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Mac history echoes in current Mac operating systems

http://tenfourfox.blogspot.com/2025/08/mac-history-echoes-in-mac-operating.html
83•classichasclass•3h ago

Comments

Lare2•2h ago
Blogger still around O_o
Cyan488•2h ago
Was waiting to see all different colors of iMac G3 in the high resolution device icons, but alas.

I believe those icons are used in Network places if a device with a known model is on the local network. The BSOD device would represent Windows PCs with network shares, of course! I also recall seeing the Xserve icon for a qnap NAS on our network.

ink_13•2h ago
I believe these images are also used in the "About This Mac" window, although of course most highlighted in the article are long obsolete by now.
ivraatiems•1h ago
This is correct - if you use OpenCore Legacy Patcher[0] to get a newer version of macOS onto an older device, it will identify the old device correctly.

[0] https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/

stephen_g•2h ago
Yes, Samba's vfs_fruit module (which has options for better interoperability with Mac OS) has the fruit:model setting lets you select which icon it will show up as. You can make it look like any Mac model or Apple TV or iPhones etc.

Setting it to the string RackMac or Xserve should get that icon.

Somebody pulled all the icons and their codes out here: https://callumgare.github.io/macos-device-icons/

initramfs•2h ago
I ghostwrite a seance by Steve Jobs: https://newsteve.substack.com/p/steve-jobs-back-from-the-dea...
LoganDark•2h ago
That blue-screen icon is used for network shares that happen to be running Windows. I'd imagine a bunch of the other icons are also used for other types of network shares.
pdntspa•1h ago
My samba server running on Debian shows this icon too
pmarreck•1h ago
I upgraded to Tahoe beta without even realizing I'd lose the standard hard-drive icon(s). :/

I don't suppose someone can stick them up somewhere?

wahnfrieden•1h ago
There's a desktop wallpaper function that lets you load in images you'd like to see
ejdyksen•1h ago
> Why are all these things still in the macOS?

The Finder shows these icons for network volumes.

How does the Finder determine the model of the remote host? This is metadata in the _device-info._tcp Bonjour service record that is the server advertises. My Synology helpfully shows up as an Xserve, in fact:

  $ dns-sd -L "synology" _device-info._tcp local
  Lookup synology._device-info._tcp.local
  DATE: ---Thu 07 Aug 2025---
  0:24:28.117  ...STARTING...
  0:24:28.378  synology._device-info._tcp.local. can be reached at synology.local.:0 (interface 14)
  model=Xserve
immy•1h ago
iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. There was no iPhone 2G.
PlunderBunny•1h ago
The original iPhone was 2G, but it was just called 'iPhone' I think. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS models came after.
erickhill•1h ago
I'm really nostalgic for the era of Apple computing and overall product design shown in the photos.
shortrounddev2•1h ago
What, you're not impressed by apple going with the same uninspired brushed aluminum macbook design 15 years in a row? What about the same beveled slab of black glass for the iPhone? Is that not innovative enough for you?
refactor_master•46m ago
How many mainstream laptops with innovative design are there really though?
sssilver•44m ago
Have you seen any viable alternative idea that genuinely improves it?
vFunct•19m ago
Yah I wish Apple made laptops like those Windows laptops, with angular wedged plastic housing holding a barely functioning trackpad and 30 different USB-A ports with grills and 5 fans and all topped off by bright rainbow LEDs everywhere and of course an Intel-Inside sticker so you remember what kind of CPU you have in case you forgot.

Maybe add a Dragon print on the cover as well? That would be so cool. I am also an adult.

pdntspa•1h ago
Not sure why this is so remarkable. You can find similar assets on Windows buried in explorer.exe or shell32.dll. Hell just poking around my win10 install and I see winhlp32.exe and write.exe sporting their original Windows 3.x icons (though the programs themselves do not function)

My guess is that it's cheapest and lowest-risk to leave them in. It's not like most users are going to encounter them anyway.

philistine•25m ago
The thing is you're comparing the king of backward compatibility with macOS, who is famous for shedding its past at a regular pace.
nxobject•43m ago
Re: Apple Symbols – the symbols aren't _too_ anachronistic: the font dates from Panther (10.3), which ran on all New World Macs (IIRC) – and indeed the B&W Power Mac G3 did have ADB (the "branch" icon at location (2, 2)), external SCSI (the icon at (10, 2)); while the "Lombard" PowerBook G3 had a reset interrupt switch (icon at (6, 7).

That being said, if you know why there are icons for the "programmer's switch" icon (6, 6) and LocalTalk (at (2, 8)), which died out with the Old World Macs, send answers on a postcard...

chrisbrandow•39m ago
Someone posted about a little Easter egg wherein the Next icon was buried somewhere in iPadOs but I’ve never been able to track it down since.
Elosha•3m ago
The whole NeXT GUI widget set, as well as Rhapsody GUI widget set, and several 80‘s style NeXT tool icons, are still in Mac OS 15 in some assets.car file. And before car files where a thing, it must have been either TIFFs or PDFs.

Ask HN: Have you ever had adversarial customers?

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