Bitcoin Mining on Mac Classic

[adespoton]

Good questions!

I'm not really sure....

I think it would probably be mainly for older Power Macs (I don't think 68k Macs could really handle it), and it would allow for newer software to be ported over relatively easily, to an extent. Let's say it's mainly intended for OldWorld Power Macs up to the Beige G3, but it can boot on certain NewWorld Power Macs too.

It would be somewhat like Mac OS X in principle, but implemented totally differently, and much lighter on resources (it could run well in 32 MB of RAM, for example, and be capable of running in as little as 16).

The UI would basically be that of Copland and Mac OS 8.x (Apple Platinum), but with implementations of things like @Crutch 's Exposé integrated to modernize it a bit.

c

In my view, Haiku with AMS or MACE running in it would tick all the boxes. Assuming Haiku could be made to run on older PPC Macs as well as Intel and ARM systems.

 

[CC_333]

You mean like this?

Advanced Mac Substitute

Basically, yes! But itself running on an as-yet hypothetical OS with a Mac OS-like UI and all that other stuff I already mentioned.

In my view, Haiku with AMS or MACE running in it would tick all the boxes. Assuming Haiku could be made to run on older PPC Macs as well as Intel and ARM systems.

That would be interesting indeed.

As I'm typing this post, I realized that A/UX is conceptually very similar to what I'm describing (being able to run standard Mac OS applications within the Unix-based environment with a pretty Mac OS-like UI). Too bad the rumored PPC-ready A/UX 4 was never released, as that probably would've been it pretty much.

c

 

[joshc]

I would've been happy if Classic Environment remained in macOS, it wasn't perfect but it did run most applications just fine. I completely understand why they didn't keep it in, but it's a shame it couldn't have been open sourced/shipped off to someone else to look after.

 

[robin-fo]

I wonder how difficult it would have been to port it to intel

 

[jjuran]

I would've been happy if Classic Environment remained in macOS, it wasn't perfect but it did run most applications just fine. I completely understand why they didn't keep it in, but it's a shame it couldn't have been open sourced/shipped off to someone else to look after.

At the first MacHack I attended, the keynote speaker was Eric Raymond, touting the benefits of open source. At the "Apple Handshake" session, I inquired about the possibility of releasing the code of HyperCard, only to be met with this dismissal from Steven Glass: "Open source will not be a dumping ground for dead products."

This article may shed some light here: https://www.loper-os.org/?p=568

 

[joshc]

the possibility of releasing the code of HyperCard

The HyperCard code was released to CHM at the same time they got MacPaint and QuickDraw.

MacPaint and QuickDraw Source Code

The Apple Macintosh combined brilliant design in hardware and in software. The drawing program MacPaint, which was released with the computer in January of 1984, was an example of that brilliance both in what it did, and in how it was implemented.

computerhistory.org

But for some reason they didn't release the HyperCard code.

There's a comment on the CHM page that says:

During an HyperCard 25th anniversary event in 2013, Bill Atkinson mentioned that the HyperCard source code was also donated to CHM at the same time as MacPaint/Quickdraw but he didn't know why it hidden't been released publicly like these two were. I'd like to know why as well.