The Mac-ITX
Transplanting a modern (although not Apple) mini-computer into a vintage mini-computer.
From the site:
"I think the classic compact Macs still look pretty cool, but there was nothing useful to do with my old SE/30 sitting up in the loft. Still, I did want a media server for the living room, and I did want to do a mini-ITX project, and I did want to do some engineering that didn't involve Powerpoint. So, the Mac-ITX was conceived."
Will this inspire someone to try it with a Mac Mini? Lets hope so!

The Mac-ITX

Apple Legacy Manuals
We may have mentioned this before, but did you know that you can still download manuals for older Apple products directly from Apple? There are Newton, Apple II, Performa, Powerbook and other hardware, as well as software manuals for download from this page. For Vintage Apple fans it's worth another look.

Apple Legacy Manuals

AppleWorks; Apple's Own Integrated Software Package
Lets round out the week with another of the hidden treasures at atarimagazines.com. This time it is an article by Steve Arrants from 1984 evaluating the newly released AppleWorks software package for the Apple IIe. It originally appeared in Creative Computing, Vol. 10, No. 6 / June 1984 / Page 43.
From the article:
"It is not unusual for Apple to release exciting and revolutionary hardware. Remember all the noise when Macintosh was released this winter? It is unusual for Apple to release exciting and revolutionary software. Without so much as a single press conference, Apple has released a new integrated package that no Apple IIe owner should be without."

AppleWorks; Apple's Own Integrated Software Package

A Trio of Apple eMate 300 Reviews
Here are three reviews of the Newton OS based Apple eMate from 1998. The first is from Insanely Great Mac, the second from The Review Zone, by Tina Velgos, and finially a review by Matt Godden that appeared in MACinations, a monthly magazine produced by ClubMac, a Sydney Australia based Macintosh user group.

IGM eMate Review

The Review Zone, Featuring eMate 300

MACinations Apple eMate Review

Disk Evolution / The Apple IIc Plus
A page at Apple2History.org detailing advances in Apple II disk storage. From the page:
"After Steve Wozniak's Disk II floppy drive changed the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a serious home and business computer in the late 1970's, progress was slow in improving disk storage for the Apple II series. In 1978, the year the Disk II was released, Mike Scott (Apple's president) and Randy Wigginton were asked at a user group meeting whether they were going to go to the larger capacity eight-inch floppy drives (which had been around before the 5.25 floppy drives were invented). They answered that no, the Apple II was not going in that direction, but felt it might get a hard disk by 1979 or 1980, and possibly earlier than that a double sided, double density 5.25 disk holding 500K per disk"

Disk Evolution / The Apple IIc Plus

The Legacy of the Apple Lisa Personal Computer
The Legacy of the Apple Lisa Personal Computer: An Outsider's View, by David T. Craig.
From the site:
"This paper is an attempt by a long time Lisa user to clarify the significance of the Apple Lisa personal computer for the computing industry. The audience of this paper is anyone who has an interest in innovative computing technology and wants to learn a little about Apple Computer's brief foray into this area via the Lisa computer."

The Legacy of the Apple Lisa

More Like A Porsche
This is an interesting piece of folklore at Folklore.org about the design of the Macintosh case by Andy Hertzfeld.
From the article:
"'It's got to be different, different from everything else.' I recognized Steve Jobs' voice before I saw him as I passed by the door of Bud's office."

More Like A Porsche

The End of Innocence at Apple
A 1989 review by Al Fasoldt of the Frank Rose book "West of Eden - The End of Innocence at Apple Computer"
It opens:
"Steve Jobs, barely into his 20s and as restless as the Monterrey surf, had just come back from an apple festival when he and his hacker friend Steve Wozniak went into business making a strange little device. It was an almost useless product. It had no obvious appeal except to the oddball members of a new club in the San Francisco Bay area who got together every now and then to talk about computers. "

The End of Innocence at Apple

The 1984 Macintosh Ad
An essay by Sarah R. Stein at the University of Iowa on the subject of our favorite commercial! Includes QuickTime versions of the ad.
It begins:
"The half-time of the 1984 Super Bowl featured a 45 second ad that would be declared in 1995 the best ad of the last 50 years. The commercial, directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, 1979, and Blade Runner, 1982) for the Apple Corporation, announced the imminent arrival of the Macintosh computer. The ad cost $1.6 million to produce, and Apple Corporation paid $500,000 for the one-minute time slot in which it ran. It ran only once."

The 1984 Macintosh Ad

Washington Apple Pi
Vintage Apple fans should pay a visit to WAP - it's a great place for Apple III resources!
From the site:
"Washington Apple Pi is one of the nation's oldest and largest Apple and Machintosh Users Groups. The "Pi" not only supports today's machines, but continues to support the older Apple machines that made the company famous."

Washington Apple Pi