Classical Macintosh Plus Apple has made the news again for something very different from the million-dollar auctions it’s usually associated with. Here’s how the ingenious work of Hunter Irving, also a Raspberry Pi enthusiast, achieved this technological feat: Introduced in 1986, connect the computer to the internet and browse ChatGPT and Wikipedia. Despite its technical limitations such as 4 MB RAM and 8 MHz processor, this old computer has proven to live beyond its time.

The task was not easy. Irving had to overcome several obstacles, such as replacing faulty motherboard capacitors and installing a hard drive emulator to install games and applications. He also developed a creative solution to connect the Macintosh Plus to the internet using the Raspberry Pi Pico W and custom software.

A Macintosh woke up in the modern world

One of the biggest challenges was adapting web browsers of the time to current Internet standards. Irving used MacWeb 2.0, a browser from 1996, and developed a tool to intercept web requests and adapt them to the capabilities of Macintosh Plus.

In a world of OLED displays and full-color displays, seeing ChatGPT running on Macintosh Plus, with its rudimentary graphical interface and classic typography fonts, is a sight many would love to see. While the browsing experience is slow and limited by hardware capabilities, it shows the technology’s potential and the knowledge of experts in this field.

Macintosh obsession never ends

The Macintosh Plus was a revolutionary personal computer for its time. Released in 1986, this computer was one of the first computers to popularize the graphical user interface. (GUI) makes computing more accessible to the average user. Additionally, it came with a number of essential applications such as word processor and spreadsheet, making it versatile for office tasks and personal use.

The Macintosh Plus played an important role in the popularization of personal computers. Its ease of use and attractive design have helped Apple become a benchmark in the technology industry.. It also laid the foundation for the next generation Macintosh and helped define the way we interact with computers today.

When you revive the Macintosh Plus and connect it to the Internet, Irving reminds us of the origins of the technology we use every day and invites us to consider how the evolution of computer technology may bring us to an experience that was believed to be unthinkable just a few years ago.

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