Zac-OS-9: The classic Platinum desktop, reborn for modern PCs | Hacker News Reader

Zac-OS-9: The classic Platinum desktop, reborn for modern PCs

sourceforge.net

51 pointsfelixding37 comments

I swear projects exactly like this were EVERYWHERE like 25 years ago. Couldn't throw a rock on the internet and not hit a MacOS Platinum theme/simulation layer for any given OS.

I used one for Windows back in the day that somehow successfully lifted the file menus (well for most apps) from your apps to the top of the screen.

I didn't know SourceForge was still used.

Very cool, I absolutely love the copland/system7/8/9 look. For some reason I'm more skeptical of something like this than grassmunk's Platinum9[1] theme or the like. I have an old macbook with mint(?) and this theme on it, but it's so out of date that I'm scared to use that too.

[1]https://github.com/grassmunk/Platinum9

Looks somewhat vibe-coded. How much of this is independent work? If it's actually faithful graphic design and integrated, well-thought out code with a bit of Claude glue on top then I'm fairly intrigued, but if the entire thing was built with llm tooling then that does unfortunately sap my interest in this a lot.

I do love the idea though. I do also hate the fact that if I saw a project like this six or seven years ago I'd be in awe at it, but now that there's far less effort required, I just go, "oh neat, eh, but how functional is it really" and move on.

That's fair, and I get where you're coming from. I do use AI quite a bit for the coding side of things, and I'm not pretending otherwise.

Zac OS originally started as something I was making just for myself. I've always loved the classic Mac OS experience and wanted to bring it to modern hardware. It's actually my everyday OS now, and I figured I'd share it in case anyone else wanted to try it.

It's also a lot more than just a visual recreation. I've been trying to bring back how the original Mac OS actually worked, but integrate that functionality with modern Linux. Things like the Finder-style file management, System Folder, Control Panels, menus and the way everything interacts are meant to feel like the original Mac, while still working with modern applications, hardware and the underlying Linux system.

I'm not a professional developer, and I'm not claiming to have written every line of code myself. It's something I enjoy working on, and a lot of the development comes from using it every day, finding things that don't feel right, and improving them.

There's no big ambition behind it. I just wanted to build something I'd enjoy using, and thought others might enjoy it too.

Can you please at least write your own comments? https://www.pangram.com/history/dd0ccc3c-c477-4791-b096-85f7...

How does this thing work? Can humans learn how to write like AI and vice versa without being detected?

i think it would be difficult to learn how to reproduce certain phenomena that the models often exhibit. this article breaks down some of them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50223647

I am really really bad with spelling and grammer. If AI writes what i need to say without adding or taking away facts, its better for both of us that is use it.

Writing is a skill. Use it or lose it. You've set yourself on the track of being perpetually unable to communicate in your own words without a machine intermediary massaging your ideas into grey paste. It's not good for you or your readers.

A lot of people prefer to see the spelling and grammar errors these days, over the default voice of LLMs.

At least prompt it to use a different voice than its usual one.

How will you ever improve if you don't practice?

Please don't do that here—see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#genai and https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#generated.

(This doesn't mean we're against using AI tools, coding agents, etc. We use them heavily ourselves! We just don't want generated or AI-edited text on HN itself.)

I'm glad you had a lot of fun and I think it looks like a neat project.

I think that there is certainly room for people to develop software because it makes them happy.

I will take a look at it at some point- Thanks.

Have you been able to handle drag-and-drop?

That's one of the places that I think Linux desktops have traditionally had a lot of difficulty, particularly compared to Macos 9, because you're dragging and dropping complex objects across multiple tool kits, etc..

The OS uses a lot of drag and drop features such as installing/removing software using the applications folder.

Have to agree with this view.

I would love to have a proper retro-looking GUI on my distros that isn't a patchwork over XFCE, but not pure slop.

I really dont understand the rudeness. I've put a lot of work into this OS as my daily driver and because its been working for me so well I decided to make it public incase other people want to enjoy it as well. Its all in the README. I am not even the one who posted this here. You can simply move on and ignore this project. What are you accomplishing here?

I did not want to sound rude, sorry for the lack of tone. I am happy for you that you managed to craft a "fits like a glove" solution for yourself.

However, while I would love to use such an environment on my desktops, I'd rather use something that is handmade and properly maintained rather than someone's personal tool.

I actively solve issues brought up on github by users of the OS. Is that not proper maintenance?

Love it. I too use Platinum as a skin in my projects: https://github.com/rcarmo/wrdp

This is awesome!

This looks neat. My partner was just wishing for the os9 interface but more than a theme on Linux, so if it's been properly tested as a daily driver she may well get some use out of it on her laptop. We'll see!

I've been using it on a 2013 and 2009 macbook pros and its surprisingly fast on all of them. Its built on Debian Linux with a mac os like finder shell called the sniffer that hides all the unix and replaces it with a more familier feel.

> start classic Mac OS in the built-in SheepShaver emulator with your own ROM

Built-in as in preinstalled, or is there some deeper integration?

Preinstalled with deeper integration simular to mac os x using classic mode. It's still in development so in the meantime dropping a rom and install or hd disk image into /classic in your home dir and sheepshaver will run

I like the dog in place of the Apple menu, it's cute. Is that Zac?

It sure is. Zacs a real dog too!

Awesome. Thanks for making this project!

This is a fantastic project thank you for making it. All those complaining about AI probably aren’t developers and even worse those who think AI written detection tools work. Just ignore the naysayers

Thank you. I appreciate it. My goal here is that those who choose to use it, enjoy it.

This is very cool, nice job.

Thanks :)

Software will eat software. Good luck Oracle, Apple, Microsoft, everyone.

The use of Sourceforge might trick you into thinking it's an ancient project built by a human, but nah, it's a month-old slopfest. Yawn.

Thanks for interacting with this post and giving it more attention. Also, its only been public for a month, but its older.

Is it really?

First commit (by Claude Opus 5.5) is from October 1st, and it's very empty: https://sourceforge.net/p/zac-os-9/code/ci/eddaec8ab21df697a...

Second commit, seven minutes later: https://sourceforge.net/p/zac-os-9/code/ci/3784bf686346ca228...

Third commit, 14 minutes later: https://sourceforge.net/p/zac-os-9/code/ci/4f2a87efd6a00592a...

If the code existed earlier, would Claude take 14 minutes to commit it? Would Claude make changes to files instead of committing the final version from the start?

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