Mac OS X Totally Explained

Everything about Mac Osx totally explained

Mac OS X is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Macintosh computers.
The server edition, Mac OS X Server, is architecturally very similar to its desktop counterpart but usually runs on Apple's line of Macintosh server hardware. It includes workgroup management and administration software tools that provide simplified access to key network services, including a mail transfer agent, a Samba server, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others.
Apple also produces specialized versions of OS X for use on three of its consumer devices, the Apple TV, the iPhone and the iPod touch. The iPhone and the iPod touch versions of Mac OS are called iPhone OS. These variants of OS X only contain what is needed for their particular devices.

History

Mac OS X is based on the Mach kernel and is derived from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) implementation of Unix in Nextstep. Nextstep was the object-oriented operating system developed by Steve Jobs' company "NeXT" after he left Apple in 1985. While Jobs was away from Apple, Apple tried to create a "next-generation" OS through the Taligent and Copland projects, with little success.
Eventually, NeXT's OS—then called OPENSTEP—was selected to be the basis for Apple's next OS, and Apple purchased NeXT outright. Steve Jobs returned to Apple as interim CEO, and later became CEO again, shepherding the transformation of the programmer-friendly Openstep into a system that would be adopted by Apple's primary market of home users and creative professionals. The project was first known as Rhapsody, and was later renamed to Mac OS X.
With each new version, Mac OS X evolved away from a focus on backward compatibility with the earlier versions of Mac OS, toward an emphasis on "digital lifestyle" applications such as the iLife suite, enhanced business applications (iWork), and integrated home entertainment (the Front Row media center). Each version also included modifications to the general interface, such as the brushed metal appearance added in version 10.2, the non-pinstriped titlebar appearance in version 10.4, and in 10.5 the removal of the previous aqua and brushed metal styles in favor of the Unified interface.

Description

Mac OS X was a radical departure from previous Macintosh operating systems; its underlying code base is completely different from previous versions. Its core is a Unix-like operating system (OS) built on top of the XNU kernel, with standard Unix facilities available from the command line interface (Apple released this core as a free and open source operating system named Darwin). Over this core, Apple layered a number of components, including the Aqua interface and the Finder, to complete the GUI-based operating system which is Mac OS X.
   Mac OS X included a number of features intended to make the OS more stable and reliable than Apple's previous OSs. For example, pre-emptive multitasking and memory protection improved the system's ability to run multiple applications simultaneously without them interrupting or corrupting each other. Many aspects of Mac OS X's architecture are derived from Openstep, which was designed to be portable—to ease the transition from one platform to another. For example, Nextstep was ported from the original 68k-based NeXT workstations to x86 and other architectures before NeXT was purchased by Apple, and Openstep was later ported to the PowerPC architecture as part of the Rhapsody project.
   The most visible change was the Aqua theme. The use of soft edges, translucent colors, and pinstripes—similar to the hardware design of the first iMacs—brought more texture and color to the user interface compared to OS 9's "Platinum" appearance had offered. Many users of the older versions of the operating system decried the new look as lacking professional polish. But, others found Aqua to be a bold and innovative step forward in a time when user interfaces were seen as "dull and boring". Despite the controversy, the look was different, third-party developers started producing skins for customizable applications for Mac and other operating systems which mimicked the Aqua appearance. To some extent, Apple has used the successful transition to this new design as leverage, at various times threatening legal action against people who make or distribute software with an interface the company claims is derived from its copyrighted design.
   Mac OS X includes its own software development tools, most prominently an integrated development environment called Xcode. Xcode provides interfaces to compilers that support several programming languages including C, C++, Objective-C, and Java. For the Apple Intel Transition, it was modified so that developers could easily create a universal binary to remain compatible with both the Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh.

Compatibility

Software

The APIs that Mac OS X inherited from Openstep are not backward compatible with earlier versions of Mac OS. These APIs are now referred to by Apple as Cocoa. This heritage is highly visible for Cocoa developers, since most Cocoa class names begin with the "NS" prefix, standing variously for Nextstep, NeXT/Sun. Apple's Rhapsody project would have required all new development to use these APIs, causing much outcry among existing Mac developers. All Mac software that didn't receive a complete rewrite to the new framework would run in the equivalent of the Classic environment. To permit a smooth transition from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, the Carbon Application Programming Interface (API) was created. Applications written with Carbon can be executed natively on both systems.
Mac OS X used to support the Java Platform as a "preferred software package"—in practice this means that applications written in Java fit as neatly into the operating system as possible while still being cross-platform compatible, and that graphical user interfaces written in Swing look almost exactly like native Cocoa interfaces. Traditionally, Cocoa programs have been mostly written in Objective-C, with Java as an alternative. However, on July 11 2005, Apple announced that "features added to Cocoa in Mac OS X versions later than 10.4 won't be added to the Cocoa-Java programming interface."
Since Mac OS X is based on UNIX, most software packages written for BSD or Linux can be recompiled to run on it. Projects such as Fink, MacPorts and pkgsrc provide pre-compiled or pre-formatted packages. Since version 10.3, Mac OS X has included X11.app, Apple's version of the X Window System graphical interface for Unix applications, as an optional component during installation. Up to and including Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger), Apple's implementation was based on the X11 Licensed XFree86 4.3 and X11R6.6. All bundled versions of X11 feature a window manager which is similar to the Mac OS X look-and-feel and has fairly good integration with Mac OS X, also using the native Quartz rendering system. Earlier versions of Mac OS X (in which X11 hasn't been bundled) can also run X11 applications using XDarwin.

Hardware

For the early releases of Mac OS X, the standard hardware platform supported was the full line of Macintosh computers (laptop, desktop, or server) based on PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 processors. Later versions discontinued support for some older hardware; for example, Panther doesn't support "beige" G3s, and Tiger doesn't support systems that pre-date Apple's introduction of FireWire ports. The latest version of Mac OS X, Leopard, has dropped support for all PowerPC G3 processors and for PowerPC G4 processors with clockspeeds below 867 MHz. With the introduction of the MacBook Air, which lacks any FireWire ports, Leopard doesn't require a FireWire port. However, tools such as XPostFacto and patches applied to the installation disc have been developed by third parties to enable installation of newer versions of Mac OS X on systems not officially supported by Apple, including some pre-G3 systems. Except for features requiring specific hardware (for example graphics acceleration, DVD writing), the operating system offers the same functionality on all supported hardware.
PowerPC versions of Mac OS X prior to Leopard retain compatibility with older Mac OS applications by providing an emulation environment called Classic, which allows users to run Mac OS 9 as a process within Mac OS X, so that most older applications run as they'd under the older operating system. Classic isn't supported on Intel-based Macs or in Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard".
A few early adopters experienced a surprise: Mac OS X was supported on Mac OS machines that came with a G3 or later processor from the factory—not machines with third-party processor cards. For example, a Power Mac 7300 whose CPU chip failed could be easily upgraded with a G3 processor on a "daughter card," which often cost nearly the same as an exact replacement of the original chip. The user could then go to the same store and buy the Mac OS X upgrade on CD-ROM. This isn't guaranteed to work, however.

Apple Intel transition

In April 2002, eWeek reported a rumor that Apple had a version of Mac OS X code-named Marklar which ran on Intel x86 processors. The idea behind Marklar was to keep Mac OS X running on an alternative platform should Apple become dissatisfied with the progress of the PowerPC platform. These rumors subsided until late in May 2005, when various media outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal and CNET, reported that Apple would unveil Marklar in the coming months.
   On June 6 2005, Steve Jobs confirmed these rumors when he announced in his keynote address at the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference that Apple would be making the transition from PowerPC to Intel processors over the following two years, and that Mac OS X would support both platforms during the transition. Jobs also confirmed rumors that Apple has had versions of Mac OS X running on Intel processors for most of its developmental life. The last time that Apple switched CPU families—from the Motorola 68K CPU to the IBM/Motorola PowerPC—Apple included a Motorola 68K emulator in the new OS that made almost all 68K software work automatically on the new hardware. Apple has supported the 68K emulator for 11 years, but stopped supporting it during the transition to Intel CPUs. Included in the new OS for the Intel-based Macs is Rosetta, a binary translation layer which enables software compiled for PowerPC Mac OS X to run on Intel Mac OS X machines. However, Apple dropped support for Classic mode on the new Intel Macs. Third party emulation software such as Mini vMac, Basilisk II and SheepShaver provides support for some early versions of Mac OS. A new version of Xcode and the underlying command-line compilers support building universal binaries that will run on either architecture.
   Software that's available only for PowerPC is supported with Rosetta, though applications may have to be rewritten to run properly on the newer OS X for Intel. Apple encourages developers to produce universal binaries with support for both PowerPC and x86. There is a performance penalty when PowerPC binaries run on Intel Macs through Rosetta. Moreover, some PowerPC software, such as kernel extensions and System Preferences plugins, are not supported on Intel Macs. Some PowerPC applications wouldn't run on Intel OS X at all. Further, in order to continue booting from a PowerPC drive, it had to be reformatted. Plugins for Safari need to be compiled for the same platform as Safari, so when Safari is running on Intel it requires plug-ins that have been compiled as Intel-only or Universal binaries, so PowerPC-only plug-ins won't work. While Intel Macs will be able to run PowerPC, x86, and universal binaries, PowerPC Macs will support only universal and PowerPC builds.
   Support for the PowerPC platform remains in OS X v10.5. Such cross-platform capability already existed in Mac OS X's lineage, as said earlier; Openstep was ported to many architectures, including x86, and Darwin included support for both PowerPC and x86. Although Apple stated that Mac OS X wouldn't run on Intel-based personal computers aside from its own, a hacked version of the OS compatible with conventional x86 hardware has been developed by the OSx86 community.

Prominent features

Aqua GUI – A fluid graphical user interface with water-like elements.
- Anti-aliasing of widgets, text, graphics and window elements.
- ColorSync color matching built into the core drawing engine, for print and multimedia professionals.
- Drop shadows around window and isolated text elements to provide a sense of depth.
- A Dock holding file/folder shortcuts as well as minimized windows.
- Full-color, scalable icons up to 512x512 pixels
- Human interface guidelines followed by almost all applications, giving them consistent user interface and keyboard shortcuts.
- New interface elements including sheets (document modal dialog boxes attached to specific windows) and drawers.
- OpenGL composites windows onto the screen to allow hardware-accelerated drawing. This technology (introduced in version 10.2) is called Quartz Extreme.
- Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the Portable Document Format (PDF) imaging model, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices. PDF viewing is built in.
Automator – an application designed to create an automatic workflow for different tasks (introduced in version 10.4).
Dashboard – A full-screen group of small applications called desktop widgets that can be called up and dismissed in one keystroke (introduced in version 10.4).
Exposé – A feature which includes three functions to help accessibility between windows and desktop. Its functions are to instantly display all open windows as thumbnails for easy navigation to different tasks, display all open windows as thumbnails from the current application, and hide all windows to access the desktop (introduced in version 10.3).
Finder – A file browser allowing quick access to all areas of the computer (modified throughout subsequent releases). (The Finder found in Mac OS X Jaguar had been criticized by John Siracusa for violating the concept of spatial interface.)
- Quick Look allows dynamic previews of files (including videos and multi-page documents) without opening their parent applications (introduced in 10.5).
- Spotlight search technology allows rapid real-time searches of data files, mail messages, photos, and other information, based on item properties (meta data) and/or content (introduced in version 10.4).
FileVault – Optional encryption of the user's files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (128-bit keys introduced in version 10.3, 256-bit keys on version 10.5).
Front Row – A media viewer interface accessed by the Apple Remote (introduced in 10.4).
Global application services – spell checker, special characters palette, color picker, font chooser and dictionary.
Integrated Sync Services – A system which allows applications to access a centralized extensible database for various elements of user data, including calendar and contact items. The operating system manages conflicting edits and data consistency (introduced in version 10.4).
Spaces – Desktop organization tool which can create and manage multiple virtual desktops and display them in an Exposé-like interface (introduced in 10.5).
Cover Flow – is a three-dimensional graphical user interface included with iTunes, the Finder, and other Apple Inc. products for visually skimming through files and digital media libraries via cover artwork (introduced in 10.5).
Time Machine – Automatic backup technology that allows users to view and restore previous versions of files and application data (introduced in 10.5).
Screen Sharing – Mac OS X 10.5 has inbuilt screen sharing property which is very useful in networking

Versions

Mac OS X is the successor to the original Mac OS, which had been Apple's primary operating system since 1984. Unlike the earlier Macintosh operating system, Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system built on technology developed at NeXT from the second half of the 1980s until early 1997, when Apple purchased the company.
   The first version released was Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999, which retained the earlier Mac operating system's "platinum" appearance and even resembled OPENSTEP in places. The desktop-oriented version, Mac OS X v10.0, followed in March 2001 sporting the new Aqua user interface. Since then, five more distinct "end-user" and "server" versions have been released, most recently Mac OS X v10.5 in October 2007.
   The character X is the number ten (a Roman numeral), so it's always pronounced as such .
   Computer retailer Tiger Direct sued Apple for its use of the name "Tiger". But on May 16, 2005 a US federal court in the Southern District of Florida ruled that Apple's use doesn't infringe on Tiger Direct's trademark.

Mac OS X Public Beta

Apple released a "preview" version of its new operating system to the public on September 13, 2000 in order to gain feedback from users. It cost $29.95 and came with a t-shirt. The "PB" as it was known marked the first public availability of the Aqua interface and Apple made many changes to the UI based on customer feedback. Mac OS X Public Beta expired and ceased to function in Spring 2001.

Mac OS X 10.0 (Cheetah)

March 24 2001, Apple released Mac OS X v10.0 (internally codenamed Cheetah). The initial version was slow, not feature complete, and had very few applications available at the time of its launch, mostly from independent developers. While many critics suggested that the operating system wasn't ready for mainstream adoption, they recognized the importance of its initial launch as a base on which to improve. Simply releasing Mac OS X was received by the Macintosh community as a great accomplishment, for attempts to completely overhaul the Mac OS had been underway since 1996, and delayed by countless setbacks. Following some bug fixes, kernel panics became much less frequent.

Mac OS X 10.1 (Puma)

September 25 2001, Mac OS X v10.1 (internally codenamed Puma) was released. It had better performance and provided missing features, such as DVD playback. Apple released 10.1 as a free upgrade CD for 10.0 users, in addition to the US$129 boxed version for people running only Mac OS 9. It was discovered that the upgrade CDs were actually full install CDs that could be used with Mac OS 9 systems by removing a specific file; Apple later re-released the CDs in an actual stripped-down format that didn't facilitate installation on such systems.
On January 7 2002, Apple announced that Mac OS X was to be the default operating system for all Macintosh products by the end of that month.

Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar)

August 23 2002, Apple followed up with Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar", the first release to use its code name as part of the branding. It brought great performance enhancements, a sleeker look, and many powerful enhancements (over 150, according to Apple), including Quartz Extreme for compositing graphics directly on an ATI Radeon or Nvidia GeForce2 MX AGP-based video card with at least 16 MB of VRAM, a system-wide repository for contact information in the new Address Book, and an instant messaging client named iChat.
The Happy Mac which had appeared during the Mac OS startup sequence for almost 18 years was replaced with a large grey Apple logo with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.2.

Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)

October 24 2003. In addition to providing much improved performance, it also incorporated the most extensive update yet to the user interface. Panther included as many or more new features as Jaguar had the year before, including an updated Finder, incorporating a brushed-metal interface, Fast User Switching, Exposé (Window manager), FileVault, Safari, iChat AV (which added video-conferencing features to iChat), improved Portable Document Format (PDF) rendering and much greater Microsoft Windows interoperability. But, support for some early G3 computers such as "beige" Power Macs and "WallStreet" PowerBooks was discontinued.

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)

April 29 2005. Apple stated that Tiger contained more than 200 new features. As with Panther, certain older machines were no longer supported; Tiger requires a Mac with a built-in FireWire port. Because the implementation of the OS is built separately for the two processors, in implementation the PowerPC version and Intel versions are two separate installers (one can't use the PowerPC installer to install the OS onto an Intel-based Mac).

Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard" was released on October 26, 2007. It was called by Apple "the largest update of Mac OS X". It brought more than 300 new features. Leopard supports both PowerPC- and Intel x86-based Macintosh computers, however support for the G3 processor was dropped. The single DVD works for all supported Macs (including 64-bit machines). New features include a new look, an updated Finder, Time Machine, Spaces, Boot Camp pre-installed, full support for 64-bit applications (including graphical applications), new features in Mail and iChat, and a number of new security features.
Leopard is an Open Brand UNIX 03 registered product on the Intel platform. It is also the first BSD-based OS to receive the UNIX 03 certification.

Languages

Mac OS X is available in the following languages:
|-valign="top" |

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

Czech

Danish

Dutch

English (United States)

Finnish

French |

French (Canada)

German

Icelandic

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Norwegian

Polish |

Portuguese (Brazil)

Portuguese (Portugal)

Russian

Spanish (Spain)

Spanish (Latin America)

Swedish |}

Catalan localization

Mac OS X doesn't include a Catalan localization and a Catalonian Mac user group have campaigned for Apple to include one.

Criticisms

The Finder

The Dock

Permissions

In 2003, MacWorld's Ted Landau called misconfigured permissions "the most common frustration" in Mac OS X. This can happen after installing a program. In 2005, MacWorld's Rob Griffiths suggested that users may even have to reset permissions for files and folders every day, depending on the amount of application installations and modifications take place. The result of misconfigured permissions is often being unable to change preferences in a program or open a document. Disk Utility can be used to repair permissions, a process which can take up to 15 minutes.

Usability Issues

Mac OS X introduced significant changes to the user interface from that of its predecessor, Mac OS 9, and some users (including Bruce Tognazzini, founder of the original Apple Human Interface Group) have claimed that Mac OS X represented a step backwards in usability.

Further Information

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