Top all-time · #526
Stephen Hackett
Personal blog · 512pixels.nethardwareculturedesign
Stephen Hackett writes 512 Pixels, a personal blog at 512pixels.net about hardware, culture and design. Since 2011, 112 different Hacker News readers have linked it 190 times, most often “Every default macOS wallpaper”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 2 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
Linked as a source for classic Mac and macOS history: original resolutions, wallpapers, the Pippin and Apple's design. Mostly cited as a source for a point rather than judged.
- Recommended for · 2 comments
- Calls one post a good blog post on how Apple's boilerplate changed; another calls a Pippin article succinct.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
512 Pixels is a blog about things that light up and make noise, written by Stephen Hackett.
Most-linked posts?
- Every default macOS wallpaper6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2020-03-24
- The Apple Jonathan: A 1980s concept computer that never shipped5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2024-03-26
- Boring is what we wanted4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-10-22
- Aqua Screenshot Library4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-08-22
- History of Clarus the Dogcow4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-08-09
- Sorry, macOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-06-25
- Why the original Macintosh had a screen resolution of 512×3243 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-05-27
- WWDC25: macOS Tahoe Breaks Decades of Finder History3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-06-10
- Logitech's Mouse Software Includes ChatGPT, Adds Janky 'AI_overlay_tmp' to Home3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-04-23
- /2009/01/early-macintosh-reviews-show-dvorak-clueless-even-in-1984/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-08-23
What Hacker News says?
Yes: https://512pixels.net/2025/05/original-macintosh-resolution/ There was a discussion here a couple of weeks ago (with a typo in the title): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44110219
Comment linking /2025/05/original-macintosh-resolution/
on “Bill Atkinson has died”Submitted Every default macOS wallpaper as a story · 538 points
HN discussionFrom https://512pixels.net/2013/07/power-mac-g4/ : the ad was based on the fact that Apple was forbidden to export the G4 to many countries due to its “supercomputer” classification by the US government.
Comment linking /2013/07/power-mac-g4/
on “Apple introduces M4 chip”Submitted Boring is what we wanted as a story · 440 points
HN discussionYou can download the full installers from the command-line: https://512pixels.net/2019/10/download-macos-installers-with... Wikipedia shows the exact version number of the latest releases for each.
Comment linking /2019/10/download-macos-installers-with-terminal/
on “Memory leaks are crippling my M1 MacBook Pro”Submitted 20 years ago, Apple bought NeXT as a story · 359 points
HN discussionRecently I came across https://512pixels.net/2014/04/aqua-past-future/ and was overcome with nostalgia for System 7. Maybe it’s just that a Mac IIsi running System 7 was my first computer when I was seven years old, but I think there’s a timeless beauty to the operating system that no later release has really captured. Some more images here: https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/classic-mac-os Those folder and co…
Comment linking /2014/04/aqua-past-future/
on “Convincing-looking 90s fonts in modern browsers”Submitted Mac Chimes of Death as a story · 306 points
HN discussionWhat you’re looking at is the Bose subwoofer that came with the Spartacus, it’s not the actual computer. Interestingly enough, the subwoofer contains the computer’s power supply. http://512pixels.net/2012/12/tam/
Comment linking /2012/12/tam/
on “Mac Pro”Submitted Every default macOS wallpaper, in glorious 5k resolution as a story · 267 points
HN discussionApple changed this in Tahoe Beta 2 https://512pixels.net/2025/06/finder-icon-fixed/
Comment linking /2025/06/finder-icon-fixed/
on “macOS Tahoe”Submitted Why the original Macintosh had a screen resolution of 512×324 as a story · 182 points
HN discussionThe original, updated version of the Finder icon alone should have been enough of a warning that the UX designers at Apple have lost their minds and any aesthetic sense, let alone an ability to design interfaces that are functional, efficient, and well thought-out. https://512pixels.net/2025/06/wwdc25-macos-tahoe-breaks-deca...
Comment linking /2025/06/wwdc25-macos-tahoe-breaks-decades-of-finder-history/
on “macOS Tahoe”Submitted Apple Begins High Sierra Automatic Rollout as a story · 178 points
HN discussionNot sure I believe this. Instagram could’ve conceivably killed Facebook a decade ago if they’d chosen not to sell. Reminds me of Steve Jobs talking about Microsoft bringing about the dark ages of desktop computing: https://512pixels.net/2010/05/the-desktop-computer-industry-... .
Comment linking /2010/05/the-desktop-computer-industry-is-dead/
on “Sheryl Sandberg stepping down as Facebook COO”Submitted The Apple Jonathan: A 1980s concept computer that never shipped as a story · 173 points
HN discussionThat 10.8 wallpaper you linked looks original. 3200 x 2000 appears to be the original resolution for Lion and Mountain Lion (also note how the version on this site is cropped). 10.8 is less obvious so hard to say with 100% certainty, but if you look at, say 10.6 it's super obvious. Here's the original wallpaper shipped by Apple: https://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/defaultd... Here's the one from this…
Comment linking /downloads/macos-wallpapers-6k/10-6-6k.jpg
on “Every default macOS wallpaper”Submitted Twitter Killing Its Mac App as a story · 131 points
HN discussionStrong nostalgia for this one https://512pixels.net/downloads/macos-wallpapers-thumbs/10-2... Takes me back to my dorm room on my 13-inch iBook.
Comment linking /downloads/macos-wallpapers-thumbs/10-2--thumb.png
on “Every default macOS wallpaper”Submitted Why the Black MacBook Cost More as a story · 130 points
HN discussionDon't forget the OS 9 wallpapers: https://512pixels.net/projects/mac-os-9-5k-wallpapers My favorites among these are the gradient-rich desktops that dropped in Mac OS 8.5 back in '98, like those UFO ones. That's when the OS gained support for icons with 24-bit color and 8-bit masks, which are the direct ancestors to today's 1024x1024 32-bit app icons. Perhaps to commemorate this full leveling up of the classic Mac d…
Comment linking /projects/mac-os-9-5k-wallpapers
on “Every default macOS wallpaper”Submitted WWDC25: macOS Tahoe Breaks Decades of Finder History as a story · 118 points
HN discussionThe macOS screenshot library from Stephen is also excellent: https://512pixels.net/projects/aqua-screenshot-library/
Comment linking /projects/aqua-screenshot-library/
on “Every default macOS wallpaper”Submitted The Power Mac 4400 as a story · 114 points
HN discussion> There's a circus about them that permits them to stomp out history And how do you think they would do that? Apple sometimes uses a bit of hyperbole to describe itself ( https://512pixels.net/2014/01/apple-boilerplate/ ), but I don’t think Apple ever claimed "Apple invented the mouse" or they had "the first mp3 player" or "the first smartphone". I also have never met anybody who made such claims, only people saying…
Comment linking /2014/01/apple-boilerplate/
on “The Windows 11 taskbar is an annoying step backward”Submitted The Sad Saga of the 500 MHz Power Mac G4 as a story · 113 points
HN discussionDo they actually ship two button mice? They've had the ability to read both buttons for ages, but from my recollection, they still never shipped a two button mouse, and even when they started shipping mice that had the functionality of the two button mouse, they reduced it to no buttons in doing so.[1] A person could be forgiven for thinking there might have been a powerful person at the top that didn't want to be s…
Comment linking /2012/11/mouse/
on “Privacy”Submitted macOS Sierra Leaks Image of MacBook Pro with Magic Toolbar as a story · 108 points
HN discussionThe very first Mac really was 512x342 [0] 0. https://512pixels.net/2025/05/original-macintosh-resolution/ Edit: Sorry - I misread what you were saying and intended this as a correction, but you had it right all along.
Comment linking /2025/05/original-macintosh-resolution/
on “Convert photos to Atkinson dithering”Submitted Polishing Cloth Updated as a story · 83 points
HN discussion
