Pi-powered and 3D printed, this is the iMac that time forgot.
(Image credit: Pigeonaut)
If Tim Cook was more into retro computers, then the newly redesigned iMac might have looked like this. It doesn’t of course, but that doesn’t matter - we’ve got Pigenoaut’s Callisto II, as spotted by Hackaday.
Within that lovely late 1970s / early 1980s 3D printed shell sits a Raspberry Pi 4 running the show. The screen is a Pimoroni eight-inch LCD as used in their Picades, with an appropriately 20th-century 4:3 aspect ratio and 800 x 600 resolution. The mechanical keyboard is 60% of normal size and fits snugly into the custom designed space. Inside the unit is a USB hub, power supply, and a lot of good fresh air to keep the Raspberry Pi 4 cool. A hatch on the back of the case, which snaps together without glue, allows access to the innards, in case you want to fill the void with hard drives or swap out the computing board with another model.
(Image credit: Pigeonaut)
Possibly the best thing about the project, though, is the accompanying website which strikes precisely the right note even if it isn’t period authentic. From the dithered images to the liberal use of GIFs, it’s filled with links to Pigeonaut’s other adventures in DIY computing, as well as the brilliant online OS, PigeonOS.
With its friendly design and range of pastel colors, the Callisto II would look great on any desk.
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Ian Evenden is a UK-based news writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He’ll write about anything, but stories about Raspberry Pi and DIY robots seem to find their way to him.
I beg to differ - that's not an iMac, that's an ADM3A.
https://hackaday.com/2014/02/08/raspi-powered-adm-3a-dumb-terminal/
They have additional form factors (for 3D printing) which include a case resembling the original Mac, and something called "Callisto J-29", which looks like a grey Commodore PET, but may be modeled on a different '70s terminal. Thanks for the ADMA3A info though. The article was mostly correct in that this site "strikes precisely the right note", but maybe he went a bit overboard on Thingverse.com, where he advertises "A TRUE 4:3 ratio 8-inch CRT display" and "All at a fair price of $8,599.99!" I suppose Kevin would actually make the Mac replica , or probably all three models for that kind of money, but...
In the previous article on Tom's about the previous model was called "Fallout-Style RPi Terminal" I suppose calling one an "iMac" avoids repetition, but it also feels a bit clickbate-y. I suppose vintage collectors with money to burn tend to look for iMac's ? I can't even afford an Apple II, so I wouldn't know.
