Retro Rasperry PiMac Part 1

It was my second year of college when Apple launched their very stylish all-in-one G3 iMac computer.  Higher education loves Apple.  It was easily the computing solution of choice among graphic design and media students as well as snooty tenured faculty.  Windows 98 was brand new and not much of an improvement over '95.  The iMac on the other hand always worked, didn't need to be rebooted every day, was incredibly cute/hip/stylin' and most of all it was contained in a lovely portable all-in-one package.  It even had a handle to make moving in and out of the dorm a mere effortless task.  

I remember at the time thinking that the iMac looked like some of those space age TVs of the 60s & 70s.  

The JVC Videoshpere

Britain's Keracolor TVs

Panasonic's Orbitel

This got me thinking about making a Raspberry Pi based all-in-one computer in the style of one of these retro TV's.  My daughter has been bugging me about getting her a Raspberry Pi computer.  This could be something she could have in her room.  I can have the advantage of having a swapable OS, free office apps and retro gaming all in a cute package.  

The first step is to round up the parts I'll need.  I've got a short stack of non-working laptops (I call them craptops) that I can harvest the LCD screens out of.  

I already have a Raspberry PI 2 B model that can be the brain.  I'll let her pick out a keyboard and mouse when the computer is closer to being done or maybe I'll try to find an old iMac mouse/keyboard pair.  I will need to get a LCD controller board and check the second hand stores for a pair of cheap computer speakers.  Time to do some shopping.