Macintosh Mini - (yet another) Maclock conversion project

[wells]

Hi yall,

I was hoping to share during MARCHintosh but sharing now that I finally got things over the finish line.

Similar to others (notably Sideburn and Colin, and others I'm sure), I built my own mini Macintosh using one of those Maclock clocks from AliExpress. I decided to go the route of designing my own custom PCB that replaces the clock completely, and brings brightness control, buttons, sound, and power (both USB-C and battery).

I'm a novice with circuit design, so the implementation is basic and there's certainly a lot of room for improvement. Regardless, I wanted to share my project with you all to hopefully inspire you or help you build your own. I'm not selling the boards or any premade assembled Maclocks, but you can order your own boards from PCBway for a very reasonable price.

I posted a written guide on my GitHub, as well as a full assembly walkthrough video:

On the software side, I wanted to run a more modern Linux kernel and SheepShaver Basilisk II (see update below) rather than the Mini vMac guides I've seen posted online running on Bullseye. With some doing, I finally got it to run.

If you want to follow the same steps I did, I have my Macintosh Mini install guide, and it includes an automation script that installs the emulator, sets it up to run at boot, adds the button/brightness controls, and even a user-selectable boot chime—all in one shot. (Disclaimer: yes, I did use AI to turn my written guide into the automation script. If that's not your jam, the written guide is just as complete... it just takes longer!)


Let me know what you think, and thanks for checking it out.




PS: if there's enough interest, I'd be willing to organize a group buy for the PCBs and passive components on the board.

 

[davewongillies]

Nice! I think I'm going to have to build one of these just so I can run HappyPlusClock on it

 

[RetroViator]

The video showed up in my feed this morning. You did a great job, both with the project and the video. I was impressed with the thoroughness of the documentation. Very professional. I'd be interested in a group buy, if that takes off.

 

[wottle]

Fantastic work. I actually just went through this. I suspect I may have gotten a fake Pi Zero 2 W from Amazon, because I had quite the adventure trying to get it to work. First, I was not able to get the 64-bit version of Pi OS Lite to boot on the machine. I fell back to the 32-bit Lite image. I could get it to install, but I would get file system corruption every time I ran your scripts. I was able to fix the corruption manually on my Mac, but the compiler for Sheepshaver wouldn't work. I tried many different variations, but the best I could get was Sheepshaver to launch, load the ROM, and then crash once MacOS 8 tried to load. Ultimately, and more inline with the compact Mac, I ended up doing my own basilisk II install with a manual compile, and replicating your setup with the auto-launch, buttons, etc.

Really wish they would be able to make enough Pi zero 2 Ws to satisfy demand. A couple of notes for your documentation:

1. You say it in the installer as a warning if you don't have the 64-bit install, but I'd put it in the guide so people know if likely won't work with the 32-bit install.
2. I wasn't paying too much attention, but when I pulled the cable out to the USB charging board, I accidentally pulled the connectors off the wrong end, so when I plugged my connector in, the green and yellow were not connected to the 5v and ground pins. Not a problem, I was able to swap, but it initially gave me a panic when I had it plugged in and put the disk in and got no signs of life.
3. Some instructions for the speaker setup would be nice. I feel like I saw you mention it somewhere but I went back to the video and couldn't find it there or in your written instructions.
4. I see you setup the USB connector on the back. How did you set that up. Dremel out an opening and superglue the cable in place?

Will post photos once I get the speaker in and create an opening for the USB port. Thanks again for doing this. If anyone needs the PCB, the audio board, and caps, I have extras.

 

[JDW]

The use of Sheepshaver indicates this is a PPC emulated machine, and that would explain the use of OS 8.1 in the opening post video. Not an issue at all, just something I noted.

I’ve never been able to get Sheepshaver to work on my modern Macs, but I’m pretty sure it won’t boot into System 6 (just a note for those who even care) because not even Basilisk II (a 68K emulator) will let you boot System 6.

All that aside, I think this is a great conversion project!

 

[wells]

Small update: I finally found some time to experiment with Basilisk II + Performa 580 ROM and the performance is significantly better and more stable than my original SheepShaver implementation. Kudos to everyone who suggested I try this path.

Updated guide and install script here: https://github.com/wr/macintosh-mini

If you've run the install script before, you can run it again to cleanly upgrade from SheepShaver to Basilisk II. You'll need to provide a new ROM file (I used 064DC91D) and possibly a new disk image (if yours is PPC only), but the 8.1 image I was using works just fine.

If you're running it for the first time, Basilisk II will be the default, though SheepShaver is still an option if you need to run PPC apps for whatever reason.

 

[Mike's Future Retro]

I’m on my way to doing this project. I ordered 5 of your adapter boards from pc way. I just need to find some one who can 3d print a bezel adapter to mount for the screen/lcd … any one ? Anyone out there who can 3d print a few for me ???

 

[wells]

I’m on my way to doing this project. I ordered 5 of your adapter boards from pc way. I just need to find some one who can 3d print a bezel adapter to mount for the screen/lcd … any one ? Anyone out there who can 3d print a few for me ???

DM me your address and I'll send you a few.

 

[JDW]

@wells
Have you put your STL files through the JLC3DP website to see if the size is large enough for them to do a PLA print? They have some pretty silly minimum size requirements that can be frustrating. If they refuse to print your files in PLA, they may allow it in Nylon. So I suggest exploring that.

The reason I suggest doing that is because when more people start doing this project, you’re not going to want to send them all the required 3-D prints. If people can use JLC to print your STLs, then that problem is solved. I don’t have a 3-D printer myself, so I always use JLC.

Also, I recently purchased a Maclock and a Pico Mac Nano, and I’m thinking about my next video showcasing both of those products. Even though I’m not going to do your Maclock conversion project right now, I do want to mention it in my video, and in the text description I will put a link to this thread. That will hopefully generate more interest in your excellent project and more people will of course be in need of the required 3-D prints.

 

[wells]

It looks like PCBway will print the STL for this project in PLA (or any other FDM filament) whereas JLCPCB has a 30x30mm minimum.

 

[wottle]

I’m on my way to doing this project. I ordered 5 of your adapter boards from pc way. I just need to find some one who can 3d print a bezel adapter to mount for the screen/lcd … any one ? Anyone out there who can 3d print a few for me ???

I should have posted this sooner. I have 4 extra boards if anyone needs one. However, I'm about to be away from home for 3 weeks, so it will be a while before I can ship. I could also print the mounting frame for those who need it.

 

[caver01]

Having taken up @wottle on his offer above, I am also on my way with this project using @wells board. I'll post a photo or two when I get a chance, but so far, here are some thoughts:

1. We need more instructions about how to get the Maclock case open without damaging it! Separating the case was nerve-wracking and even a little dangerous. Wooden stir sticks helped alongside some good strong spudgers. Knowing how it looks inside, or as least where the catch points are is helpful, but ultimately, how you get into these boxes is a challenge. It's also boring content, so I understand why we mostly have notes like mine here. There's just no right way to do it. Like many others, I broke some of the plastic tabs on the inside back of the case, but this probably makes it easier to open again later and does not prevent it from closing again. I went in from the bottom corners, rounding toward the center of the bottom figuring that damage here would be hidden. How I wish to sand all of the tabs smooth and come up with a magnetic closure method!
   
   One note worth sharing is that I took some precaution by taping a piece of thin plastic over the screen bezel. I cut this from an old used blister pack from something so that it perfectly covered the screen opening, then I taped this down on all four sides with blue tape. This let me hold the case face down and not worry about scratching the "glass".
   
   
2. This has been a good soldering project. The resistors @wottle shared with me were perfect, but tiny. I wear contact lenses and they definitely needed to come out for this part! I don't have a hot air station, but I was able to easily remove the rotary encoder and tactile switches using chipquik alloy. Chipquik is a godsend for making very fast work of components that require you to move the iron around to get everything free. It is a low-melt solder that blends with existing and keeps everything molten for a very long working time. The parts came off with no problem. You just have to wick away any residue so new solder is nice and strong again.
   
   With my screen protected, I pulled the "glass", nibbled the side wall to make room for the 3D printed display bracket, cleaned everything and dropped in the display. My Pi had no header pins, so I soldered only the relevant ones vs. bending unused out of the way. Orientation is tricky, but the video helps. Thanks for those diagrams on-screen! I soldered the GPIO leads, the resistors, cap, header pins, the Adafruit board and the power with inline diskette switch. It's a nice design.
   
   
3. Software config is where I am now. I installed the latest Raspbian 64-bit full, as I wanted to try the GUI, but I think this messed me up. More on that in a moment.
   
   The instructions say to grab a ROM which I did and a disk image. I booted the Pi with direct external power and my imaged SD card. It found my wifi. I was able to SSH in, and in another terminal window, SCP my selected ROM, but I could not get SCP to copy my disk image. I chose a BlueSCSI HDA file--a basic OS7.1 image. SCP gave me a STALLED error. Tried rsync and has similar results. In the end, I figured I would solve that part later and just decided to run the install script via my ssh session. I chose to do the BasiliskII and hardware install which I assumed sets up the GPIO config, waveshare display and so on.
   
   The script failed quickly because I had chosen a 2MB ROM. I replaced it with a 1MB. Tried again. This time it failed because I was not able to get a disk image transferred. I decided to just create a dummy file hd.hda with a touch command. This satisfied the script for now and it now had 19 APT updates which took a while. As it proceeded I noticed the screen came on! Good sign I guess.
   
   Since I was doing this with the case still pulled apart, I connected a mouse and I was able to move a cursor around the Raspbian pixel desktop, though it was oriented sideways. Still, I felt this was a positive result and confident that my soldering and wiring had worked, or mostly worked so far.
   
   The rotary dial dimmed the screen! another good sign.
   
   I noticed the script got to like 78% and stuck on building Basilisk (1min). It remained stuck there forever but the Pi was booted, Gui enabled.

While I was able to click OK on the desktop, swapped mouse and keyboard a few times to enter passwords, I was also able to rotate right 90 and see the screen working fine. . . the script never finished. I suspect my image choice above was maybe the problem, and launching the desktop was eventually an issue? I dunno. I pulled the SD Card and I re-imaged it to 64-bit LITE version. Silver lining: Looks like the display WORKS, my wiring works, rotary encoder works. . . maybe it all will work out. I feel good so far, even though I borked the install.

That's where I stand. Tonight I hope to try the script again, this time with the LITE version of the OS.

My display has a tiny tint of yellow in one corner and the backlights bleed a halo. Is that pretty typical of these little guys? I don't really want to return it.

 

[wells]

Tonight I hope to try the script again, this time with the LITE version of the OS.

Let me know if it ends up working. I've not tested with Pi OS full at all (and don't personally have a use case where I'd need it) so I might need to update the docs to emphasize using Lite.

My display has a tiny tint of yellow in one corner and the backlights bleed a halo. Is that pretty typical of these little guys? I don't really want to return it.

I have two... one is fine, the other has some backlight bleed. I'm not sure if it's poor QA or damage on my part (bad handling, or the 3d printed bezel being too tight) but I'm curious if you saw the problem before installation or if it was only after.

 

[caver01]

@wells thanks for confirming the display issues. Pressure definitely affects things, though I would be surprised that horizontal stress into the glass from the edges would have any effect at all. If I press into the corner with a fingertip in the corner directly behind the color aberration I can see the image shimmer. If the printed bezel is tight, it would have to be about how it pulls/bends the display with the fasteners.

I am going to let this slide for now.

As for the script, I am looking forward to running it again on the Lite version of the OS. Did you have any troubles with SCP and a large disk image? What ROM are you using? <EDIT I see you said above: ROM file (I used 064DC91D)>

The use case for additional GUI capabilities is this: Macintosh Mini looks cute on the desktop--fully functioning vintage Mac right there! But. . . it's also a fully functioning linux box, and while the Pi Zero 2 W isn't the fastest PC out there, it might still have some utility. I probably shouldn't care about that and just stick to running old MacOS!

 

[caver01]

@wells or @wottle, any chance you have advice about SCP failing with --stalled when trying to transfer my disk image?
I am running the script now, but I know it will fail when it finally tries to boot because I had to fake it with a dummy disk image file. I am using the easy to find HD0-OpenRetroSCSI-7.1.hda, but it doesn't matter. Any file sufficiently large is stalling SCP transfer in terminal from my M1 Mac Mini over wifi to the Pi Zero 2 W (mac mini is on ethernet).

 

[caver01]

The script ran perfectly, I assume, while I did other things. When I came back the SSH had disconnected but I could see messages that it had finished. The little Mini Mac was flashing "?" which means it worked! I have a dummy disk image.

I was able to mount a network drive and copied over a disk image that worked great. Damn, this thing is cute!

I have questions:
1. Can I setup a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard?
2. Has anyone solved the digital interference on the audio? It kinda sounds like an old spinning HDD sometimes I guess, but it's definitely annoying. Is there a little filter circuit we can throw in there?
3. I know the brightness dial flickers at the lowest setting. Hey, it's super cool that you got it working in the first place! SUGGESTION: What if the LOWEST setting was simply all black? Can we trigger taking it to ZERO at that point? No flicker for sure.

Now I need to figure out the best mouse/kbd solution. Or maybe there's a OS7 version of VNC? Could put it into a WAP mode maybe so any device that can remote in could connect to ? I am just spitballing here, but willing to try stuff!

I have some USB parts I might try to wire up a custom cable or just get the one from Ali express with that right-angle micro.

 

[caver01]

Just noticed that my button to on the bottom right is not doing anything. I need to do some continuity tests I guess. Something isn't right, because I thought that button is supposed to do a shutdown, right? The other one reboots the Mac emu just fine.