wonder if this is because I got the "server" model. https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.66-mid-2010-server-specs.html

2025-05-23 19:05:16 GMT

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The Mac Mini "Core 2 Duo" 2.26 (Early 2009/NVIDIA) is the fastest Intel-based Mini that will run Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard). It will boot from a USB device yay! https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.26-early-2009-nvidia-specs.html

2025-05-23 19:00:20 GMT

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The Mac Mini Core 2 Duo 2.0 (2007) is the fastest Intel-based Mini that will run Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger). Its "Penryn" CPU requires a late build of Tiger to boot (10.4.10), and I had the best luck using the original system restore CDs from Macintosh Garden.
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-2-duo-2.0-specs.html
https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/mac-mini-183-core-2-duo-2007-install-discs

2025-05-23 18:55:57 GMT

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The Mac Mini G4/1.5 is the fastest PowerPC Mac Mini, and it runs every Mac OS version from Classic (with a ROM upgrade) through Leopard. Along with its age, this range makes it the hardest one to find. https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac_mini_g4_1.5.html

2025-05-23 18:44:15 GMT

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Mac Minis aren't hard to come by. It was straightforward to find each of the specific models I wanted. They aren't the fastest, and there's no G3 or G5 option, but they're low power, compact, and quiet. Just what I was looking for.

2025-05-23 18:39:26 GMT

I put together a build farm for the Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard software project I'm working on right now, and if I say so myself it's quite cute.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/558/569/914/904/039/original/79a4ab0621386683.jpeg

2025-05-23 15:26:13 GMT

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That’s an awesome tip. Everything time I’ve tried to venture into using Open Firmware I’ve come away intimidated, but it might be time to buckle down and figure out my way through it.

2025-05-23 14:09:52 GMT

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A lot of the Tiger/Leopard era Macintoshes I'm a little obsessed with right now don't support booting from USB, and some of their optical drives aren't in great shape. This FireWire drive is saving the day.

2025-05-23 04:48:46 GMT

I hadn’t remembered just how physically large external FireWire DVD drives were.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/555/333/836/942/914/original/4d3374dfbfffdf29.png

2025-04-20 12:29:42 GMT

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This weekend I found the Tigerbrew project, a fork of Homebrew for PowerPC systems. Its lead maintainer @npub1eh5…yenk is on Mastodon.
I use Homebrew every day on modern Macs, and having it available on a retro Mac feels a little bit like magic. Thanks, @npub1eh5…yenk !
Here's Python 3.10 (from 2021) running on Mac OS X Leopard (from 2007) on a G4 eMac (from 2004). Right?!
https://github.com/mistydemeo/tigerbrew
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/370/238/759/907/496/original/ea2e0ebf62f3ac9b.png

2025-04-19 17:51:35 GMT

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And then there's the occasional reminder that the PowerPC G4 7447 is a twenty-year-old CPU.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/365/892/241/041/252/original/530faac9658c9c89.png

2025-04-19 17:11:43 GMT

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Shout-out to the Aquafox web browser, which has made Mac OS X Leopard on this (new-to-me) eMac vastly easier to use. https://blackbirdlc.github.io/aquafox/Homepage.html
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/365/736/827/640/245/original/4dd1bf999036b2f7.png

2025-04-18 19:03:28 GMT

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Windows 2000 emulated on a G4 is very very slow.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/360/511/367/889/805/original/3845b1906c05c280.png

2025-04-18 17:24:47 GMT

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I love that “a mouse” is listed in the system requirements. Like, are there a lot of people running Jaguar on a G3 Macintosh but they don’t have a mouse?
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/360/116/167/969/445/original/120e16b0ec01ea35.png

2025-04-18 16:09:37 GMT

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Installing software from discs is SO SLOW!
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/829/161/880/786/original/6ec92b6ac055dd80.png

2025-04-18 14:42:55 GMT

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Looks like this is the 1.25GHz model. The iTunes library confirms this is indeed from the 00's, in case I had any questions. Also, LimeWire and AIM 😜.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/488/963/742/100/original/9ebb3bffb765b32d.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/488/982/076/595/original/00e0533ec20743ff.png

2025-04-18 14:20:41 GMT

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The inside doesn’t look horrible from a peek in the access port. 768MB of RAM and a clean (but very dead) battery, which was easy to reach and replace.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/408/101/247/285/original/60bfb56ee539896b.png

2025-04-18 14:01:54 GMT

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Let’s have some fun.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/327/684/427/109/original/0dc5ec032446c85a.png

2025-04-18 14:00:23 GMT

I had a milestone work anniversary this week, and my teammates went in together and got me an eMac! I work with literally the coolest people.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/320/137/377/459/original/c118440acb0fee79.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/320/373/725/586/original/1d7dcb3e650c5ea8.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/320/531/706/888/original/012f58fa0bcbba29.png
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/359/320/675/258/323/original/b9e43e6ebff1d4cd.png

2025-03-02 02:25:54 GMT

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I got very lucky at RE-PC today. And now I'm trying to figure out, did a video card ever exist that could drive this at full 2560x1600 resolution in Mac OS 9?

2025-03-02 00:25:37 GMT

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I was shocked to realize these came out within two years of each other. I remember them as wholly separate generations of hardware.

2025-03-01 20:49:14 GMT

#MARCHintosh is a great excuse to get back into retrocomputing after a bit of a break. This month I want to focus on G4s. ⚡️
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/114/089/140/516/754/468/original/22effa489705aec4.png

2025-01-23 05:26:37 GMT

I bought this unidentified board off ebay, but… what is it? It has an MC68000 CPU, several HP markings on it, and some 1992 copyright stickers.
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/113/876/010/192/091/394/original/9bd6a76db8ab4d84.png

2025-01-13 14:24:15 GMT

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3/20
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/113/821/498/960/834/102/original/22a1cefcd93571eb.png

2025-01-12 12:28:48 GMT

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2/20
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/113/815/382/162/929/883/original/409f6369d5b5105c.png

2025-01-11 19:21:31 GMT

I’m cross-posting this from Bluesky: twenty computers that have inspired me, one a day.
1/20
https://assets.oldbytes.space/assets.oldbytes.space/media_attachments/files/113/811/341/395/608/668/original/8cb7a23c4de49367.png