Classic 8×8-Pixel B&w MAC Patterns
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The post showcases classic 8x8-pixel B&W Mac patterns, sparking nostalgia and discussion among commenters about their use, design, and influence on modern technology.
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See also Iconography of the X Window System: The Boot Stipple: https://matttproud.com/blog/posts/x-window-system-boot-stipp...
Same, that and the bubble one #36 have so much personality.
https://github.com/historicalsource/supermario/blob/master/b...
:)
I'm not certain where it came from precisely; from what I understand, it's been circulating online for ages. Apple hasn't authorized its release, but, as far as I'm aware, they haven't made any attempt to suppress it either.
https://errantspark.github.io/3.1/#0056755500caaeaa
https://jherrm.github.io/classic-mac-desktop-pattern/
Given that the Mac shipped with those patterns in early 1984 and GEOS in 1986, it can’t be Mac copying GEOS.
That doesn’t mean it was GEOS copying Mac, though. Various horizontal and vertical stripes, block patterns and attempts to get a range of grays easily can be parallel evolution. 27 out of 32 seems a bit much, though.
[I knew them from the Atari ST :) ]
> The minimum number of holes in the case through which fingers, screwdrivers (either metallic or liquid), EMI or earwigs can crawl is to be desired. I guess that adapters are OK as accessories.
Demo here: https://jherrm.github.io/classic-mac-desktop-pattern/
Source: https://github.com/jherrm/classic-mac-desktop-pattern
edit: holy crap, I just figured it out: "Set Utilities Pattern" replaces the background pattern of every desk accessory, such as the Calculator and Scrapbook apps, Find File, Key Caps, Puzzle— with the pattern you chose. What a different time that was!
Back in 2014 I made a phoney minigolf game using these patterns as a first step into making interactive work: https://www.maxpiantoni.com/projects/golfnet
The game isn’t particularly real, but the jokes are.
It's too bad because ResEdit is an amazing program, and even has a surprisingly full-featured graphical editor, including for those patterns, with a live preview mode:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulsmith/classic-mac-patt...
Right, I thought I remembered such an editor from back in the day, for editing those patterns. When I was a kid I went all-out with ResEdit, inspecting every single resource in the System and Finder files (and pretty much every application/game I had) ... it was pretty fascinating how much stuff was so easily-editable! I renamed my Trash to "Incinerator" :)
It's still hard to believe that some of these effects are accomplished in 8x8 pixels — in a single integer's worth of space, on modern architectures.
Swastikas make a nice pattern. Ya I know. But there are actually only like 7 really good strong patterns and swastikas is one of them.
Such a good graphic. Too bad about the branding.
You can try each of them by just doing `xsetroot -bitmap <filename>`. I have mine set to wide_weave, which is incidentally identical to Pattern 15 in https://paulsmith.github.io/classic-mac-patterns/
Here's the checkerboard: https://g.co/gemini/share/cdc3ce247853
In my LisaGUI project I've added not just the ones from the Lisa Office System and Mac System 1, but also a few I found in betas of the Mac OS, as well as some from Windows 3.x and 9x. These kinds of patterns popped up in all sorts of places in the 80s and 90s. I'm continually surprised at how much you can fit in an 8x8 monochrome grid whenever I come across a clever pattern I haven't seen before.
Edit: https://alpha.lisagui.com/ At the desktop click the preferences icon and go to the Decorate Desktop pane