Zac-OS-9: The classic Platinum desktop, reborn for modern PCs (sourceforge.net)

47 pointsby felixding3 days ago33 comments

Kwpolska 14 hours ago

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.

chromasyspro 14 hours ago

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

Kwpolska 14 hours ago

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?

chromasyspro 14 hours ago

donatj 13 hours ago

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.

tambourine_man 15 hours ago

I didn't know SourceForge was still used.

timnetworks 10 hours ago

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 and this theme on it, but it's so out of date that I'm scared to use that too.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

rcarmo 13 hours ago

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

indigodaddy 12 hours ago

This is awesome!

kunai 3 days ago

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.

chromasyspro 3 days ago

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.

xena 15 hours ago

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

weezing 15 hours ago

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

marsmaps 13 hours ago

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

chromasyspro 15 hours ago

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.

idle_zealot 14 hours ago

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.

ben_w 14 hours ago

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.

vor_ 10 hours ago

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

slipheen 15 hours ago

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..

chromasyspro 15 hours ago

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

manytimesaway 14 hours ago

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.

chromasyspro 14 hours ago

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?

valenceidra 8 hours ago

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!

yjftsjthsd-h 14 hours ago

> 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?

chromasyspro 14 hours ago

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

hackyhacky 13 hours ago

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

chromasyspro 12 hours ago

It sure is. Zacs a real dog too!

hackyhacky 12 hours ago

Awesome. Thanks for making this project!

darknightrealm 15 hours ago

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

chromasyspro 15 hours ago

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

indigodaddy 12 hours ago

This is very cool, nice job.

chromasyspro 9 hours ago

Thanks :)

smm11 12 hours ago

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