Marcin WicharyMay 16, 2023

Last week, I had a chance to visit @hypertalking’s (James’s) excellent collection of Mac-related stuff. He’s particularly interested in collecting 1990s Macs, which is the era of Apple history I don’t have a lot of personal experience with, so it was doubly exciting.

Here are some 100 photos from that visit:

Show threadMarcin Wichary

James’s work has recently gone viral! He meticulously recreated a few of Hokusai's views of Mount Fuji in the original Mac’s resolution and 1-bit colour.

I got to see them all in person! https://kottke.org/23/05/great-wave-off-kanagawa-in-all-its-1-bit-pixelized-glory

Great Wave Off Kanagawa, In All Its 1-Bit Pixelized Glory

As part of a project to reproduce all 36 of Hokusai’s views of Mount Fuji as 1-bit black & white pixel art, James Weiner dre

kottke.org
May 16, 2023 at 12:10amWeb
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Anyway, on to the collection. There must be thousands of rainbow Apple logos in here.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
…recessed or otherwise.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Love that you can see a little texture on this.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
A fun (although maybe more pretentious than usual) “do” and “don’t” manual of using the Apple logo.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
If you can’t afford six Pantone colors, you can always approximate them. Love, John.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Oh, no, not these.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
These 1970s truck and van shapes are amazing.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
What is this, a font picker.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
“…with ’Illustrator‘ by Adobe.” Which James of course also has, in multiple editions!
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
(I got rate-limited by my Mastodon server. More later. 😢)
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Somewhere here is also the first PowerPoint, around the time it’s been acquired by Microsoft. The manual is pretty impressive – it looks like a proper book.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Prince of Persia I and II in their cool respective boxes.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Apparently, SimCity – James has a huge collection of Mac-specific editions – got in trouble for putting Godzilla on its box… so that was changed to a tornado later.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
The most ambitious crossover in history: BBC Basic for a Mac!!!
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023

Microsoft Bob for a Mac! Sort of.

I have not heard of this before and I used to have a site cataloging GUIs.

Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
5 mice award/rating from MacUser. Kinda cute?
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
There’s a lot of training and sales materials. Here’s one for System 7, explaining TrueType on prepared full-size transparencies. A fractal of obsolete tech.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
Here are some materials explaining DTP. The first one is gorgeous. The second one… yeesh.
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
HyperCard! For education!
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
The diagram for the never-released Macintosh Office (server).
Show threadChristopher GriffithsMay 16, 2023
@mwichary “DeskTop” is quite an odd choice.
Show threadMarcusMay 16, 2023
@mwichary This looks so familiar. My family's first computer was a Macintosh Plus and my parents used it for making newsletters and for their paper, we must have had some pretty similar sets of booklets around
Show threadDr. Juande Santander-VelaMay 16, 2023
@mwichary I had no idea that existed! Wow!
Show threadZaͩnͦsͤt̀́rͤa̅̆̈May 16, 2023
@mwichary BEOS! 😅
Show threadEd SMay 16, 2023

Wow, BBC Basic for the Mac, complete with 6502 assembler and emulator. Published in 1989 by Human-Computer Interaction Ltd, which is David Johnson-Davies, former head of AcornSoft. What an offering - and how did the licensing work out, I wonder - the BBC were very protective.

Download it here - also a video preview
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/32524-bbc-basic-for-the-macintosh

Announcement: Little Acorns from Big Macs in Acorn User
https://archive.org/details/AcornUser083-Jun89/page/n8/mode/1up

@mwichary

#retrocomputing #bbcbasic #acornsoft #macintosh #applemac

BBC BASIC for the Macintosh - Macintosh Repository

BBC BASIC on the Mac? BBC BASIC for the Macintosh has been developed with the dual aim of providing an advanced interactive programming language...

Show threadMetalSnakeMay 16, 2023

@EdS @mwichary better yet download from the Macintosh Garden https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/bbc-basic-the-macintosh

that repository site you linked basically steals everything from the garden and makes money off it.

Show threadloptaMay 17, 2023
@mwichary If they wanted to sell Macs into British schools, BBC BASIC would have been table stakes!
Show threadHeliomassMay 17, 2023
@mwichary How did I not know this existed?!? Seems it’s available as abandonware: https://www.macintoshrepository.org/32524-bbc-basic-for-the-macintosh
BBC BASIC for the Macintosh - Macintosh Repository

BBC BASIC on the Mac? BBC BASIC for the Macintosh has been developed with the dual aim of providing an advanced interactive programming language...

Show threadMichal Migurski 🍉May 16, 2023
@mwichary I had the Godzilla version
Show threadCharlieGMay 16, 2023
@mwichary Blast, I’ve got the newer one. Now I have to buy another.
Show threadGreg WhiteheadMay 16, 2023
@mwichary Cc @jmechner
Show threadsleepyMay 16, 2023
@mwichary oh man i forgot about that wavy side raised bezel…
Show threadJonas DowneyMay 16, 2023
@mwichary omg, this whole thread makes me so happy, but especially this. I haven’t seen that box since I was 14 or so. ❤️
Show threadeuroplus May 16, 2023
@mwichary oh, I thought you were parodying a short news clip! 🤣
Show threadshorkMay 16, 2023
@mwichary hard to beat the 1978 font
Show threadJay 🆘May 16, 2023
@mwichary I had no idea they had a Year of #Helvetica (before 2014 or whenever it took over #iOS7).
Show threadIan Scott  🐙May 16, 2023
@mwichary I had no idea about the 1983 version!
Show threadKatMay 16, 2023
@mwichary I'd love to see more of this brand style guide. So detailed, lovely ❤️
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
@kabub Here is all of it! https://mastodon.online/@mwichary/110375476513166022
Marcin Wichary (@[email protected])

Attached: 2 images A fun (although maybe more pretentious than usual) “do” and “don’t” manual of using the Apple logo.

Mastodon
Show threadTypographicaMay 19, 2023
@kabub https://oa.letterformarchive.org/item?workID=lfa_mok_0122&targPic=lfa_mok_0122_003.jpg
Online Archive

Virtual access to Letterform Archive’s collection of lettering, typography, and graphic design.

Show threadTomMay 16, 2023
@mwichary this whole thread is amazing, thank you
Show threadJohn GruberMay 19, 2023
@mwichary @alexcox I have no recollection of that 1983 Helvetica treatment. Is that real?
Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 19, 2023

@gruber @alexcox Letterform Archive has a better view of this doc: https://oa.letterformarchive.org/item?workID=lfa_mok_0122&targPic=lfa_mok_0122_003.jpg

I’ve also been puzzled by this. I know some of the early Lisa stuff was very Helvetica (e.g. this attached), and the date checks out, but I don’t remember the logo looking like this.

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Show threadAndrew WattersonMay 20, 2023
@mwichary @gruber @alexcox I was also surprised by this. Apple used various flavors of Helvetica as their main branding font (logo-adjacent) in 1983, but the logo lockup for those pieces uses Motter Tektura.
Show threadJohn GruberMay 20, 2023
@andrewwatterson @mwichary @alexcox That spiral-bound one in the front looks like Univers?
Show threadAndrew WattersonMay 21, 2023
@gruber @mwichary @alexcox Oh you're absolutely right! The IIc had Apple's first keyboard printed in Univers, a choice (originally specified by Frog Design) that they kept around through the early 2000s.
Show threadrecursive 🏳️‍🌈May 16, 2023
@mwichary that one looks like a Bell System van, minus a ladder rack
Show threaddanMay 16, 2023
@mwichary Surprised the 1980s weren’t immune to the magic graphic design circles.
Show threadMigrated to @[email protected] 🏳️‍🌈🎃🇧🇷Luana🇧🇷🎃🏳️‍🌈May 16, 2023
@mwichary “Doing it economically is no excuse for doing it wrong”
That’s a perfect phrase right there
Show threadHarri GranholmMay 16, 2023
@mwichary Six Pantone colors for one logo? Now I know why they dropped the rainbow :-)
Show threadR. L. Dane  May 16, 2023

@mwichary

That's wild. I didn't realize that the logo subtly changed shape over time.

But I wonder what the "three-color" printing process is. I'd never heard of it.

@governa

Show threadMarcin WicharyMay 16, 2023
@RL_Dane @governa I’m guessing they mean CMY?
Show threadR. L. Dane  May 16, 2023

@mwichary

But it sounded like they were referring to it as the cheaper option? Cheaper than 7-spot-color??

Dunno.

Man, I miss that 7-color logo.
When I still had a MacBook Air, I bought a lovely transparent 7-color overlay to cover the illuminated apple logo.

It was da bomb. 🤓

@governa

Show threadKevin MarksMay 22, 2023
@mwichary The "No." part of the leaflet was much more fun. My designer friends would compete to get away with "violations" based on manipulated photos of physical apple logos.
Show threadJ. BlakeMay 16, 2023
@mwichary Can’t help but notice the irony of the ‘No’ next to the solid bondi blue logo.
Show threadᴚ uɐᗡMay 16, 2023
@mwichary LMAO at "maybe"
Show threadstephen ryner jr. 🦉May 16, 2023
@mwichary
Show threadRAM OK ROM OK 🕹️May 16, 2023
@mwichary they didn’t listen to this one in 1998 did they? 😂
Show threadRAM OK ROM OK 🕹️May 16, 2023
@mwichary and further scrolling shows I’m obviously not the first to realise. My apologies!
Show threadLetterform ArchiveMay 17, 2023
@mwichary Love this one! https://oa.letterformarchive.org/item?workID=lfa_mok_0122
Online Archive

Virtual access to Letterform Archive’s collection of lettering, typography, and graphic design.