Got around 40 free weekends in the near future? Possess a 3D printer, extensive knowledge of vintage computer coding, soldering techniques, and near-superhuman patience? Then you, too, could be the proud owner of a “Brewintosh Plus,” a maddeningly accurate, completely working clone of Apple’s iconic Macintosh Plus computer system.
It might be hard to imagine, but there was a time when 1Mb of RAM was a big deal—and in 1986, the Mac Plus contained such immense processing power. To call Apple’s third Macintosh release a success is arguably an understatement. Until 2018, it remained the company’s longest-produced Macintosh model, with operating system updates made regularly until 1996.
It’s a pivotal piece of tech history, but finding one in decent condition, let alone complete working order, can be difficult after nearly four decades since its debut. For some collectors like Kevin Noki, however, the allure of tinkering with the iconic, retro hardware is too strong to resist. Unfortunately, it can be even harder to obtain a Mac Plus in places like Germany—where Noki happens to live.
But after scouring eBay for some time, Noki finally found and purchased an original, worse-for-wear 1Mb Macintosh Plus from eBay. Despite a broken power supply and missing floppy disk drive, one could technically emulate the original computer system simply by installing a Raspberry Pi and calling it a day—but that wouldn’t be much of a challenge, would it?
[Related: Macs are better at video gaming (emulators) than PCs. Here’s how to set up yours.]
Instead, Noki decided to use his vintage piece of tech history as a template for something much more accurate, if a bit more complicated: He built his own Mac Plus computer from the literal ground up.
“We are talking a properly sized, colored, and textured box, which takes wall power, swallows 3.5-inch disks, works with both…
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