MAC•CAM

CODE REBIRTH

Your 80s and 90s software, reborn on today's Mac

Vos logiciels des années 80 et 90, ressuscités sur le Mac d'aujourd'hui

Floppies gathering dust, lost source code, an old Mac kept alive for a single app. We read the machine code, we rewrite it, and we bring it back to life: identical, down to the pixel.

▶ Submit your software The MAC•CAM case Pricing

The principle

An emulator keeps old software alive, but frozen: you can't change it, or make it talk to today's Mac. Code Rebirth does something else: the software is reborn. Its code is read, down to its 68000 instructions when the source is gone, then rewritten to run natively, or sealed inside a WebAssembly sandbox.

And throughout the work, the original is the judge: it runs in its emulator, next to its rebirth, and both must give the same results.

First case: MAC•CAM

[1990s] MAC•CAM Workshop: a HyperCard stack and two XFCNs in 68000 code,

FORTH and MACCAM, cellular automata in the spirit of Toffoli

and Margolus's CAM-6. Written by our team.

[2026] the XFCN source code is gone: we read their 68000 code.

[2026] rewritten in C, compiled to WebAssembly, sealed inside HC.

[judge] the original runs in Basilisk II, side by side. We compare.

[ok] Fermat: 225 numbers, identical down to the character.

[ok] the machine code hand-written into the stack still runs:

1.27 million 68000 instructions emulated.

[ok] the stack runs without changing a single line of its scripts.

The video above shows the 90s stack running in HC, Labynet's free HyperCard clone. Watch the video full size.

The method

The original is the judge. What the original software produced is the reference, down to the character and the pixel.
We measure on both sides. Every discrepancy is reproduced and measured before the code is touched; every fix is replayed against the original.
Nothing claimed that isn't verified. What isn't measured is written down as "not measured". You get the measurement log with your software.
Old code is sealed off. Period extensions (XCMDs, XFCNs) are reborn in WebAssembly, with no access to the rest of the Mac.
State-of-the-art tools. 68000 disassemblers and code analyzers, emulators running the original next to its rebirth, test benches comparing both down to the character, static analysis and fuzzing for robustness.

What we bring back

Your HyperCard stacks, with their XCMDs and XFCNs, running in HC on today's Mac, Intel or Apple Silicon.
Small 68000 Mac applications: lab tools, educational software, games, utilities that were never replaced.
What only survives as machine code: when the source is lost, we start from the binary.

Every project starts with an assessment: what can be saved, how, and how long it will take. We never bypass copy protection, and we only bring software back with the consent of its author or rights holders.

Pricing

Assessment

on quote

We examine your software and tell you what can be reborn, how, and how long it will take.

Rebirth

let's talk

Every piece of software is unique: the price is agreed with you, based on what has to be read, rewritten and verified.

Cap

guaranteed

The agreed price is never exceeded without your consent. The measurement log comes with the software.

No price list, and no price per megabyte: the smallest programs are often the toughest. Services invoiced by Association Labynet (France).

Submit your software

Tell us what you'd like to bring back: the software's name, its year, the machine, what you still have (floppies, source code, manual), and whether you're its author or rights holder.

✉ Write to Code Rebirth

or at Labynet's address