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Neither of these cards is new technology. Both are projects I've had sitting on the bench for a while, and I finally got them to where I'm happy with them. They're simple and they're easy to use. That was the whole point. Hemi-Disk II Hemi-Disk II is a replacement for Apple's Disk II controller card. Same drives, same disks, same commands. If you know how to use a Disk II card, you already know how to use this one. Why another Disk II card? The original Disk II card uses two

I flash a lot of chips. ROMs for the SE ROM-inator, GALs for the Grappler Minus, 4-chip sets for the ROM SIMMs. All of it goes through an XGecu T48, and the T48's own software, Xgpro, only runs on Windows. So every time I needed a chip, I was booting a Windows machine. minipro, the open source driver for the XGecu programmers, does run on the Mac. But it's a command-line tool, and typing SST39SF040@PLCC32 into Terminal for the fiftieth time in a day gets old. So I wrapped it

While I was editing ROM images for the SE ROM-inator I'm developing, I kept thinking it would be handy to have a Mac SE I could open in a browser tab. So I made one. The original vMac emulates a Mac Plus, so I changed the build to match the SE. Other than that it's Mini vMac put on the web as is, and it works the way Mini vMac always has. You can load your own disk image, install and edit things on it, and download the finished file. There's nothing to set up. Right now I thi

The SE ROM-inator can now reflash every part of itself on the Macintosh SE itself, including swapping the main ROM between the early SE version and the FDHD one. The flash tool for the original ROM-inator is an excellent program, and I had to get it working on the SE ROM-inator one way or another. Where it started Steve Chamberlin started all of this, and his Plus ROM Flash Tool is the reason any of it exists. It runs on the Mac itself, unlocks the two flash chips, and rewrit

The Grappler Minus has been out of stock for a while. We didn't just reorder the old board. We redesigned it, and the new one is running on real hardware now. If you haven't seen the card before: it sits in an Apple II slot next to your Disk II controller card and adds SmartPort support using Wing Yeung's SoftSP DIY ROM. It works on the II Plus, Europlus, J-Plus, IIe and IIe Platinum. You still need a Disk II controller or a 5.25 Drive Card. That part hasn't changed. What cha

For beginners and those returning to the Mac system after decades away. Some generations of Macintosh System Software require a System Enabler specifically designed for a particular Macintosh model. This article focuses on three particularly important and mature releases of Apple's general-purpose Macintosh System Software: System Software 6.0.8 System 7.1 System 7.5.3 The purpose is to identify which Macintosh models can boot these versions without adding a model-specific Sy

Why Build an SE ROM-inator? The Macintosh SE never got the kind of ROM-disk hack that Steve Chamberlin of Big Mess o' Wires created for the Macintosh Plus, 512K, and 128K. The original ROM-inator was a brilliant piece of work. It gave those early compact Macs a writable flash ROM and, more importantly, the ability to boot directly from a disk image stored inside the ROM. But there was one obvious gap: The SE didn't have one... Later, there were other hacked-ROM projects for

Hello fellow vintage Mac enthusiasts, Kay Koba here... One of the best quality-of-life features of MacBong! is its support for a mini wireless keypad. When your test bench is cluttered with logic boards, multi-meters, and soldering irons, you don't want a massive keyboard taking up space. Having a tiny keypad right next to your project to test and boot systems is an absolute game-changer. However, there is a massive catch if you are looking to source one of these keypads your

We have received several inquiries from builders stating that their newly assembled ROM-inator Resurrections fails to boot, even though the assembly appears structurally sound. In approximately 90% or more of these cases, the root cause is not a defective ROM-inator PCB or a soldering error, but rather a mechanical contact failure inside the vintage ROM socket on the host logic board. It is always disheartening to see posts from builders who feel discouraged when their kits d

When you look at the VGA adapters available for vintage Macintosh computers, you’ll notice that most of them are packed with DIP switches. Back in the CRT monitor era, this made sense... those switches allowed for maximum compatibility across a wide range of displays. But lose the manual, and it quickly becomes impossible to tell which switch does what. Today, almost everyone uses LCD displays. That made me wonder why not simplify this overly complicated, now somewhat nonsens

Some time ago, I was working on the Super Wh-IWM Swapper (PLCC44 to DIP28 SWIM adapter) . However, due to the shortage of SWIM chips (343S-0061-A, 344S-0061-A), and the fact that even when available they were extremely expensive, the project stalled. In reality, the only practical option was to salvage SWIM chips from logic boards damaged by battery bombed and corrosion. In a way, this makes sense. The SWIM chips used from the Macintosh SE/30 through the Macintosh IIsi gener

Some time ago, I designed a small daughter card called RAM Hijacker , a 64KB memory expansion daughter card that attaches to the Apple IIe 80COL text card (Apple Ref:820-0066-A) . Quite a bit of time has passed since then, and I decided it was time to revisit the idea and redesign a RAM card specifically for the Apple IIe. As I mentioned in my earlier project, the 80COL text card (Apple Ref:820-0066-A), which does not have any RAM, is now largely unnecessary... I suspe

Do you remember meowTOAST, the CR2032 coin-cell adapter for 1/2AA battery sockets that my bro Stephen Arsenault originally came up with? That was back in 2021, and as far as I know, it was likely the very first battery adapter ever made specifically for Macintosh computers. Several similar adapters were released by other makers afterward, but I’m quite sure Stephen’s design was the original. Stephen’s earliest revision is archived here: https://github.com/Stephen-Arsenault/m

I’ve always enjoyed building joysticks. Over the years I’ve made joysticks for the Macintosh, joysticks for the Apple II, and even some unusual, borderline-crazy ones designed specifically for Crazy Climber .A lot of my projects are sold as kits, because I want enthusiasts to experience the excitement of assembling something with their own hands and then using it to control a real vintage Apple computer. When it came to joysticks, I kept thinking: Wouldn’t it be great if pe

I’ve been hammering away at the Resources page on my site, trying to drag dusty memories out of the crypt. Most of the compact Macs are...

What started out as just a little side hobby has now become a huge part of my life— Kero’s Mac Mods . I never imagined it would grow this...