from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Macintosh
Apple Macintosh
beige toaster
Mac
<computer> (Mac) The name of a product line and {operating
system} {platform} manufactured by {Apple Computer, Inc.},
originally based on the {Motorola 68000} {microprocessor}
family and a proprietary {operating system}. The Mac was
Apple's successor to the {Lisa}.
The project was proposed by {Jef Raskin} some time before
{Steve Jobs}'s famous visit to {Xerox PARC}. Jobs tried to
scuttle the Macintosh project and only joined it later because
he wasn't trusted to manage the {Lisa} project.
The {Macintosh user interface} was notable for popularising
the {graphical user interface}, with its easy to learn and
easy to use {desktop} metaphor.
The {Macintosh Operating System} is now officially called
Mac OS.
The first Macintosh, introduced in January 1984, had a
{Motorola 68000} {CPU}, 128K of {RAM}, a small {monochrome}
screen, and one built-in {floppy disk} drive with an external
slot for one more, two {serial ports} and a four-voice sound
generator. This was all housed in one small plastic case,
including the screen. When more memory was available later in
the year, a 512K Macintosh was nicknamed the "Fat Mac."
The standard Macintosh screen {resolution} is 72 {dpi} (making
one {point} = one {pixel}), exactly half the 144 dpi
resolution of the ancient {Apple Imagewriter} {dot matrix}
printer.
The Mac Plus (January 1986) added expandability by providing
an external {SCSI} port for connecting {hard disks}, {magnetic
tape}, and other high-speed devices.
The Mac SE (March 1987) had up to four megabytes of {RAM}, an
optional built-in 20 megabyte hard disk and one internal
expansion slot for connecting a third-party device.
The Mac II (March 1987) used the faster {Motorola 68020} {CPU}
with a 32-bit {bus}.
In 1994 {PowerPC} based Macs, {Power Macs}, were launched, and
in 1999, the {iMac}, updated on 2002-01-07. The Power Mac G4
(Quicksilver 2002) was the first Power Mac to clock at 1GHz and
"Superdrives" (combined DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-RW)
appeared in the iMac in 2002. In mid 2003 the first G5
Power Mac was released, the first Mac to be based on a 64-bit
architecture. {IBM} and not Motorola manufactured the CPU for
this new generation of Power Macs. The clock speed was
initially 1.6GHz but a dual 2GHz system was available in
September.
Mac OS X is the successor to Mac OS 9, although its
technological parent is the {NEXTSTEP} OS from {Next, Inc.},
founded by Steve Jobs after he left Apple the first time. OS
X is based largely on the {BSD} UNIX system. The core of the
OS X operating system is released as free {source code} under
the project name {Darwin}.
If "Macintosh" were an acronym, some say it would stand for
"Many Applications Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs".
While this was true for pre Mac OS 9 systems, it is less true
for Mac OS 9, and totally incorrect for Mac OS X, which has
protected memory, so even if one application crashes, the
system and other applications are unaffected.
See also {Macintosh file system}, {Macintosh user interface}.
Apple Home (http://apple.com/).
(2004-07-20)