System 7
 Screenshot of System 7.5.3 |
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| Company / developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| OS family | Mac OS Classic |
| Working state | Historic, not supported |
| Source model | Closed source |
| Latest stable release | 7.6.1 / April 7, 1997 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic for 68k, nanokernel for PowerPC |
| License | Proprietary |
System 7 (codenamed "Big Bang" and sometimes called Mac OS 7) is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer.[1] It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997. Features added with the System 7 release included virtual memory, personal file sharing, QuickTime, QuickDraw 3D, and an improved user interface.
"System 7" is often used generically to refer to all 7.x versions. With the release of version 7.6 in 1997, Apple officially renamed the operating system "Mac OS", a name which had first appeared on System 7.5.1's boot screen. System 7 was developed for Macs that used the Motorola 68000 line of processors, but was ported to the PowerPC after Apple adopted the new processor.
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Features
Compared with System 6, System 7 offered:
- Built-in co-operative multitasking. In System 6, this function was optional through the MultiFinder; in System 7 it was mandatory.
- Trash was now a formal directory, allowing items to be preserved between reboots and disk eject events instead of being purged.
- Personal File Sharing. Along with various UI improvements for AppleTalk setup, System 7 also included a basic file sharing server allowing any machine to publish folders to the AppleTalk network.
- Aliases. An alias is a small file that represents another object in the file system. A typical alias is small, between 1 and 5 KB. Similar in concept to Unix symbolic links and Windows shortcuts, an alias acts as a redirect to any object in the file system, such as a document, an application, a folder, a hard disk, a network share or removable medium or a printer. When double-clicked, the computer will act the same way as if the original file had been double-clicked. Likewise, choosing an alias file from within an "Open" dialog box would open the original file. (Unlike the path-based approach of shortcuts and symbolic links, aliases also store a reference to the file's catalog entry, so they continue work even if the file is moved or renamed. Aliases have features of both hard links and a symbolic links found on Unix-based systems (including Mac OS X).)
- Drag and drop. Document icons could be dragged with the mouse and "dropped" onto application icons to open in the targeted application. Under System 6, one either clicked on a document icon to open its associated application, or one could open the desired application and use its Open dialog box. The development of the drag-and-drop paradighm led to a new concept for some applications—such as StuffIt Expander—whose main interactions were intended to be via drag and drop.
- "System extensions" (small pieces of INIT code that extended the system's functionality) were improved by relocating them to their own subfolder (rather than in the root level of the System Folder itself as on earlier versions), and by allowing the user to hold down the Shift key during bootup to disable them. Later versions of System 7 offered a feature called "Extensions Manager" which simplified the process of enabling/disabling individual extensions. Extensions were often a source of instability and these changes made them more manageable and assisted trouble-shooting.
- The Control Panel desk accessory became the Control Panels folder (found in the System Folder, and accessible to the user from an alias in the Apple menu). The control panels themselves became separate files, stored within this directory.
- Under System 6, Control Panels and Extensions were known as CDEVs and INITs respectively. System 7 presented the more user-friendly nomenclature in the interface.
- The Apple menu (previously home only to desk accessories pulled from "DRVR" resources in the System file) now listed the contents of a folder ("Apple Menu Items"), including aliases. Desk accessories had originally been intended to provide a form of multitasking and were no longer necessary now that real multitasking was always enabled. The desk-accessory technology was deprecated, with System 7 treating them largely the same as other applications. Desk accessories now ran in their own process rather than borrowing that of a host application.
- The Application menu, a list of running applications formerly at the bottom of the Apple menu under MultiFinder, became its own menu on the right. In addition, Hide/Show functionality was introduced, allowing the user to hide applications from view while still keeping them running.
- Balloon Help, a widget-identification system similar to tooltips.
- AppleScript, a scripting language for automating tasks. While fairly complex for application programmers to implement support for it, this feature was powerful and popular with users, and a version of it is still available to this day as part of Mac OS X.
- AppleEvents. Supporting AppleScript was a new model for "high-level" events to be sent into applications, along with support to allow this to take place over an AppleTalk network.
- 32-bit QuickDraw, supporting so-called "true color" imaging, was included as standard; it was previously available as a system extension.
- Publish and Subscribe. This feature permitted data "published" by one application to be imported ("subscribed to") by another, and the data could be updated dynamically. Programmers complained that the API was unwieldy, and relatively few applications ended up adopting it.
- TrueType outline fonts. Up to this point, all fonts on the Macintosh were bitmapped, or a set of bitmapped screen fonts paired with outline PostScript printer fonts; TrueType for the first time offered a single font format that scaled to any size on screen and on paper. This technology was recognized as being so important that a TrueType extension for System 6 was also released, along with an updated Font/DA Mover capable of installing these new kinds of fonts into the System 6 System file.
- A newly colorized user interface. Although this feature made for a visually-appealing interface, it was optional. On machines not capable of displaying color, or those with their display preferences set to monochrome, the interface defaulted back to the black-and-white look of previous versions. Only some widgets were colorized — scrollbars, for instance, had a new look, but buttons remained in black and white.
- A new Sound Manager API, version 2.0, replaced the older ad hoc APIs. The new APIs featured significantly improved hardware abstraction, as well as higher-quality playback. Although technically not a new feature for System 7 (these features were available for System 6.0.7), Sound Manager 2.0 was the first widespread implementation of this technology to make it to most Mac users.
- System 7 paved the way for a full 32-bit address space, from the previous 24-bit address space. This process involved making all of the routines in OS code use the full 32-bits of a pointer as an address — prior systems used the upper bits as flags. This change was known as being "32-bit clean". While System 7 itself was 32-bit clean, many existing machines and thousands of applications were not, so it was some time before the process was completed. To ease the transition, the "Memory" control panel contained a switch to disable this feature, allowing for compatibility with older applications.
- System 7.1 marked the advent of System Enablers, small extensions that were loaded at startup to support Macintosh models introduced since the last OS revision. Under System 6, Apple had to introduce a number of minor revisions to the OS solely for use with new hardware. Apple introduced an unprecedented number of new Macintosh models during the System 7 era, leading to some confusion over which System Enabler went with which computer(s).
Software
System 7 was the first version of the Mac OS that required a hard drive as it was too large to work comfortably from a floppy disk. It was also the first Apple operating system to be available on CD. System 7 itself did not come bundled with major software packages, however newly purchased Macintosh computers were often bundled with software such as HyperCard, ClarisWorks, Power Pete, Mac-Chess, and Netscape. PowerPC Macintoshes included Graphing Calculator. System 7 also included networking and file sharing software in the form of system extensions and control panels.
The basic utilities installed by default with System 7 included TeachText (superseded by the more flexible SimpleText in later versions) for basic text editing tasks and reading readme documents. Also available on the additional "Disk Tools" floppy disk are Disk First Aid for disk repair and Apple HD SC Setup for initializing and partitioning disks.
Later versions of System 7, specifically System 7.5 and Mac OS 7.6, came with a dedicated "Utilities" folder and "Apple Extras" folder including: AppleScript, Disk Copy, QuickDraw GX Extras and QuickTime Movie Player. More optional extras and utilities could be manually installed from the System CD.
Transition to PowerPC
System 7.1.2 was the first version of the Mac OS to support Apple's new PowerPC-based computers. 68k applications which had not yet been updated to run natively on these systems were emulated transparently (without users' knowledge) by a built-in 68k processor emulator. Fat binaries, which contained the code necessary to run natively on both PowerPC and 68k systems, became common during this time. This process was similar to the distribution of universal binaries during Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel processors in 2006.
PC compatibility
System 7.0 through 7.1 offered a utility called Apple File Exchange, which could access the contents of FAT- and Apple II-formatted floppy disks. System 7 Pro, System 7.5 and up shipped with PC Exchange, previously a separate product, which allowed the system to mount FAT-formatted floppy disks on the desktop in the same manner as regular Macintosh disks.
OS/2 disks were read as PC-DOS disks, due to fact that OS/2 used the FAT file system. At this time, Macs could also read and write UNIX file systems with the help of extra software.
System 7 allowed users to access PC networks and allowed communication via TCP/IP and other compatible networking stacks. Actual PC software compatibility, however, required third party software such as SoftPC, which allowed some MS-DOS and early Microsoft Windows programs to run, or Connectix Virtual PC, which allowed the Mac to run Windows via full PC emulation.
Other PC compatibility solutions took a more native approach by running Windows and MS-DOS by using x86 expansion cards with an x86 chip on the card. Apple offered some systems configured this way, marketed as "DOS Compatible" - a card with dedicated x86 CPU and RAM was used, while the Mac hard drive, sound subsystem, networking and input provided services to the PC. The PC could run simultaneously with the Mac, and the user could switch between the two in a fashion similar to a KVM switch. The earliest of these systems were 680x0 based systems running System 7. System 7 provided the support for accessing the PC volume from the Mac through its own PC Exchange software, and actual control of the PC hardware was accomplished by way of control panels.
Miscellaneous
At the time of its release, many users noticed that performance suffered as a result of upgrading from System 6 to System 7, though newer hardware soon made up for the speed differential. Another problem was System 7's large "memory footprint": System 6 could boot the system from a single floppy disk and took up about 600 KB of RAM, whereas System 7 used well over a megabyte, and could no longer be usefully run from floppy-only machines without the aid of an external SCSI hard drive. (Versions up to 7.5 could boot from a floppy, but there would be no room for other applications, although it was possible to access an AFP server on an AppleTalk network.) It was some time before the average Mac shipped with enough RAM built in for System 7 to be truly comfortable. Offsetting this was the inclusion of a hard disk as standard in most Mac models; only the long-lived Macintosh Plus and certain models of the Macintosh SE did not ship with one.
System 7.0 was adopted quite rapidly by Mac users, and quickly became one of the base requirements for new software.
The engineering group within Apple responsible for System 7 came to be known as the "Blue Meanies", named after the blue index cards on which were written the features that could be implemented in a relatively short time. In comparison, the pink index card features were handled by the Pink group, later becoming the ill-fated Taligent project.
System 7.0 was the last version of the Macintosh operating system that Apple made available without charge and allowed to be freely redistributed. Although it could be purchased from Apple, the cost was nominal and considered to only cover duplication and media. It was perfectly legal to copy a friend's System 7 installation floppies, and it was common for Macintosh dealers to allow customers to use the store's demo machines to copy System 7 install disks for the cost of a box of floppies. Many CD-ROM magazines such as Nautilus included System 7 on their disks. After Mac users downloaded thousands of copies of System 7 from the online services (AOL, Compuserve and GEnie), Apple surveyed the services and based on this popularity started selling the Mac OS as a retail product with System 7.1. (System 7.5.3r2 is now similarly available for free from Apple's web site, but was not posted until after it had been superseded. A System 7.5.5 updater is also available for free download.)
Version history
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Soon after the initial release of System 7, the 7.0.1 minor update was released in October 1991. A patch called "System 7 Tune-Up" also followed, which fixed the "disappearing files" bug in which the system would lose files.[2] In August 1992, the 7.1 update was released which introduced the Fonts folder. This replaced the often time-consuming method of dragging fonts to and from the System file, introduced in System 7.0; it also replaced the Font/DA Mover application from System 6, which could also be used with 7.0.
The first major upgrade was System 7.1.1, also known as "System 7 Pro". This release was a bundle of 7.1 with AppleScript tools, QuickTime and Apple Open Collaboration Environment (AOCE). While System 7 had some trouble running in slightly older machines due to memory footprint, System 7 Pro barely fit into any Macintosh computers at the time. It was most commonly used for its minor bug fixes rather than its new functionality.
Apple joined the AIM alliance (Apple, IBM and Motorola) shortly after the release of System 7 in 1991, and started work on PowerPC-based machines that later became the Power Macintosh family. Support for these machines resulted in System 7.1.2.
System 7.1.2 was never offered for retail sale; it shipped with the first batches of the PowerPC Macs. Later shipments shipped with System 7.5 instead.
The next major release was System 7.5 (codenamed "Capone", a reference to Al Capone and "Chicago", which was the code name for Microsoft's Windows 95), which included bug fixes from previous updates and added several new features including:
- an updated startup screen featuring a progress bar
- a new interactive help system called Apple Guide
- a clock in the menu bar (based on the free "SuperClock" control panel by Steve Christensen)
- an Apple menu item called Stickies (formerly a third-party application called "PasteIt Notes") which provided virtual Post-It Notes
- WindowShade (another former shareware control panel which provided the ability to condense a window down to its title bar)
- the Control Strip (a fast way to change the system volume, control the playback of audio CDs, manage file sharing and printers and change the monitor resolution and color depth)
- the Extensions Manager (enabling the user to turn extensions and control panels on and off; also based on a formerly third-party control panel)
- PowerTalk, the predecessor to the Keychain system and also a system-level email handling service
- the Launcher, a special Finder window containing shortcut buttons for frequently-used programs (in a manner somewhat akin to the Mac OS X Dock)
- a hierarchal Apple menu (folders within the Apple Menu Items folder would expand into submenus showing their contents. Again, based on a third party control panel; HAM by Microseeds publishing[3])
- system-wide drag & drop for text and other data (selections could be simply dragged with the mouse and dropped to their new destination, bypassing the clipboard)
- a scriptable Finder
- QuickDraw GX, a 2-D graphics rendering and geometry engine
- For the PowerPC only, an advanced, 3d Graphing Calculator, secretly developed at Apple by a former third party contractor[4]
- support for OpenDoc
System 7.5.1 was primarily a bug fix on 7.5, but also introduced a new "Mac OS" startup screen in preparation for Mac clones.
System 7.5.2, released only for the first PCI-based Power Macs, was notable for introducing Apple's new networking architecture, Open Transport and also for being the most unstable version of Mac OS in recent memory.
System 7.5.3, a major bug-fix update that also included Open Transport for other PowerPC-based machines as well as some 68k-based machines. 7.5.3 also made several improvements to the 68k emulator, and added translucent dragging support to the Drag Manager. It was also the first version of Control Strip for all Macs. This was also the first version of Mac OS to support SMP. (9500/MP)
System 7.5.3 Revision 2 included: performance enhancements; better reliability for PowerBooks using the third-party RAM Doubler program; improved reliability for PowerBook 500, 2300, and 5300 series computers with the PowerPC Upgrade Card; improved reliability when using the Startup Disk control panel; and improved reliability when copying files to 1-gigabyte hard disks.
System 7.5.4 was pulled due to a mistake at Apple, in which some components were not included in the installer.
System 7.5.5 included significant performance improvements for virtual memory and memory management on PowerPC-based Macs, including the elimination of one type 11 error. Also included were a number of reliability improvements, such as fixes for Macs using floppy disks equipped with a DOS compatibility card, improved hard disk access for PowerPC PowerBooks and Performa 5400 through 9500 computers, fixes for Macs that included an Apple TV Tuner or Macintosh TV Remote Control, improvements to LocalTalk and networking (especially for the Performa 5400 and 6400), fixes to system startup for the faster 180MHz Macs (which included PowerPC 604 or 604e processors), improved reliability when using sound intensive applications on Quadra or Centris computers that contained the PowerPC upgrade card, and improved stability when using multiple background applications and shared printers on a network. System 7.5.5 is also the last System 7 release that can run on 68000-based Macs such as the Macintosh Plus. 7.6 and later required a 68030 processor.[5]
Mac OS 7.6
Mac OS 7.6 (codenamed "Harmony") was the last major update, released in 1997. With 7.6, the operating system was officially called "Mac OS" instead of "System". Mac OS 7.6 introduced several features that were also included in Mac OS 8, including a revamped Extensions Manager, more native PowerPC code for Power Macs, more bundled Internet tools and utilities, and an overall more-stable Finder. In this version, the PowerTalk feature added in 7.5 was removed due to poor application support, and support for a large number of older Macintosh models was dropped.
The minor update to Mac OS 7.6.1 finally ported the 68k exception handling routines to PowerPC, turning dreaded type 11 errors into less harmful errors (type 1, 2 or 3, usually) as crashing applications would more often terminate safely instead of crashing the operating system.[6]
Through this period Apple had been attempting to release a completely new "modern" operating system, named Copland. When the Copland project was abandoned in 1996, Apple announced plans to release an OS update every six months until Rhapsody (which would by 2001 evolve into what was released as Mac OS X) shipped.[7] Two more releases were shipped, now officially branded as the "Mac OS" — Mac OS 7.6 and the minor bug fix 7.6.1. Future versions were released as Mac OS 8–8.6 and Mac OS 9–9.2.
Available versions
Apple created and published an "Older Software Downloads" page on their AppleCare Support website on July 17, 2001. Since then diskette images to install System 7.0, System 7.0.1, and System 7.5.3 as well as the System 7.5.5 Update have been available as free downloads for legacy Macintosh users and those who want to emulate the older Mac OS. In addition to System 7 related downloads are also At Ease downloads and Mac OS 8 updates. All of the diskette image files are in MacBinary format and are accompanied by a descriptive .txt file.
System 7.5.3 and the 7.5.5 (US English) update can be downloaded for free:http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/English-North_American/Macintosh/System/ under Older_System
Other languages and English versions can be found at: http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/
See also
- A/UX
- Inside Macintosh
- List of Macintosh software
- Macintosh Finder
- Mac OS history
References
Further reading
- Harry McQuillen, 10 Minute Guide to System 7 (1991), ISBN 0-672-30033-8
- Stuple, S.J., Macintosh System 7.5 For Dummies Quick Reference (1994), ISBN 1-56884-956-7
- Bob Levitus, Macintosh System 7.5 for Dummies (November, 1994), ISBN 1-56884-197-3
- Apple Technote 1096: System 7.6.1 changes
External links
- System 7 Today
- System 7 Add-ons
- The Compact Mac Trio: System 6 or 7?
- System 7 Manuals from Apple
- System 7.0 and System 7.0.1 downloads from Apple
- System 7.5.3 download from Apple
- System 7.5.5 update download from Apple
- System 7 Flash Simulation in 1-Bit Black and White
- System 7 Flash Simulation in Color
- MacOS 7.5.3 with big software set, installed in emulator for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (from OSvirtual)
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