Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!pacbell.com!att!linac!midway!quads.uchicago.edu!jcav From: jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john cavallino) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Tell me: what was System 1.0 like? Summary: Ah, nostalgia. Message-ID: <1991May10.154919.25794@midway.uchicago.edu> Date: 10 May 91 15:49:19 GMT References: <13942@ur-cc.UUCP> <1991May10.045757.25862@neon.Stanford.EDU> <75204@brunix.UUCP> Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (NewsMistress) Organization: University of Chicago Lines: 83 In article <75204@brunix.UUCP> man@cs.brown.edu (Mark H. Nodine) writes: >In article <1991May10.045757.25862@neon.Stanford.EDU>, torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) writes: >|> hlsw_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Dave Hollinsworth) writes: >|> >|> >With 7-Day rapidly approaching, let's get nostalgic, shall we? >|> >|> >I've only had a Mac for 2 years, so I'll let the oldtimers answer the >|> >question: What was the original Mac system (1.0) like? (Note: if 1.0 >|> >wasn't stable, then what was the first stable system after 1.0 like?) >|> >|> Actually, the first system to come out (with the 128K) was System >|> 0.97, and it seemed to be moderately stable. There of course was nothing >|> like MultiFinder, Font/DA Mover didn't even exist (i.e. you >|> couldn't install or remove fonts), and it used to take about 30 disk >|> swaps to copy a disk. >|> The System File was a whole 50K or so. >|> Other than that I don't remember much. I got a Macintosh (NOT a Mac 128, because there was only one model) in April 1984, along with an Imagewriter printer and a copy of Microsoft Basic. MacWrite and MacPaint came bundled with it. At the time, the only other application you could buy was Microsoft Multiplan (a spreadsheet, predecessor to Excel). I remember how ecstatic I was that Fall when MacForth came out and I could actually PROGRAM USING THE TOOLBOX! (I didn't get Inside Macintosh until June 1985, when the phone-book Promotional Edition was released). >The finder was version 1.1g, and had the mountain picture in its about box >that I hear is making a comeback with System 7. The main things I remember >about it were: That version was released in June '84. Mine started out with Finder 1.0, which had a very boring About... box. > 1. The text at the top of the finder's windows saying how much space was >free was geneva 9 bold. Yeah, I remember that. They changed it in version 4.1. I like it better in plain text. > 2. It was _really_ slow. A friend of mine used to parody the old ad by >saying "If you know how to wait, you know how to use a Macintosh," and he >wasn't far off. You would double-click on an application to launch it, it >did the equivalent of HyperCard's "visual effect zoom out very slowly and >let me take a coffee break". The disk swapping was horrendous (they were >only 400K disks, but at the time that seemed huge). It seemed impossible that >anybody could want more than 128K of memory. I honestly don't remember noticing slowness at the time. I guess I was having too much fun. Also, who else remembers the "Disk Copy" program? This was a truly awesome hack that was intended to reduce the number of swaps required when copying a diskette. Since the 400K floppies held close to four times as much information as the ENTIRE RAM CAPACITY of the machine, there was no way to completely eliminate swapping, but the Disk Copy program got it down to the minimum four. How did they do it, you ask? THEY USED MOST OF THE DISPLAY MEMORY!!! When you started up Disk Copy it eliminated the menubar and constrained the cursor to a tiny area at the bottom of the screen, which had a few push-button controls. The rest of the screen was used as part of the copy buffer. It was psychedelic to watch the patterns that appeared as information was read in. > 4. You couldn't drag more than one disk icon to the trash at the same time. It also only let you drag icons of ejected disks to the trash. You had to use the Eject command first. > 5. There was no HFS or HyperCard, of course. > 6. The Mac came with MacPaint and MacWrite, which at the time were truly >avant garde applications and the envy of all my friends. Those two programs blew me away when I first saw them. When you think about the hardware constraints (RAM size mostly) of the original Macintosh, you gain new respect for the designers of those programs. How they were able to get them to do so much in so little space I don't know. Did you know that the application memory area (usable RAM) on the original Macintosh was less than 90K? Gleep! -- John Cavallino | EMail: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu University of Chicago Hospitals | USMail: 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Box 145 Office of Facilities Management | Chicago, IL 60637 B0 f++ w c+ g+ k s(+) e+ h- pv (qv) | Telephone: 312-702-6900