Crow from Blackbird Cigar Co. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kvm-box.jpg?resize=640%2C743&ssl=1\")
The KVM switch inside the Blackbird cigar box. On the left is a small hub with an audio jack in it. I can switch speakers from computer to computer with this addition.<\/p><\/div>\n
I plucked the cigar box from a bin at a South Philly smoke shop. It was red and it caught my eye. I didn’t realize until I got home that it was from the Blackbird Cigar Company<\/em>. It was kismet.<\/p>\nMy son will be the primary user of this stack, so it replaces the big 2009 Mac Pro that\u2019s now safely stored away like a mothballed battleship \u2014 ready if ever needed. He\u2019ll do just fine whether he\u2019s surfing the web, watching media, or ripping the occasional disc.<\/p>\n
One of the big reasons for the switch? Electric bill savings. Between the lower power draw of the minis and the components I already had, this project should pay for itself over time.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/black-trivet.jpg?resize=640%2C631&ssl=1\")
A glorious black trivet atop one of the Mac minis that will comprise this stack.<\/p><\/div>\n
There\u2019s one more small project I need to finish, and then it\u2019s back to the old-fashioned drawing board.<\/p>\n
\n
The isometric illustrations were created with Affinity Designer 2 on a 2012 Mac mini running Catalina.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nSome of the photos were edited in Photoshop CS4 — the one I own.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My second cigar box mini-stack is now complete. Like the first one, it pairs a vintage Mac with a modern one \u2014 a 2010 Mac mini running Snow Leopard and a M1 Mac mini running the latest macOS. They share … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":47684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[317,518,26],"tags":[6314,6266,6348,6316,6315,6349,6347,6350,6274,6265,6298],"class_list":["post-47683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computers","category-joes-garage","category-stuff-joe-likes","tag-2010-mac-mini","tag-adobe-cs4","tag-cigar-box-mini-stack","tag-kvm-switch","tag-m1-mac-mini","tag-mac-mini-stack","tag-maltese-mini-stack","tag-reclaiming-creative-life","tag-retro-computing","tag-snow-leopard","tag-vintage-mac"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Maltese-Mac-Mini-Stack.jpg?fit=1200%2C1100&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-cp5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47326,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/03\/30\/reclaiming-my-creative-life-with-vintage-macs-the-cigar-box-mini-stack\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":0},"title":"Reclaiming My Creative Life With Vintage Macs: The Cigar Box Mac Mini Stack","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"After months of tinkering, I finally built the Murci\u00e9lago Mini-Stack: a 2010 Mac mini sitting on top of a 2022 M1 Mac mini, all resting on a cigar box. Two Macs, one keyboard, and zero subscriptions. Here\u2019s how I reclaimed my creative life with vintage hardware I already own.","rel":"","context":"In "Computers"","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/computers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/stacked-isometric-minis-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/stacked-isometric-minis-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/stacked-isometric-minis-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/stacked-isometric-minis-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/stacked-isometric-minis-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47445,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/04\/08\/the-greenstreet-mac-mini-adding-another-2010-to-the-cigar-box-fleet\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":1},"title":"The Greenstreet Mac Mini: Adding Another 2010 to the Cigar Box Fleet","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I wasn\u2019t planning on building another cigar box mini-stack anytime soon, but eBay had other ideas. A very clean 2010 Mac mini popped up for auction so I took a shot. I threw in a maximum bid of $37 on a whim\u2026 and was genuinely surprised when I actually won\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers"","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/computers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47281,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/03\/25\/the-end-of-the-adobe-era-reclaiming-my-creative-life-with-vintage-macs\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":2},"title":"The End of the Adobe Era: Reclaiming My Creative Life with Vintage Macs","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"March 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"After three decades with Photoshop \u2014 from floppy disks and beige Macs to monthly subscriptions \u2014 I finally hit cancel. Here\u2019s why I\u2019m happily back to my old software running on old hardware, and how I reclaimed my creative life.","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bundled-photoshop-1997.jpg?fit=800%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bundled-photoshop-1997.jpg?fit=800%2C654&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bundled-photoshop-1997.jpg?fit=800%2C654&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bundled-photoshop-1997.jpg?fit=800%2C654&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47420,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/04\/03\/friday-five-number-two-hundred-twenty-five\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":3},"title":"Friday Five \u2013 Number Two Hundred Twenty Five","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"April 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Two hundred and twenty five in a continued series creating a collage using five elements. This is the first new collage crafted in subscription-free Photoshop CS4 on the fabulous contraption that Joe has dubbed The Cigar Box Mac Mini Stack. Switching back and forth between the old and new computers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Collage"","block_context":{"text":"Collage","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/collage-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FridayFive225web.jpg?fit=500%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47119,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/02\/19\/it-never-ends\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":4},"title":"It Never Ends!","author":"Joe","date":"February 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Two Mac minis dating from 2012 are pictured above. The one on the left has an Intel i5 processor and it was running happily with an installation of Linux Mint. The machine on the right is a new acquisition. It is a server version of the Mac mini and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computers"","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/computers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two 2012 Mac Mini Computers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55068101278_fdd6cfa24f_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55068101278_fdd6cfa24f_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55068101278_fdd6cfa24f_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55068101278_fdd6cfa24f_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47075,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/02\/12\/forward-to-the-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":47683,"position":5},"title":"Forward to the PAST!","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"February 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"When tech giants rely on subscription software and planned obsolescence, the only direction I can go in is Forward to the Past!","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FORWARD-TO-THE-PAST2.jpg?fit=1000%2C386&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FORWARD-TO-THE-PAST2.jpg?fit=1000%2C386&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FORWARD-TO-THE-PAST2.jpg?fit=1000%2C386&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FORWARD-TO-THE-PAST2.jpg?fit=1000%2C386&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Maltese-Mac-Mini-Stack.jpg?resize=640%2C587&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Greenstreet-1.jpg?resize=640%2C471&ssl=1\")
![\"Tray](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/optical-ISO.jpg?w=322&h=223&ssl=1\" "\\"optical-ISO\\"")
<\/a> Tray loading optical drive <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> ![\"Crow](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CROW-CIGAR-ISO.jpg?w=310&h=223&ssl=1\" "\\"CROW-CIGAR-ISO\\"")
<\/a> Crow from Blackbird Cigar Co. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n