NiziMac Project – Recreating the Classic Macintosh Experience

Hi everyone,
I’m a classic Macintosh fan from Japan and I’ve been working on a small concept project inspired by the recent MacClock Raspberry Pi builds.

The idea is not just to run an emulator inside a MacClock, but to recreate the ritual of starting an early Macintosh.



The concept is a tiny Macintosh device that boots different systems depending on which miniature floppy disk is inserted.

The system uses two miniature floppy disks (the same style that comes with the MacClock):

• System 6 disk
• KanjiTalk disk (System 7.5)

When a disk is inserted, a sensor detects it and triggers the Raspberry Pi to boot the corresponding OS from the SD card.

So the floppy disk itself becomes the OS selector.

The goal is to recreate the feeling of using a classic Macintosh — inserting a disk, hearing the startup sound, and watching the system boot.

I’m currently studying existing MacClock builds to understand what is possible inside the case and how much space is available for additional mechanisms.

I’d love to hear thoughts or suggestions from people who have experimented with MacClock modifications or Raspberry Pi Macintosh builds.

I’m also working on a concept diagram that shows the system structure and the floppy detection mechanism.

Thanks!

Quick follow-up.

The unique part is the floppy interaction.

My goal is:

half insertion → power on
full insertion → boot start
disk detection → switch OS (System 6 / KanjiTalk 7.5)

I want to preserve the original MacClock push-push feel and avoid interfering with the manual eject mechanism.

Right now I'm trying to figure out the most realistic way to detect the two insertion stages inside the very limited space.​

If anyone here has experience with:

• small mechanical switches
• IR / optical sensors
• Raspberry Pi GPIO control
• MacClock hardware mods

I'd really appreciate your thoughts.