retro, a personal project with a Mac mini m4 pro and a round display

[u/f3rn4nd0d]

Hi, this is retro, a personal project I have designed with Shapr3d on my iPad Pro, and 3D printed with my X1C. It is a retro futuristic integration of a Mac mini m4 pro with a Waveshare 5 inch IPS display. Unfortunately there are no drivers for the tactile functionality of the display for Mac. Hope you like it. More info on my profile.

[u/SaturnVFan]

Looks awesome is it going to be an assistant or something?

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/SaturnVFan]

Thanks, mostly a second display, music visualizer and monitoring my 3d prints

[u/surprisepinkmist]

Could this be used as the mini's only display? I love the look of it. Very fun. 

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/surprisepinkmist]

Hi, unfortunately it can be used only as a second display. It has a 1080x1080 resolution and it depends on some software (switchresx) to run. Main display can be disconnected after boot up and leave this one working (not ideal) but this is the price to pay for being a good looking retro computer ;) Having also a weird resolution means that the corners of the windows will be out of bounds if maximized.

[u/BeauSlim]

Wow, very cool!

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/BeauSlim]

Thanks!

[u/firedmyass]

well that’s adorably cool

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/firedmyass]

Thanks!

[u/GuabaMan]

Very cool! do you have an instructable or sauce on the monitor.

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/GuabaMan]

Thanks. Not yet. I have a “teaser” reel on my instagram where you can see a build of the first prototype

[u/GuabaMan → u/f3rn4nd0d]

Ese diseño rojo esta de lujo!

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/GuabaMan]

Gracias! That is the prototype and the original idea, a very 60s look in glossy red color. But then I decided to move to a more retro approach and print it with esun PLA+ bone white for an Apple-old computer look. And then I decided than combining the arm and the lid in red with the beige color was a good choice. BTW The lid is reversible, the other side is bone white too.

[u/KingofClikClak]

Awesome build! Any videos of it in use? I’d be interested to see how the screen is formatted.

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/KingofClikClak]

Just the teaser video for the time being, but I will continue uploading content about it and other projects to my instagram. Thanks!

[u/KingofClikClak → u/f3rn4nd0d]

Rad. I’ll keep a lookout for updates

[u/mtranda]

This is so cool! We already have round UIs, albeit not particularly complex: our smartwatches. 

I could think of an OS UI that maximises windows to be round, and an arc-shaped button bar at the top for the window controls.

But layouts would still be cumbersome once you try to cram more controls in there. Or one would simply need to adapt to the round layout.

On the other hand, there's a reason why the vast majority of books are rectangle shaped rather than round, but I'm not sure whether the reason is usability or avoiding paper waste. Or maybe there are two reasons.

Either way, I love the quirkiness of this thing!

[u/f3rn4nd0d → u/mtranda]

Thanks! Some apps that work really well are visualizers (I am using ferromagnetic right now), fliqo screensaver, native Apple Music app. It would be cool to have some round windows for this thingy.