IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com

Apple, Inc. -> Apple Hardware

Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: nextchef on April 15, 2008, 11:17:05 AM
Amazing what a talented artist/craftsman can do with acrylic.

Imagine walking into starbucks and pulling this out of your bag.
http://benheck.com/04-14-2008/apple-iigs-original-hardware-laptop

EDIT:
Link to the youtube vid, as his site is still getting hammered with traffic.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oYlPjlGUL9I
EDIT:
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: dravier on April 15, 2008, 01:00:27 PM
wow!  That is amazing.  Okay, this is the guy we need to talk to about moding a NeXT setup for a modern look.  Just need to supply him with the gear to do it.  

Just amazing...
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: helf on April 15, 2008, 01:53:22 PM
heh, I inquired about him doing a laptop mod for a NeXTstation if I supplied the parts. Waiting on a response...
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: nextchef on April 15, 2008, 03:11:12 PM
Quote from: "helf"heh, I inquired about him doing a laptop mod for a NeXTstation if I supplied the parts. Waiting on a response...

With the size of the NeXT motherboard, that would be a large laptop indeed.
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: kb7sqi on April 15, 2008, 07:32:59 PM
The IIgs was a pretty cool pre-mac system.  Back when I was in the Air Force, stationed up in Alaska, I found this old computer store.  I got to know them well in there after purchasing quite a bit of stuff.  :lol:   I eventually started doing some Mac's repairs, etc for them.  But they had this huge "inventory" of old Apple II systems.  I built myself a really sweet maxed out IIgs system for basically nothing.  It was a great for all the old games.  I had a blast w/ that system.  I had it setup next to my Atari TT/030 & Amgia 4000 Toaster system.  I know computers are 100 times faster today, but they really don't have the "excitement" alot of the systems in the 80's/early 90's did.  I can still remember the fun I had soldering my Sinclair zx81 together.   :roll:   Those were the days. Seeing those pics makes me want to dig out that IIgs emulator I have for my NeXT.  It's around here somewhere.  It'd be fun to boot it up again. It's been along time.  That laptop is awesome.
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: dravier on April 15, 2008, 08:52:07 PM
Agreed nextchef, a NeXT laptop would be difficult given the size of the mainboard.  But, a nice rework of the station design or the cube... maybe even the Mac / NeXT retro machine concept.  Whatever it is, it would definitely be cool to see.

Where was this guy like ten years ago when there was a bunch of talk about a company selling bare-bones G3/4 systems.  The biggest thing they lacked was a case... alas.

As to kb7sqi, my true and full-fledged intro to computing was a little later than the Apple II / Sinclair days but I do miss the glory of older systems.  For me is was my 386 DOS 5 beast... 4 mb ram, 124 mb HD, 2400 bps modem with a 3.5 and 5.25 floppy.  Wow, it was a machine to fear when it came outta that shiny box.  I actually still have a DOS notebook around for those memories (a Grid 286 w/ an amber display, 3.5 and 2mb ram, forget the HD size).  I can get lost on it for hours...
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: kb7sqi on April 15, 2008, 09:21:53 PM
Quote from: "dravier"As to kb7sqi, my true and full-fledged intro to computing was a little later than the Apple II / Sinclair days but I do miss the glory of older systems.  For me is was my 386 DOS 5 beast... 4 mb ram, 124 mb HD, 2400 bps modem with a 3.5 and 5.25 floppy.  Wow, it was a machine to fear when it came outta that shiny box.  I actually still have a DOS notebook around for those memories (a Grid 286 w/ an amber display, 3.5 and 2mb ram, forget the HD size).  I can get lost on it for hours...

Well, I'm probably a little bit older.  :wink:   Yeah, the cool thing about the old days was the fun learning how the system truly worked.  Atleast for me anyway.  After I decided to "mod" my zx81, before I put it in a pc style case, it'd take up a whole table.  :lol:   I handwired my own keyboard using wirewrap wiring & cmos 4066 chips for extra function keys.  I gave it color graphics, audio from a c-64 SID chip, had floppy drives, a modem, printer port. 256K of ram.  It was a monster. I had wires going everywhere.  But I was learning way more about the system compared to someone going to dell.com now & buying a computer.  Even though I love the command line, I've always hated DOS/Windows. I don't even care for x86 cpu's really.  I loved the Motorola CPU's.  That's why I used Atari's/Amgia's/Sinclair QL & eventually Mac's/NeXT systems.  When Apple decided to shift to x86, which I believe was a smart move, part of me still was really upset.  Kinda like when Apple bought NeXT.  I knew in my heart it was the starting of the end of all things NeXT.  I love Mac OS X, but it's not NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP.  Just my personal take on the that part of history.   :wink:   Take care.
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: Thrax on June 04, 2008, 07:35:07 AM
That is a really cool way to champion the GS.  I loved the GS when it came out.
Title: IIgs laptop mod - from benheck.com
Post by: itomato on June 04, 2008, 09:07:18 PM
Before I required internet access, I used to ride my bike to the Public Library just to look at this:

http://www.apple2.org/AppleIIgsPortables.html

That thing inspired numerous hacking projects, including a re-packaged C=64 in a red fur covered PC enclosure, with internally mounted 1541's..

Ahh, the memories..

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