MacOS 9
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Mac OS 9 is the ninth and final major release of the
classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
for
Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...
computers, made by
Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...
. Introduced on October 23, 1999, it was promoted by Apple as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever", highlighting Sherlock 2’s Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as
iTools iTools or ITools may refer to: * iTools, an online service from Apple (later known as .Mac then MobileMe, before evolving into the current iCloud service) *ITools Resourceome iTools{{cite journal, vauthors=Dinov ID, Rubin D, Lorensen W, Dugan J, ...
and improved
Open Transport Open Transport was the name given by Apple Inc. to its implementation of the Unix-originated UNIX System V, System V STREAMS networking stack. Based on code licensed from Mentat's Mentat Portable Streams, Portable Streams product, Open Transport w ...
networking. While Mac OS 9 lacks
protected memory Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern instruction set architectures and operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that h ...
and full
pre-emptive multitasking In computing, preemption is the act performed by an external scheduler — without assistance or cooperation from the task — of temporarily interrupting an executing task, with the intention of resuming it at a later time. This preemptive s ...
, lasting improvements include the introduction of an automated
Software Update A patch is data that is intended to be used to modify an existing software resource such as a program or a file, often to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. A patch may be created to improve functionality, usability, or performance. A pa ...
engine and support for
multiple users Multi-user software is computer software that allows access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving ...
. It was succeeded by
Mac OS X 10.0 Mac OS X 10.0 (code named Cheetah) is the first major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system. It was released on March 24, 2001, for a price of $129 after a public beta. Mac OS X was Apple's successor to the classic Ma ...
in 2001, the first version of the
Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
(now macOS) family of operating systems. Apple discontinued development of Mac OS 9 in late 2001, transitioning all future development to Mac OS X. The final updates to Mac OS 9 addressed compatibility issues with Mac OS X while running in the
Classic Environment This is a list of built-in apps and system components developed by Apple Inc. for macOS that come bundled by default or are installed through a system update. Many of the default programs found on macOS have counterparts on Apple's other operat ...
and compatibility with
Carbon Carbon () is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalence, tetravalent—meaning that its atoms are able to form up to four covalent bonds due to its valence shell exhibiting 4 ...
applications. At the 2002
Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...
,
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
began his
keynote A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...
address by staging a mock funeral for OS 9.


Features

Apple billed Mac OS 9 as including "50 new features" and heavily marketed its Sherlock 2 software, which introduced a "channels" feature for searching different online resources and introduced a
QuickTime QuickTime (or QuickTime Player) is an extensible multimedia architecture created by Apple, which supports playing, streaming, encoding, and transcoding a variety of digital media formats. The term ''QuickTime'' also refers to the QuickTime Pla ...
-like metallic appearance. Mac OS 9 also featured integrated support for Apple's suite of Internet services known as iTools (later re-branded as .Mac, then
MobileMe MobileMe (branded iTools between 2000 and 2002; .Mac until 2008) is a discontinued subscription business model, subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were gradually transitioned to and e ...
, which was replaced by
iCloud iCloud is the personal cloud service of Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables users to store and Data synchronization, sync data across devices, including Apple Mail, Calendar (Apple), Apple Calendar, Photos (Apple), Apple Ph ...
) and included improved
TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...
functionality with
Open Transport Open Transport was the name given by Apple Inc. to its implementation of the Unix-originated UNIX System V, System V STREAMS networking stack. Based on code licensed from Mentat's Mentat Portable Streams, Portable Streams product, Open Transport w ...
2.5. Other features new to Mac OS 9 include: *Integrated support for multiple user accounts without using
At Ease At Ease was an alternative to the Macintosh desktop developed by Apple Computer in the early 1990s for the classic Mac OS. It provided a simple environment for new Macintosh users and young children to help them to work without supervision. At ...
. *Support for voice login through VoicePrint passwords. *
Keychain A keychain () (also keyring) is a small ring or chain of metal to which several keys, or fobs can be attached. The terms keyring and keychain are often used interchangeably to mean both the individual ring, or a combined unit of a ring and fob ...
, a feature allowing users to save passwords and textual data encrypted in protected keychains. *A Software Update control panel for automatic download and installation of Apple system software updates. *A redesigned Sound control panel and support for
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
audio. *Speakable Items 2.0, also known as
PlainTalk PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in the ...
, featuring improved speech synthesis and recognition along with AppleScript integration. *Improved font management through FontSync. *Remote Access Personal Server 3.5, including support for TCP/IP clients over
Point-to-Point Protocol In computer networking, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) is a data link layer (layer 2) communication protocol between two routers directly without any host or any other networking in between. It can provide loop detection, authentication, transmissio ...
(PPP). *An updated version of
AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. that facilitates automated control of Mac applications. First introduced in System 7, it is currently included in macOS in a package of automation tools. The term ''AppleScript'' may ...
with support for TCP/IP. *Personal File Sharing over TCP/IP. *USB Printer Sharing, a control panel allowing certain USB printers to be shared across a TCP/IP network. *128-bit file encryption in the Finder. *Support for files larger than 2 GB. *
Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
volume support. *CD Burning in the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1). *Addition of a "Window" menu to the Finder (introduced in Mac OS 9.1)


Mac OS 9 and the Classic Environment

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
versions of
Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
prior to 10.5 Leopard include a compatibility layer called
Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...
, enabling users to run applications and hardware requiring Mac OS 9 from within OS X. This is achieved through running Mac OS 9 without access to its Finder inside OS X. This requires Mac OS 9 to be installed on the machine, even though most Macs that can run the Classic environment are not necessarily able to boot into Mac OS 9 natively. Some Mac OS 9 applications do not run well in Classic; they demonstrate screen redraw problems and lagging performance. In addition, some drivers and other software which directly interact with the hardware fail to work properly. In May 2002, at Apple's
Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
,
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...
, accompanied by a
coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...
, held a mock
funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
to announce that Apple had stopped the development of Mac OS 9. The final version of Mac OS 9 and the "classic" Mac OS was Mac OS 9.2.2, released in December 2001. In June 2005, Jobs announced that the Macintosh platform would be transitioning to
Intel x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. The ...
microprocessors. Developer documentation of the
Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...
PowerPC emulation layer revealed that applications written for Mac OS 8 or 9 would not run on x86-based Macs. The Classic Environment remains in the PowerPC version of 10.4 Tiger; however, x86 versions of OS X and the PowerPC version of 10.5 Leopard do not support the Classic environment. Mac OS 9 can be emulated by using
SheepShaver SheepShaver is an open-source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. The name is a play on ShapeShifter, a Macintosh II emulator for AmigaOS (made obsolete by Basilisk II). The ShapeShifter and SheepShaver proj ...
, a PowerPC emulator available on multiple operating systems. It can be run on any machine with a supported CPU platform, including Intel-based Macs. Initially, it required an actual PowerPC processor present in the machine it was running on similar to a
hypervisor A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or virtualizer, is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called ...
, but support for x86 platforms was added at a later date. SheepShaver cannot run Mac OS versions newer than 9.0.4, however, as it does not have support for a
memory management unit A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit that examines all references to computer memory, memory, and translates the memory addresses being referenced, known as virtual mem ...
. The
PearPC PearPC is a PowerPC platform emulator capable of running many PowerPC operating systems, including pre-Intel versions of Mac OS X, Darwin, and Linux on x86 hardware. It is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It can be used on Wi ...
PowerPC emulator does not support Mac OS 9.
QEMU The Quick Emulator (QEMU) is a free and open-source emulator that uses dynamic binary translation to emulate a computer's processor; that is, it translates the emulated binary codes to an equivalent binary format which is executed by the mach ...
has experimental support for running Mac OS 9 using PowerPC G4 emulation.


Mac OS 9 and other Mac computers

Beginning in January 2002, Mac OS X has been set as the default operating system for all Macs produced from that point forward beginning with 10.1.2, displacing Mac OS 9. Despite this, Mac OS 9 continued to be preinstalled on some Macs (especially for Macs equipped with a PowerPC G4 processor) even as late as 2004, despite having its development stopped in late 2001. These Macs, despite coming with Mac OS X by default, also had Mac OS 9 preinstalled alongside the former to allow one to boot into Mac OS 9 natively if the user chooses to do so, and allows the ability to run Classic Mac OS applications natively without resorting to the
Classic environment This is a list of built-in apps and system components developed by Apple Inc. for macOS that come bundled by default or are installed through a system update. Many of the default programs found on macOS have counterparts on Apple's other operat ...
in Mac OS X. This is especially important for applications that can directly access the computer's hardware, as well as for some applications that may have issues when running on the Classic environment. Most G4 Macs made prior to 2003 had both operating systems preinstalled alongside each other in a
dual-boot Multi-booting is the act of installing multiple operating systems on a single computer, and being able to choose which one to boot. The term dual-booting refers to the common configuration of specifically two operating systems. Multi-booting may ...
configuration (with Mac OS X being selected as the default option), where they can be accessed via a boot menu accessible upon startup. Some Macs that were released with higher CPU clock speeds (i.e. 1 GHz or higher) are also capable of running Mac OS 9. This includes the 867 MHz—1.25 GHz ''"Mirrored Drive Doors"''
Power Mac G4 The Power Mac G4 is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from 1999 to 2004 as part of the Power Macintosh line. Built around the PowerPC G4 series of microprocessors, the Power Mac G4 was marketed by ...
and the 867 MHz—1 GHz "Antimony" titanium
PowerBook G4 The PowerBook G4 is a series of notebook computers manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer between 2001 and 2006 as part of its PowerBook line of notebooks. The PowerBook G4 runs on the RISC-based PowerPC G4 processor, designed by t ...
("TiBook"), which were released in August 2002 and November 2002 respectively. The "Antimony" titanium PowerBook G4 in particular was the last PowerBook model that came with Mac OS 9 preinstalled alongside Mac OS X, as later models only came with Mac OS X. Despite having G4 processors with faster clock speeds of up to 1.25 GHz and 1 GHz respectively on some models (with some Power Mac G4 models even having dual G4 processors as well), they were able to run Mac OS 9 without any issues. The majority of Macs released in 2003 onwards only came preinstalled with Mac OS X and are incapable of booting into Mac OS 9. Most G4 Macs released during this period that have a 1 GHz or higher processor never had their "Mac OS ROM" boot files updated to allow those Macs to officially boot into Mac OS 9 natively outside of the Classic environment. Macs equipped with a PowerPC G5 processor are unable to boot into Mac OS 9 natively because support for PowerPC G5 processors is absent on Mac OS 9 (Mac OS 9 only supports G3 and G4 processors as of Mac OS 9.2.2). The only options for running Mac OS 9 (and therefore Classic Mac OS applications) on G5 Macs is the Classic environment in Mac OS X as well as other emulation software such as SheepShaver. The last Macs released that had Mac OS 9 preinstalled was a rerelease of the 2002 "Mirrored Drive Doors" Power Mac G4 in June 2003, which was launched around the same time as the
Power Mac G5 The Power Mac G5 is a series of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 2003 to 2006 as part of the Power Mac series. When introduced, it was the most powerful computer in Apple's Macintosh lineup, a ...
due to a perceived demand for Mac OS 9 machines. This model ended up as being one of the last Mac models overall to officially boot into Mac OS 9, making the Power Mac G4 series the last Macintosh computer to come preinstalled with Mac OS 9 after the introduction of Mac OS X. Production of this model (as well as the original version of the Power Mac G5 from 2003) was discontinued in June 2004, a year after its rerelease, which was three years after Mac OS 9 stopped development in late 2001 and two years after Mac OS X displaced Mac OS 9 as the default operating system in early 2002. In recent years, unofficial patches have been made for Mac OS 9 and the "Mac OS ROM" to allow unsupported G4 Macs to boot into Mac OS 9 natively; this practice is not officially supported by Apple.


Other uses

Aside from Apple-branded hardware which can be maintained and operated, Mac OS 9 can also be operated in other environments such as
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
and
Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
. This includes emulation software such as the aforementioned
SheepShaver SheepShaver is an open-source PowerPC Apple Macintosh emulator originally designed for BeOS and Linux. The name is a play on ShapeShifter, a Macintosh II emulator for AmigaOS (made obsolete by Basilisk II). The ShapeShifter and SheepShaver proj ...
. While it does provide PowerPC processor support, especially on Intel-based Macs, it can only run up to Mac OS 9.0.4 because it does not emulate a memory management unit. QEMU is another piece of software that has PowerPC emulation and is able to run all versions of Mac OS 9 up to Mac OS 9.2.2.


Version history

Updates to Mac OS 9 include 9.0.4, 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2. Mac OS 9.0.4 was a collection of bug fixes primarily relating to USB and FireWire support. Mac OS 9.1 included integrated CD burning support in the
Macintosh Finder The Finder is the default file manager and graphical user interface shell used on all Macintosh operating systems. Described in its "About" window as "The Macintosh Desktop Experience", it is responsible for the launching of other applications, ...
and added a new Window menu in the Finder for switching between open windows. Mac OS 9.2 increased performance noticeably and improved Classic Environment support.


Compatibility

# # #


See also

* List of Apple operating systems


References


External links

* from
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
* from
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
* from
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
* from
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Os 9 1999 software Classic Mac OS PowerPC operating systems Microkernel-based operating systems Microkernels