The Apple ][ is celebrating it's 35th birthday. Originally demoed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak at a computer fair on April 16 and 17, 1977, the Apple II was the machine that put Apple on the map and then went on to catapult the personal computer revolution. What better way to celebrate one of the original PC's monumental birthdays than to use an Apple II simulator in Mac OS X?

Bundled within the XScreenSaver for Mac collection, the standalone Apple2 application is actually a completely usable VT100 Terminal emulator in the lovably awful Apple ][ style, complete with screen noise, random color flickers, a permanent caps lock, and other peculiarities unique to technologies of a bygone era. Whether you have distant memories of the ][ or never even used one, the simulator is a fun look at what computers behaved like 35 years ago.

• Download the XScreenSaver pack DMG, mount the disk image, and launch Apple2.app

Optionally, you can install the Apple2.saver screen saver as well. Not the most useful thing in the world, but it sure is fun.

Tired of all the OS X default screen savers? Breathe a ton of new retro life into your screen saver collection with the XScreenSaver pack for Mac. The free bundle includes over 200 old school screen saver classics, including an Apple II emulator, Flying Toasters, The Matrix, Blue Screen of Death, Missile Command, Phosphor BBS emulator, Rubiks cube, bouncing cow, and tons of other once-upon-a-time-was-fancy and hilarious screen savers from computing days of yesteryear.

• Download XScreenSavers from JWZ (free)

Individual screen savers can be manually installed by double clicking the .saver file, or you can install the entire pack of 201 by doing the following:

• Hit Command+Shift+G, enter “~/Library/Screen Savers/” as the path and hit return
• Copy all of the .saver files into that directory
• Open System Preferences and click on “Desktop & Screen Saver” to find them under the “Other” category

Being a retro Apple geek, my personal favorite is the Apple II simulator, which does a great job of emulating a terribly noisy TV screen and even lets you specify a terminal command to display continuously as the screensaver. Here is Apple II showing the output of “top” in it’s wonderfully distorted glory:

If you come from a unix background, many in the XScreenSaver collection will be familiar to you. The first version adorned X11 in 1992 and has been gradually adding more screen savers to the collection ever since.

Apple was busy dreaming about the future 29 years ago, long before the days of the iPhone, touch screens, cell phones, and even cordless phones. As this Apple product concept from 1983 shows, the company envisioned an Apple phone complete with a Mac-like OS, touch screen, touch keyboard, and even a stylus to navigate the onscreen elements. Of course this particular phone never went anywhere, but it does show Apple’s tradition of dreaming big and being years ahead of their rivals in imagination alone.

These particular concepts were created by one of Apple’s famous first industrial designers, Hartmut Esslinger of frogdesign. You can see more old Apple product concept pictures at fudder.de alongside a fascinating article about Apple’s early design, though it’s in German so the English translation is a bit rough.

Conceptually this one looks much more useful than the silly looking literal Apple phone from 1985, which was shaped like an actual Apple logo.

Many years ago before OS X, the Mac OS Finder was much more simple. There was no toolbar, no sidebar, no drop shadows, and each folder opened in it’s own window showing you only the icons in that Folder. That was basically the default desktop experience from Mac OS 1.0 through Mac OS 9, and you can bring much of that traditional simplified Finder styling to OS X with a few minor adjustments:

• Simplify the Finder – Open a Finder window and right-click on the toolbar, select “Hide Toolbar”, while at the same Finder window, hit Command+/ to show the status bar
• Ditch Drop Shadows – Use a free third party tool like ShadowKiller to remove shadows from OS X windows and menus
• Use Graphite Appearance – In System Preferences’s Appearance panel, choose the Graphite theme to remove the color stoplights and dull down the OS appearance
• Use Gray Wallpaper – Select the classic “Solid Gray Medium” desktop background color from System Preferences’s Desktop panel
• Hide the Dock – From the OS X desktop, hit Command+Option+D to enable automatic Dock hiding, move the cursor near the bottom of the screen to reveal the Dock

Suddenly OS X Finder looks more akin to retro versions of Mac OS from long ago, and each folder will open in a new window too, behaving like Mac OS System 9 and prior.

Mac OS 7 and OS X Lion are now not so far apart.

So going retro is fun and all, but is there a practical reason to simplify the OS X appearance? In some cases, yes. Disabling window shadows and using a plain color background uses less system resources and can actually help to speed up older Macs, though they’d be best combined with some other tips to breathe new life into an old OS X machine.

Remember the old flip phones? Of course you do, they were huge and ugly and half of them wouldn’t fit in a pocket even when folded up, but oh were they cutting edge in 1998.

Soon you’ll be able to have that same terrible user experience with the iPhone. From the company who brought you the ridiculous 80′s block iPhone case comes a late 1990′s early 2000′s giant flip-phone case for the iPhone. It’s both hideous and hilarious, and it will certainly be popular in that laughably retro stupid way.

Unfortunately it’s not available quite yet, we’ll all have to wait until later in the year to grab the flip case for about $24, so put it on your Christmas list.

Heads up to Gimzodo for the find.

Remember that retro iOS ’86 concept theme for iPhone that popped up recently? We were hoping it would become an iOS theme, and it has. To use the iOS 86 theme you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 5.0.1, here is how to do that with absinthe for iPhone 4S, or use redsn0w for jailbreaking other iOS 5 devices.

After you have jailbroken, do the following:

1. Launch Cydia and add the source repo: http://repo.ithemes.it
2. Search Cydia for “iOS 86″ and install it
3. Search Cydia for “Winterboard” and download that
4. Launch Winterboard to find and activate iOS ’86 theme (complete the look with a white wallpaper)

I haven’t had the time to test this quite yet, but apparently the theme doesn’t change other UI elements or any icons outside of the iOS 5 native set, so if an app isn’t bundled with iOS don’t expect a nice retro black and white icon. Nonetheless, this is a great first start and it’s pretty cool for those of us who were impressed with the original concept.

Updated repo source, thanks for those who pointed this out

Update 2/22/2012: Want your iPhone to look like this? Here’s how to install the iOS 86 theme on an iPhone and iPod touch!

What would iPhone’s iOS look like had it been made in 1986? Maybe this, and it looks awesome in that retro sort of way. This is just concept art from a few designers who posted their ideas to LiveJournal, but I know I’m not the only one secretly hoping that someone will make a jailbreak skin or theme that matches the concept art, and if it happens we’ll certainly let you know.

Check out some more pictures below:

This iPhone theme combined with one of those 80′s block cell phone cases and you’d be the envy of everyone 25 years ago. This is a fun find by Gizmodo, but if you can’t wait until this skin gets (possibly) designed, you can try to run Classic Mac OS on the iPhone too.

This is a classic picture of a young Steve Jobs giving the finger to an IBM sign in 1983, it’s been circulating again after all these years thanks to Macintosh co-creator Andy Hertzfeld who posted the high res copy to Google+. Here’s the text that was posted along with the amusing image:

In memoriam for Steve Jobs as 2011 draws to a close, here’s one more rare photo that illustrates his rebellious spirit. In December 1983, a few weeks before the Mac launch, we made a quick trip to New York City to meet with Newsweek, who was considering doing a cover story on the Mac. The photo was taken spontaneously as we walked around Manhattan by Jean Pigozzi, a wild French jet setter who was hanging out with us at the time. Somehow I ended up with a copy of it. My editor begged me to include it in my book, but I was too timid to ask for permission, especially since IBM was still making CPUs for Apple at the time.

The book is his “Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made“, which tells the story of how the original Macintosh was created. That subject was briefly discussed in the recent Steve Jobs biography as well.

The picture demonstrates the competitive nature of Jobs and early Apple, and although the image has been around a while this is the first higher resolution copy to surface. In the early days of Apple, IBM was largely considered the companies biggest competitor and enemy of sorts, as is demonstrated in the Ghostbusters spoof and of course the classic 1984 Superbowl commercial that launched the first Mac.

In 1984, Apple spoofed the classic Ghostbusters song by Ray Parker Jr, and this outrageously cheesy video is the result.

The video apparently played as the introduction to an Apple corporate event held in Hawaii to rally the international sales team. Instead of Ghostbusters, it’s “Blue Busters”, with Blue of course being a reference to Big Blue, or IBM. John Sculley and Steve Wozniak even make appearances in the video, and supposedly Steve Jobs is somewhere in there too as a Ghostbuster along with a few other Apple execs, although I couldn’t identify who was who.

Hilarious find by TheNextWeb, who also found a few more details from a YouTube commenter that happened to be at the event:

I was there in Oct. 1984. This was not an internal ad. I was a 1984 state of the art multimedia slide show with audio by Ray Parker Jr. who sang the original. There were also live dancers on the stage.

This was the opening presentation of the International Sales Meeting that introduced the Lightwriter later renamed Laserwriter.

Apple always used a current movie as a them for the sales meetings. in 1985 it was Back to the Future.

So, anyone found that 1985 video yet?

Apple history at it’s finest, or funniest at least.

Just in time for the holidays, Fireplace is a totally awesome interactive 8-bit fireplace app that fills your Macs screen with a pixelated fireplace. But don’t stop there, you can add logs, roast hotdogs and marshmallows, and even burn papers and photos. Each log ‘burns’ for about 30 minutes of pixel torching glory, and although it won’t heat up the room, it’s another great retro addition to your Mac app list.

• Download Fireplace for free here (Mac OS X & Windows)

The basic commands are: log, match, paper, marshmallow, smore, hotdog, eat, blow, water. You can lower and raise the hotdogs and smores to roast them using the arrow keys, and they actually char and turn black if you keep them too close to the fire. Typing ‘water’ or hitting the Escape key will quit the app.

There’s a Windows version available too, so if you have an ancient 486 laying around you can finally put it to use and toast some pixels.

Cool find by CultofMac

In 1991, astronauts took a Macintosh Portable aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-43, amongst other things, it became the first computer to send an email in space. A slightly less historical aspect is this fairly entertaining video clip from that mission, demonstrating the Macintosh Portable’s disk ejection system, which works perhaps a little too well in zero gravity.

“…We’ve got a phenomena that we’ve noticed since we’ve gotten into orbit here. The automatic disk ejection system that the Mac has, as you can see when we get rid of these disks, we’re going to have to pay attention to where they go.”

Watch the video, it’s well worth the 15 seconds.

Heads up to @AppleSpotlight for the find

Have an old Mac running OS 9 laying around the closet? Dust it off and bring it into the modern age (of the web at least) with Classilla, an open source port of Mozilla, the same underpinnings of Firefox. It’s a work in progress so don’t expect it to be perfect, but alongside iCab it’s probably the best web browser option available for the classic Mac environment.

Grab Classilla from the development projects homepage

Requirements are basic enough to run Classilla: PPC processor, 64MB of RAM either virtual or physical, 50MB of disk space, and Mac OS 8.6 or later, although Mac OS 9.1 is recommended along with a G3 CPU.

For those PPC Macs running older versions of Mac OS X, don’t miss TenFourFox, a modern FireFox port for older pre-intel Macs running 10.4.

The very first Macs user manual is a fun look at the past, and despite being 27 years old, there are still some undeniably Apple aspects to the manuals imagery and text. The intro paragraph from the first page is classic:

“You’re about to learn a new way to use a computer. If this is your first experience with a computer, you’re starting at a great time. If you’ve used “traditional” computers, you’ll appreciate the Macintosh difference. No more guessing what the computer wants. No more memorizing long commands with names only a programmer could love. With Macintosh, you’re in charge.”

Keep in mind that the original Macintosh was the first mainstream computer to use a mouse and a graphical user interface.

You can see some a few more pictures from the Macintosh User Manual below, but be sure to check out “Thoughts on (and pics of) the original Macintosh User Manual” for even more.

Thanks for sending this in Terry!

Update: We posted the games link under the assumption that all of the titles were abandonware or freeware, but some commenters are suggesting this may not be the case. We don’t have the resources to independently verify either claim, so we have pulled down the link. That said, you can play many of the definitely abandonware games online in your web browser at Virtual Apple IIgs. Our apologies for any confusion.

Ready to get your retro game on? Don’t miss this massive collection of over 165 classic retro PC games, they’re all free to download and they all run perfectly in Mac OS X in little self-contained DOSBox emulators.

All of your favorite old school games are here, from Alone in the Dark, Castlevania, Civilization, Doom, Duke Nukem, Lemmings, MechWarrior, Mega Man, Mortal Kombat, Oregon Trail, Police Quest, Prince of Persia, Quake, Risk, Sim Ant, Sim City, Space Quest, Ultima, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Wing Commander, and so much more. Chances are, if you played it in the 80′s or early 90′s, the game is on this list to download.

Get them all from AtomicWindMill: Classic PC Games for Mac OS X

According to the host, the games are all abandonware, as they say “Download, Extract, Run & Enjoy!”, so get them while they’re hot!

Here’s a couple screenshots, but for obvious reasons I won’t be posting them for all 165 games:

Great find via @purplelime

If you grew up in the 80′s and you had an interest in video games plus a computer, you probably played Kings Quest. Now, you can relive the past for free thanks to AGD Interactive, who has remade and redrawn Kings Quest 1: Quest for the Crown, Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones, and Kings Quest 3: To Heir is Human, and released the three versions as a free download from their website.

Each KQ game has a great storyline with a ton of game play with those now classic retro pixelated graphics. The series was a big hit for DOS, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Mac, even Amiga, but even if you haven’t played it before and you’re just a fan of retro adventure games, you’ll also get a kick out of the Kings Quest lineup.

Download Kings Quest 1, 2, & 3 for Free

AGD Interactive offers each version as a free download for Mac or Windows:

• Kings Quest 1: Quest for the Crown – Direct Download for Mac or Windows
• Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones – Direct Download for Mac or Windows
• Kings Quest 3: To Heir is Human – Direct Download for Mac or Windows

The games run flawlessly and the system requirements are quite low so you should be able to play them on just about any Intel Mac or a Pentium PC if you’d rather play on office time.

Kings Quest is a great blast from the past, highly recommended!

More screen shots below: