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Retro Apple Mac mod implements thermal printer floppy swap — machine also benefits from a Mac Mini brain transplant
A retro computer enthusiast has fitted a thermal printer into an ancient Apple Macintosh Plus. A short video clip shared on social media shows the mod is effective and, dare we say, practical. The otherwise redundant floppy drive in this Mac Mini brain transplanted desktop looks almost perfect for spewing forth coils of thermal copy paper.
The original Apple Macintosh has such iconic computing appeal that it is natural that enthusiasts repurpose the old chassis if or when the innards deteriorate beyond repair. But what do you make of the cutout where the floppy drive used to be?
The above perfectly valid answer is provided by Japanese pickle store manager and Mac enthusiast, Meinan, on X. Apparently, they were lucky enough to get this thermal printer in some kind of auction for ‘1 yen’, and were looking for a good way to make use of it. We don’t know how it is hooked up to the computer, but would guess it simply interfaces via USB, like printers have done for decades now.
A brief glance at the display of this Mac Plus, shows that it has been seriously ungraded in the processing department too. Gone is the low-res mono CRT, and a vibrant LCD display is fitted in the frame. Powering the modern mac OS system you see running is some version of the Mac Mini.
In some ways it is a shame that Meinan’s machine couldn’t be preserved in its original configuration, of course. But we don’t know what happened to this aged computer before its shell was reused. It seems to be a particularly interesting cross-generation sample. The shell mixes a Mac 128K facia, with a Plus 1Mb rear housing (and contents at one time) making it a possibly rare transition machine.
Overall, the thermal printer mod is a pretty interesting one. The project reminds us of the iMac G4 ‘lamp shade’ revitalization mod by Action Retro in 2024. Similarly, a Mac Mini was squeezed into the retro-shell in that project. Sadly, Action Retro didn’t reuse the vestigial optical drive during that mod, which seemed like a missed opportunity.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Unless the original computer was completely beyond saving, I really dislike these kind of mods. There are plenty of people who restore and still use these computers, floppy drives and all (myself included). I guess it’s possible the original computer could have been destroyed by capacitors or batteries but it’s not an issue I typically see on this particular Mac.
