Robotics software program engineer Aaron Eiche is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Apple Macintosh in model — by recreating it in badge add-on kind, full with monochrome show and powered by the ultra-low-cost WCH Electronics CH32V0003 RISC-V microcontroller.
“To rejoice the the fortieth anniversary of the introduction of the unique [Apple] Macintosh, this SAO [Simple Add-On] will… appear to be a Mac,” Eiche writes of his creation, which is designed to imitate a Macintosh in miniature. “And perhaps act a little bit bit like one too. This concept has been bolstered by two {hardware} finds: a 0.66″ OLED 64×48px show [and] the unfathomably low cost WCH CH32V003 microcontroller.”
This tiny homage to Apple’s 40-year-old Macintosh can function a SAO badge accent, or a standalone gadget. (📷: Aaron Eiche)
The Apple Macintosh, later often known as the Macintosh 128K to distinguish it from later fashions, launched in 1984 to essential acclaim. Usually acknowledged as the primary mass-market all-in-one private pc to return with a graphical consumer interface as normal, the machine was constructed round a 9″ monochrome cathode-ray tube (CRT) show that displayed a 512×342-pixel bitmapped desktop managed by way of a bundled mouse.
That decision is, coincidentally, the identical side ratio as Eiche’s 0.66″ OLED — albeit eight occasions the decision and displayed on a monitor practically fourteen occasions the dimensions. The show, below the management of the WCH CH32V0003 RISC-V microcontroller, runs a firmware designed to imitate the desktop setting of the unique Macintosh at a significantly lowered decision — and permits the system to function standalone with solely energy, or as a badge add-on utilizing the Easy (or Sh*tty) Add-On pinout.
Eiche examined for match with a 3D-printed stand-in earlier than ordering the undertaking’s PCBs. (📷: Aaron Eiche)
The {hardware} is put in on a compact PCB, which mimics the look of the Apple Macintosh, albeit solely from the entrance; a cut-out within the board permits the show to shine by means of. “I used to be feeling a bit involved concerning the element of the Apple emblem,” Eiche admits, “and and the define across the form that was offered by masking, however I do not suppose I may very well be happier with the way it seems. It is actually nice.”
The undertaking, which is now within the ultimate phases of firmware improvement and awaiting PCBs which tackle a minor mistake within the header pinout, is detailed in full on Hackaday.io.