Presentation Design Software for Compact Macs

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting here.

I’m a former Apple employee and longtime enthusiast who has spent the last two decades creative directing presentations for companies like Apple, Google, Hershey, Mondelez, Salesforce, and others.

To celebrate Apple’s 50th anniversary, I wanted to combine a few of my favorite things: Apple, retro computing, software development, and presentation design. The result is a satirical presentation design program for compact Macs, specifically targeting the Macintosh 512K, called Cytrus Slides.

I fully understand how gloriously pointless it is to build software for a 40+ year-old machine. I also know that back in the day, even the earliest version of PowerPoint was really built around printing to transparencies. But that is also part of the fun. I wanted to make something playful, weird, and real enough to run on original hardware.

A few of the features so far include a Slide Navigator, Object Lists, Light Table View, Charts, Tables, Shapes, Transitions, Masters, PICT importing, and more.

Right now, I’m looking for anyone who might be willing to help beta test Cytrus Slides on a real compact Mac setup (currently using Mini vMac with a Mac Plus Rom). I currently have an actual 128K (but sadly I implemented too many app features and needed to target a 512K), and I’m picking up a Mac Plus tomorrow, but I do not have a printer yet, so I have not been able to test output on actual hardware with a LaserWriter or similar setup.

If anyone here is interested in trying it, testing it on a 512K or Plus, or sharing feedback on usability, performance, compatibility, or printing, I would be incredibly grateful.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I've attached screenshots, the manual cover, and icons.
 

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Hey, I’ve got a 512k I’d be happy to play around with it on. I also have an ImageWriter II, but I’m not sure I have a DE-9 to mini-DIN adapter to use it with the 512k.

At the very least I can test how it functions in a floppy-only environment with the older 64k ROMs.
 
Hey, I’ve got a 512k I’d be happy to play around with it on. I also have an ImageWriter II, but I’m not sure I have a DE-9 to mini-DIN adapter to use it with the 512k.

At the very least I can test how it functions in a floppy-only environment with the older 64k ROMs.
Awesome, thanks! I'll let you know when I have the disk uploaded.
 
How do you do video output from a Plus?

Back in the day, I recall using something that you could see through that sat in front of the monitor and digitized the output to one of those overhead projector displays (although most people just printed to acetate and slapped the slides directly on the projector, as you said).

I have no idea how you'd set up such a device today, however, or if any of that era of hardware still exists. Possibly this could work in tandem with one of the modern VGA output boards discussed elsewhere in this forum? It'd be nice to be able to project via overhead projector though, for the authentic period feel :D
 
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