CatMacs aka Catalog Macs

[eric]

From @This Does Not Compute

Does anyone have any photos of what these looked like back in the day? Has anyone ever found one in the wild?

Props to @Ron's Computer Videos, @GutBomb, and @jcm-1 for reviving this lost art

Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle https://vintageapple.org/macbooks/pdf/Build_Your_Own_Macintosh_and_Save_a_Bundle_1992.pdf

 

[Paralel]

I expect a tail and ears for something called a CatMac.

 

[Nycturne]

The timing of this video was spot-on. I had just got a hold of a logic board I wanted to use for this exact project around the time the video came out. Left on a long trip immediately after so I'm getting back into it.

When it comes to the case parts though, I'm wondering how folks are setting up supports to print these properly. With the Polar PLA filament, I'm having a heck of a time with supports both fusing to the tabs, and the SD card slot. I've already had to turn down the temps used with the Polar PLA because it does like to ooze more than the usual PLAs I use, and I've tried both tree and snug supports, both with similar results. I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but I'm wondering if anyone has tips for these.

I kinda wish I had a dual-head setup at the moment just so I could use PETG as an interface layer for supports.

 

[Trash80toG4]

I was building a Hackintosh based on a 128K MoBo I got on the cheap from Shreve Systems. Snagged a NewLife accelerator that was supposed to be upgraded with TTL Video out. David at TekServe double-checked the board and my header soldering on the 68000. He said it was a very cool accelerator and threw enough keychain SIMMs onto it for a workable amount of memory.

Hadn't wanted to risk my 512K board, so the much upgraded 128K kluge was set up in that case. Upgrade never came to pass as NewLife went under whilst the rig was out on loan. Wish I'd taken it back, when offered . . .

Lost my C64/FDD/Wireless Joystick setup the same way when cousin offered to ship it back, sigh.

So it goes . . .

 

[Nycturne]

I have a partial solution to the issues I was having with the supports: print in PETG instead. Being softer, it's easier to get an exacto knife into the SD card slot and slice away the supports, and less likely to result in me injuring myself than with PLA supports. The result is pretty clean, too. The tabs still give me grief, but this is probably the project that makes me jump up to a larger printer, which I've been putting off since I sold my previous large printer (a Voron). Since Polar has PETG in Retro Platinum now, I have that on the way which I'll use for this project.

I've also been playing with a modification to the case design to specifically account for the taller SE/30 ROM SIMM. The first attempt was to just split and "extend" the whole bottom piece. Only to find that once I brought up the whole assembly, it looks rather silly. Second version extends just the posts, and then extends the top shell to keep everything aligned. I think it looks better, but not yet sure if I should go with option C, which is to extend the bottom a little, and the top a little. Since I'm going to be waiting for upwards of a week before it's time to print the final parts, I've got some time to iterate.

Maybe should spin up a thread for this specific project rather than throwing it here.