A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems

July 25, 2006 1:33 PM

A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems – Amit Singh posts a free, 140-page PDF "bonus chapter" to his Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach.
posted by timeistight (18 comments total)

Via Daring Fireball.
posted by timeistight at 1:34 PM on July 25, 2006

Is this something I would need Asperger's to understand? Or just to enjoy?
posted by Mayor Curley at 1:38 PM on July 25, 2006 [3 favorites]

No it's fairly readable.
posted by chunking express at 1:51 PM on July 25, 2006

I just received my book this morning. All 1500+ pages of it. I'm looking forward to reading it cover to cover.
posted by pmbuko at 2:00 PM on July 25, 2006

The free download is an expanded version of the book's introductory chapter:

The document is titled "A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems". Whereas the book's abridged version covers the history of Mac OS X, this document's coverage is considerably broader. It encompasses not only Mac OS X and its relevant ancestors, but the various operating systems that Apple has dabbled with since the company's inception, and many systems that were direct or indirect sources of inspiration.

This was the first chapter I wrote for the book. It was particularly difficult to write in terms of the time and other resources required in researching the material. I often had to find and scavenge ancient documentation, software, and hardware (all actual screenshots shown in this document were captured first hand.) However, I couldn't include the chapter in its original form in the book. The book grew in size beyond everybody's expectations—1680 pages! Therefore, it was hard to justify the inclusion of this much history, even if it is interesting history.

posted by timeistight at 2:04 PM on July 25, 2006

I haven't read the linked article, but my understanding is that System 7.5 sucks less.
posted by mosk at 2:18 PM on July 25, 2006

I read this yesterday. It's a pretty good Wayback Machine for Apple II and early Mac aficionados.
posted by forrest at 2:40 PM on July 25, 2006

Or, of course, via Slashdot. But forrest is cooler than either of them.
posted by Kwantsar at 2:46 PM on July 25, 2006

The first sentences are very declarative. In fact, alacrity with punctuation appears minimal. The author needed an editor apparently. Reading the first paragraphs was like being hit in the face repeatedly. Odd how writing is so difficult.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 3:05 PM on July 25, 2006

Disable extensions
posted by bonaldi at 3:22 PM on July 25, 2006

This comment intentionally left blank.
posted by hal9k at 4:14 PM on July 25, 2006

This is just KernelThread. It's been around for years.
posted by veedubya at 4:30 PM on July 25, 2006

One exceptionally cool thing I got from the PDF was this link, which is a series of videos of Doug Englebert showing off NLS. The first mouse, the first GUI-ish, with searching, search weighting, colloboration, version control, keyboard shortcuts, video streaming and much more.

He even talks about hooking it up to the coming Arpanet, and how he should get 20kpbs across the country. Realplayer was showing 200kbps in the corner as he said it. Great viewing.
posted by bonaldi at 5:17 PM on July 25, 2006

I received an advance copy of this book. Holy shit inclusive & informative!

I don't know when or if I'll ever need a lot of the info that's in it, but if I ever do, I've got it. All of it. :)
posted by smeger at 5:23 PM on July 25, 2006

i have no idea how this guy wrote this book. it is enormous and chock full of the most minute details of OSX. i think amit singh doesnt sleep, or maybe he is a robot.

the bonus chapter is great. rock on!
posted by joeblough at 6:04 PM on July 25, 2006

Ah, the path not taken. My interest lies exclusively in the first 10 pages, the App I and ][ pages, due to the fact that, when the Mac appeared, I found that (A) I could build an IBM-PC clone without using any IBM-brand parts but could not build a Hackintosh without using any Apple-brand parts; and (B) I could run Minix on an 8088-based PC-clone and, very soon thereafter, Unix itself on an 80386-based homebuilt. Sigh, end of me and Apple. PS, my App][+ still boots up just fine, thank you, off a 140k single-density single-sided 5.25" floppy. Presently serves as a Linux terminal, courtesy of Apple ][ Kermit and a serial cable. (Ubuntu Dapper Drake, if anyone cares.)


Mr. Singh writes:

Certain RAM locations were used for designated purposes by the monitor, and therefore, were unavailable to the user for other purposes.

Heh. Why no, not at all. You could try to write to them, or even just try to read them, to create all kinds of fun unintended side effects. OMG, look what that did!
posted by jfuller at 6:36 PM on July 25, 2006

Disable extensions

Rebuild the desktop. Zap PRAM!
posted by VirtualWolf at 7:40 PM on July 25, 2006

jfuller: you have floppies that still work? in about 1995 i tried to ressurect a bunch of apple ][ floppies from 1985 or so and they had all evaporated...
posted by joeblough at 10:58 PM on July 25, 2006