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Snow - Classic Macintosh emulator

(snowemu.com)
281 points ColinWright | 13 comments | 26 Jun 25 09:08 UTC | HN request time: 1.264s | source | bottom

GitHub repo: https://github.com/twvd/snow, Announcement from creator: https://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12509, Originally-submitted source with further details: https://oldbytes.space/@smallsco/114747196289375530
1. jakedata ◴[26 Jun 25 11:36 UTC] No.44386387[source]▶
Much of my early post-college work is stored across a stack of Mac formatted Bernoulli disks. The software requires an ADB dongle to run, so physical hardware is required. I wonder if any of those ADB to USB adapters could be mapped into the emulator?
replies(4): >>44386467 #>>44386548 #>>44387893 #>>44388002 #
2. ChrisRR ◴[26 Jun 25 11:49 UTC] No.44386467[source]▶
If you've not backed it up already that data might be gone. If it's valuable to you then I'd recommend finding out sooner than later
replies(1): >>44386919 #
3. kalleboo ◴[26 Jun 25 11:59 UTC] No.44386548[source]▶
All of the ADB to USB adapters I know of only support mice and keyboards and have internal firmware that maps to USB HID. You'd have to write a custom firmware to make a raw pass through to an emulator...

It would probably be easier to crack the software!

replies(2): >>44387288 #>>44387410 #
4. jakedata ◴[26 Jun 25 12:49 UTC] No.44386919[source]▶
Good advice of course. It is not valuable, and it is not my product - I merely worked on it. The real value was guiding me _away_ from a career as a programmer (and the friends we made along the way).
5. mrpippy ◴[26 Jun 25 13:36 UTC] No.44387288[source]▶
The Griffin iMate was the most popular ADB-USB adapter from the time, and probably supports non-input devices (it would’ve been the only option at the time to make those dongles work).
replies(1): >>44388406 #
6. longtimelistnr ◴[26 Jun 25 13:49 UTC] No.44387410[source]▶
I have a large collection of vintage Mac's and peripherals, with the largest quantity being the Apple Keyboard II [1]. Archive forums all suggest the Belkin ADB Adapter [2] but that has long since been retired. I would like to make my own, i know instructions exist for a raw passthrough.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Keyboard_II.jpg

[2]https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/hack-your-old-macs-adb-k...

replies(1): >>44395189 #
7. mmmlinux ◴[26 Jun 25 14:39 UTC] No.44387893[source]▶
Anyone who has a working Bernoulli box probably has a matching old mac to go with it.
replies(1): >>44388494 #
8. thehigherlife ◴[26 Jun 25 14:48 UTC] No.44388002[source]▶
maybe this would work? https://www.bigmessowires.com/usb-wombat/
replies(1): >>44388602 #
9. kalleboo ◴[26 Jun 25 15:34 UTC] No.44388406{3}[source]▶
Ah yeah, the ones that were sold at the time would work if you passed through USB to an emulator that supported USB hardware, or reverse-engineered their proprietary protocol. I was only thinking of the modern options when I wrote my comment.
replies(1): >>44397780 #
10. jakedata ◴[26 Jun 25 15:43 UTC] No.44388494[source]▶
Several, yes ;-)
11. jakedata ◴[26 Jun 25 15:53 UTC] No.44388602[source]▶
It turns out there has been some discussion on emulating or passing through ADB hardware keys but nothing conclusive seems to have come of it.
12. mewse-hn ◴[27 Jun 25 09:14 UTC] No.44395189{3}[source]▶
I made a adb-to-usb adapter for my AEK2 using a teensy 2.0 and a cut up s-video cable. The TMK and QMK firmware have this functionality, but I used this firmware because it's much smaller and not a "kitchen sink" keyboard firmware:

https://github.com/gblargg/adb-usb

Unfortunately it's US-ANSI only so my pile of 4 french canadian AEK2s don't work very well with it.

13. brirec ◴[27 Jun 25 15:54 UTC] No.44397780{4}[source]▶
You can get used Griffin iMates on eBay from time to time, but you'll want to solder in a new coin cell battery.