Operating Systems & Components

Revised: 2006-07-06 devin

Table Of Contents
    CrossOver Mac is based on the same core technology that powers CodeWeavers’ Linux-based offering — an open-source project called WINE. WINE — a self-referencing acronym that stands for “WINE Is Not An Emulator” — is a compatibility layer that provides alternate implementations of the code referenced by Windows applications in order to work. Unlike emulation, Wine is a re-implementation of the Win32 API, allowing applications to run as if natively on the target OS. CrossOver is a commercialized version of Wine.

    CrossOver Mac enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows applications. It works differently from virtualization software like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion because it doesn't require Windows to be installed in order to run Windows software.CrossOver is closely tied to an open source project for Linux operating systems called WINE, which provides a translation layer that enables Windows applications to operate on x86-based computer architectures. CodeWeavers is the leading corporate backer of the Wine Project. CodeWeavers will be demonstrating CrossOver Mac 7.1 in two separate applications: business applications and gaming. For business, CrossOver Mac 7.1 provides support for applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Outlook.In running enterprise business applications in this manner, CrossOver Mac 7.1 provides for lower upfront and on-going costs. For gaming, CrossOver Mac 7.1 is able to run the games that require intense support for graphics and sounds.

    Mac OS X 10.2 introduced a new printing architecture to the Macintosh, CUPS or the Common UNIX Printing System. Some may be familiar with CUPS from various Linux/BSD distributions, well it is the very same! CUPS is very extensible and powerful, see how to print to unsupported USB (and other printers) printers via gimp-print. Dan will demonstrate how to setup IPP and HP Socket (JetDirect) printers along with the command-line and web based tools that CUPS provides.

    For Mac OS X 10.4, Apple created launchd. It is one launch daemon to rule them all. Launchd does the job of all of the existing program launching mechanisms, and does it in a way that puts the least possible burden on the programs that it launches. Processes spawned by launchd don't have to worry about "daemonizing" themselves, checking for dependencies, or relaunching or keeping communication handles alive in the case of a crash. James gave an overview of launchd and how it will change your implementation of startup, login & logout scripts. He also demonstrated Launchd Editor, which is a graphical editor for launchd property list files.

    Mac OS 8.5.1 update fixes a memory leak in AppleScript, a memory problem in the file system (asynchronous File I/O error, as reported by FileMaker Pro users), and a Mac OS Extended format corruption issue, re-enables the use of many third party ADB devices, and provides some improved communication through Internet firewalls for Sherlock. In addition, Apple has developed a number of additional Sherlock plug-ins that are included in this update.

    A look many of the new features of Mac OS 8.6, as well as compatibility issues.

    An overview of the new features, bug-fixes, requirements, issues, and incompatibilites of Mac OS 9.1.

    An overview of the new features, bug-fixes, requirements, issues, and incompatibilites of Mac OS 9.2.1.

    An overview of Mac OS 9.2.2, what's updated, and installation issues.

    Mac OS X is both a radical departure from previous Mac operating systems and a natural evolution from them. This next-generation operating system is a combination of technologies, some new and some standard in the computer industry. It has a solid foundation of a modern core operating system, bringing benefits such as protected memory and preemptive multitasking to Mac computing. Mac OS X sports a new user interface capable of visual effects such as translucence and drop shadows. According to Apple, "Systems compatible with Mac OS X include the following: iMac, iBook, all Power Macintosh G3 desktops, Power Mac G4, Power Mac G4 Cube and PowerBooks introduced after September 1998. You'll also need to check two things. Also, you may need a memory upgrade —128MB of Memory (RAM) is recommended for Mac OS X. The final version of Mac OS X was made available Saturday, March 24, 2001.

    Dan Sinema of Apple Computer discusses the new features of Mac OS X 10.4 client including Spotlight, Dashboard, VoiceOver, Safari, Automator. We will also discuss new tools that can be used for machine deployment, maintenance and other utilities.

    Mac OS X 10.5 introduces some changes for administrators, some good, some for the good of someone else. James discussed what we have found so far, such as the deprecation of /etc/rc.local, the 10.5 way to get a screensaver over the loginwindow (significantly different than 10.4), non-universal OS updaters from Software Update, NetInfo's demise, the new kind of "Firewall", etc.

    This is a quick look at a few cool Utilities built for Mac OS X 10.1. I found most of these by searching through VersionTracker's "Top downloads" section, and by looking around in the "System Utilities" section. I have included screenshots of each utility. All of these utilities are specifically for Mac OS X 10.1, but they may work with 10.0.x. I'm sure there are plenty more cool utilities that I don't know about, so if you know of one that I don't list here, please let us know about it!

    Now, that Apple has started moving its line to Intel chips, many solutions are becoming available to run Windows on Intel based Mac's. There are three basic options, dual booting, running Windows in a virtual machine, or running Windows apps directly in Mac OS X. The first dual boot option was a hack called the Blanka and Narf method, which was started as a contest to encourage developers to find a dual boot solutin. Then Apple released, Boot Camp, a public beta, that solves many problems found in other solutions, like providing all the drivers for Windows, also it "dynamically creates a hard drive partition for Windows. Also, Parallels released, Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta for Mac OS X, which is the first virtualization solution that supports any version of Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS/2 or MS-DOS in a secure vertual machine. Lastly, the Darwine project is porting open source Linux software called WinE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) to Mac OS X. This project allows you to run WIndows application natively in Mac OS X without Windows.

    Overview on VMware client & server products for Mac OS X including VMware Fusion and upcoming server support included with upcoming VMware Fusion 2.0 which is a free upgrade to all VMware Fusion 1.x customers.

    For those with vision disabilities, Mac OS X 10.4 includes VoiceOver, a built-in screen reader that provides keyboard control of the computer, enhanced screen magnification options, and spoken descriptions of what's on the screen. Mac OS X 10.4 includes several accessible applications including Finder, Mail, Safari, TextEdit, iChat AV, Preview (a PDF viewer), Terminal, Automator, Chess, and many utilities. Apple is also providing public, well-documented programming guidelines so application developers can easily enhance the accessibility of their applications.Marshall will give an overview and demonstration of VoiceOver.

    Do you have to run Microsoft Office? Do you have X Window applications? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to run those applications side by side? It is now possible, Mac OS X has 3 different X Window implementations available, including one developed by Apple. Dan will look at the various options available for users who wish to run X Window applications on Mac OS X.

    X11 is the most popular implementation of the X Window system. It is a network transparent window system. Just like Apple's default window system Aqua, X11 includes the primitives used for creating a graphical desktop like windows, displays, buttons, and it is also tracks input on devices like a keyboard and a mouse. Apple's X11 is based on the most popular implementation of X11, XFree86 (http://www.xfree86.org), which is free and open source. X11 was developed by the MIT Consortium and is currently supported by the X Consortium or X.Org Foundation (www.x.org). X Consortium members include HP, SGI, Sun, IBM, Cray, Adobe, DEC, Motorola, Novell, and Apple. Apple's X11 opens a whole world of Unix applications like MatLab and OpenOffice for the Macintosh platform. Pieter and James will discuss how to avail yourself of these applications and tools by showing how to install, configure, and use Apple's X11.