Comments on: A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems

A Technical History of Apple's Operating Systems

timeistight — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:33:29 -0800

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.

By: timeistight

timeistight — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:34:12 -0800

Via Daring Fireball.

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:38:21 -0800

Is this something I would need Asperger's to understand? Or just to enjoy?

By: chunking express

chunking express — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 13:51:20 -0800

No it's fairly readable.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:00:15 -0800

I just received my book this morning. All 1500+ pages of it. I'm looking forward to reading it cover to cover.

By: timeistight

timeistight — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:04:16 -0800

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.

By: mosk

mosk — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:18:27 -0800

I haven't read the linked article, but my understanding is that System 7.5 sucks less.

By: forrest

forrest — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:40:58 -0800

I read this yesterday. It's a pretty good Wayback Machine for Apple II and early Mac aficionados.

By: Kwantsar

Kwantsar — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:46:38 -0800

Or, of course, via Slashdot. But forrest is cooler than either of them.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:05:11 -0800

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.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:22:14 -0800

Disable extensions

By: hal9k

hal9k — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:14:46 -0800

This comment intentionally left blank.

By: veedubya

veedubya — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:30:19 -0800

This is just KernelThread. It's been around for years.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:17:44 -0800

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.

By: smeger

smeger — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:23:40 -0800

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. :)

By: joeblough

joeblough — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:04:51 -0800

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!

By: jfuller

jfuller — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:36:36 -0800

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!

By: VirtualWolf

VirtualWolf — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 19:40:00 -0800

Disable extensions Rebuild the desktop. Zap PRAM!

By: joeblough

joeblough — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:58:13 -0800

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...