Step 1: Inspiration

I will always have an admiration for 9" Macs. It's what I learned graphic design on.

For this project, I wanted to retain as much authenticity of the early Macintosh system. I used the bitmapped version of Chicago for the display font.

And true to my style: minimal and clean, just how Steve would have liked.

Step 2: Programming

Haven worked in the CD Rom authoring business, it was natural for me to use Macromedia Director; which I well acquainted with. As it turned out, the recent releases were unable to produce an application which worked on the System 6 operating system I turned to legacy hardware and software in order to fulfill the needs of this project.

Macromind Director, the predecessor to Macromedia Director, was the last of its kind to compile in a compatible format.

The actual program is simple, and is all script-based.

Launch fullscreen black
1. Stage set to 512 x 240 (I think).
2. Background set to black
Display launch credits screen
1. Set text to 144px (approximately 2" type)
2. Display credits
3. Read the time from the operating system
Start the clock
1. Replace title text area with the operating system time
2. Refresh the screen
3. Wait 1/8 second
4. Read the system time
5. Update the text area
6. Recurse until mouse click
if the mouse is clicked, exit the application

Step 3: Creating Stand-alone Single-sided Double-density Floppy Discs

720k. Think about that for a moment.

In order to make it all fit, I had to cut as many corners as I could.

Minimized script before compiling, then ResEdit to remove all unused and superfluous resources.

I did a similar edit to the system software. I purged all of the unused files within the system software.This includes fonts, icons, cursors, and display screens. This was also done to all remaining files in the operating system.

Somehow it all fit.

Step 4: Distribution

The floppies are completely stand-alone. They contain both the operating system and the clock program. Double-Density discs can be read by all Macintosh computers, and the program will run on any Macintosh from the MacPlus up the the G3.

I used my authoring Mac Classic to create archives of the project. I have a handful left, and no current way to create duplicates, so they are in short supply. Demand is quite low, so it's is not much of an issue.

If you would like a copy of the floppy, please contact me here through Instructables we can discuss the details.

I also have .hqx and .sit compressed archives.

If you are in the Oakland, CA area and have a spare working 9" mac, I would love to have it. My last one recently bit the dust.