Sentris: Debut Prototype Mac OS
Mac OS 3.4-tan First appearance Jan 2009 Height 180 cm (5'11') Hair color dark brown Eye color dark grey Faction Wanderer Class (since 1992) Lineage Classic Mac: Technical information System personified Macintosh System 3.4, AppleShare 2.0.1 Work Station Developer(s) Apple Debut Early 1988 Latest release Early 1988. Mac OS X Developer Preview 3 is the third Developer Preview of Mac OS X Public Beta.This build was demonstrated at the Mac OS X introduction on 2000-01-05 in MacWorld 2000 and in the MacWorld Expo 2000 in Tokyo on 2000-02-16. This build contains more major overhauls to the main interface when compared to the previous Developer Previews, and is known for the debut of the Aqua user interface.
Macintosh System 3.4-tan | |
Character information | |
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Common name | Macintosh System 3.4-tan |
Also known as | Mac OS 3.4-tan |
First appearance | Jan 2009 |
Height | 180 cm (5'11') |
Hair color | dark brown |
Eye color | dark grey |
Faction | Wanderer Class (since 1992) |
Lineage | Classic Mac |
Technical information | |
System personified | Macintosh System 3.4, AppleShare 2.0.1 Work Station |
Developer(s) | Apple |
Debut | Early 1988 |
Latest release | Early 1988 |
- 2Character details
- 2.1Family and relationships
- 3OSC Notes
Technical details
Macintosh System 3.4 was released as part of AppleShare 2.0.1 Work Station to add this support to System 3, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080224190220/http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=5356 and to the Macintosh 512Ke, and uses Finder 6.1, the same Finder version used with System 6.
Character details
Macintosh System 3.4-tan is represented as a tall and eccentric woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, with long dark brown hair tied into forked pigtails. Her hair is decorated with red ribbons, three gold hairclips on one side and a 3.4 hairclip on the other. She wears a pair of large mask-like sunglasses, a grey frilly blouse, light blue skirt, yellow leggings and red ballet flats. She carries a parachute backpack in the style of a compact Mac.
She is very bold, daring, and very outgoing, She has great networking skills, but is also stubborn and single-minded, owing to very specific role that System 3.4 was created for.
Her eccentric personality, appearance, and role are because of System 3.4's highly unusual version numbering and release date compared to other Mac OS versions.
Family and relationships
System 3-tan
System 3-tan was System 3.4-tan's mentor, and helped her with using her powers, and how to use them for networking and sharing information. She was very sad when System 3.4-tan left home.
System 6-tan
System 3.4-tan and System 6-tan are twin sisters, owing to having the same Finder version number and almost the same release date. They have always gotten along, because they never competed over who would lead the Mac House during the time they were both current.
System 7-tan
She did not feel threatened by System 7-tan when she debuted, because AppleShare 2.0.1 was still the current version in 1991. A version of System 7 was used for AppleShare 3, which was released in 1992. System 3.4-tan disliked her over this, but let go of this resentment after finding her new lease on life.
System 7.5-tan
She might be friends with System 7.5-tan, since interpretations portray her as being eccentric, due to System 7.5's history.
Others
She tends to be friends with other OS-tans who are eccentric, obscure, or were misfits within their original families. She is friends with Commodore 65-tan, Windows 3.2-tan and DEC Rainbow 100-tan. She may also be friends with A/UX-tan, Windows 97-tan, and EvilEntity Linux-tan.
Abilities
She is physically very weak, and not suited to melee combat, but has strong psychic abilities, and can read minds. Her physical weakness is a trade-off for having stronger psychic abilities and a more specialized, limited-release OS.
OSC Notes
In the Annex Project continuity, she was a member of the House of Mac, but left in 1992, and has been a wanderer since then. Most of her friends are also wanderers.
History and background
System 3.4-tan was never meant to lead the Mac House, but was entrusted to continue the specialized role as a file sharing server OS that System 3-tan created, and to use her powers for this purpose. It was an important role that she took pride in, by operating the communication infrastructure, and using her telepathic abilities to quickly share information with the other Mac-tans. Being a more specialized OS, she was optimized for this role, but was also less capable of coping with being obsolete when it happened.
In 1992, System 7-tan was assigned to take over this role, and System 3.4-tan ran away from home because she could not handle being obsolete. As an obsolete proprietary OS, she was at a disadvantage as a wanderer. She had several near-death experiences in her early years, and was barely surviving, but donated a lot of her money and supplies she earned to the rest of the Mac-tans to try and aid them. She felt remorseful over not fighting alongside her sisters during the OS Wars. She chose to become a stunt performer because she no longer feared death, and believed she had nothing to lose.
One of the first friends she made as a wanderer was Commodore 65-tan, who had recently been exiled from her own home faction, and was left as an abandoned prototype. They met Windows 3.2-tan later during the OS Wars, and befriended her when she was to prove that she did not have anything to do with the OS Wars. They banded together over their shared backgrounds of being wanderers, obscure, or the odd ones out among their families.
Shortly after the Vintage Federation was founded, in 1997 or 1998, its members were seeking other struggling wanderers. She refused their recruitment efforts to not abandon the friends and livelihood she gained, and because she thought the Vintage Federation pitied her, and she did not want their pity.
She and her friends found success, and defied the odds against them through a lot of luck and hard work, and she found a new use for her networking skills by organizing and hosting events to show off the talents of other wanderers.
Other Notes
Her previous characterization of feeling overshadowed and not believing she had a purpose in life before becoming a wanderer was based off of very limited information her creator had. From further research, a new characterization was retconned in portraying her as being successful in her early years and taking pride in her specialized role, since AppleShare 2.0 was well-received, but believing she lost her purpose in life when she became obsolete, and became a wanderer to keep having a purpose.
See also:
Macintosh Plus at the Museo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología in Spain | |
Also known as | M0001A |
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Manufacturer | Apple Computer, Inc. |
Product family | Compact Macintosh |
Release date | January 16, 1986; 35 years ago |
Introductory price | US$2,599 (equivalent to $6,060 in 2019) |
Discontinued | October 15, 1990 |
Operating system | System 3.0 - 7.5.5 (except 7.5.2) |
CPU | Motorola 68000 @ 8 MHz |
Memory | 1 MB RAM, expandable to 4 MB (150 ns 30-pin SIMM) |
Display | 9 in (23 cm) monochrome, 512 × 342 |
Graphics | 72 ppi |
Dimensions | Height: 13.6 in (35 cm) Width: 9.6 in (24 cm) Depth: 10.9 in (28 cm) |
Mass | 16.5 lb (7.5 kg) |
Predecessor | Macintosh 512K Macintosh XL |
Successor | Macintosh SE Macintosh Classic |
The Macintosh Plus computer is the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2599.[1] As an evolutionary improvement over the 512K, it shipped with 1 MB of RAM standard, expandable to 4 MB, and an external SCSI peripheral bus, among smaller improvements. Originally, the computer's case was the same beige color as the original Macintosh, Pantone 453,[2] however in 1987, the case color was changed to the long-lived, warm gray 'Platinum' color.[3] It is the earliest Macintosh model able to run System 7.
Overview[edit]
Bruce Webster of BYTE reported a rumor in December 1985: 'Supposedly, Apple will be releasing a Big Mac by the time this column sees print: said Mac will reportedly come with 1 megabyte of RAM ... the new 128K-byte ROM ... and a double-sided (800K bytes) disk drive, all in the standard Mac box'.[4] Introduced as the Macintosh Plus, it was the first Macintosh model to include a SCSI port, which launched the popularity of external SCSI devices for Macs, including hard disks, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, printers, Zip Drives, and even monitors.[5] The SCSI implementation of the Plus was engineered shortly before the initial SCSI spec was finalized and, as such, is not 100% SCSI-compliant. SCSI ports remained standard equipment for all Macs until the introduction of the iMac in 1998.
The Macintosh Plus was the last classic Mac to have a phone cord-like port on the front of the unit for the keyboard, as well as the DE-9 connector for the mouse; models released after the Macintosh Plus would use ADB ports.
The Mac Plus was the first Apple computer to utilize user-upgradable SIMM memory modules instead of single DIP DRAM chips. Four SIMM slots were provided and the computer shipped with four 256K SIMMs, for 1MB total RAM. By replacing them with 1MB SIMMs, it was possible to have 4MB of RAM. (Although 30-pin SIMMs could support up to 16MB total RAM, the Mac Plus motherboard had only 22 address lines connected, for a 4MB maximum.)
It has what was then a new 3+1⁄2-inch double-sided 800 KB floppy drive, offering double the capacity of floppy disks from previous Macs, along with backward compatibility. The then-new drive is controlled by the same IWM chip as in previous models, implementing variable speedGCR. The drive was still completely incompatible with PC drives. The 800 KB drive has two read/write heads, enabling it to simultaneously use both sides of the floppy disk and thereby double storage capacity. Like the 400 KB drive before it, a companion Macintosh 800K External Drive was an available option. However, with the increased disk storage capacity combined with 2-4x the available RAM, the external drive was less of a necessity than it had been with the 128K and 512K.
The Mac Plus has 128 KB of ROM on the motherboard, which is double the amount of ROM in previous Macs; the ROMs included software to support SCSI, the then-new 800 KB floppy drive, and the Hierarchical File System (HFS), which uses a true directory structure on disks (as opposed to the earlier MFS, Macintosh File System in which all files were stored in a single directory, with one level of pseudo-folders overlaid on them). For programmers, the fourth Inside Macintosh volume details how to use HFS and the rest of the Mac Plus's new system software. The Plus still did not include provision for an internal hard drive and it would be over nine months before Apple would offer a SCSI drive replacement for the slow Hard Disk 20. It would be well over a year before Apple would offer the first internal hard disk drive in any Macintosh.
A compact Mac, the Plus has a 9-inch (23 cm) 512 × 342 pixel monochrome display with a resolution of 72 PPI, identical to that of previous Macintosh models.[6] Unlike earlier Macs, the Mac Plus's keyboard includes a numeric keypad and directional arrow keys and, as with previous Macs, it has a one-button mouse and no fan, making it extremely quiet in operation. The lack of a cooling fan in the Mac Plus led to frequent problems with overheating and hardware malfunctions.
The applications MacPaint and MacWrite were bundled with the Mac Plus. After August 1987, HyperCard and MultiFinder were also bundled. Third-party software applications available included MacDraw, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Aldus PageMaker. Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (originally by Forethought) were actually developed and released first for the Macintosh, and similarly Microsoft Word 1 for Macintosh was the first time a GUI version of that software was introduced on any personal computer platform. For a time, the exclusive availability of Excel and PageMaker on the Macintosh were noticeable drivers of sales for the platform.
The case design is essentially identical to the original Macintosh. It debuted in beige and was labeled Macintosh Plus on the front, but Macintosh Plus 1 MB on the back, to denote the 1 MB RAM configuration with which it shipped. In January 1987 it transitioned to Apple's long-lived platinum-gray color with the rest of the Apple product line, and the keyboard's keycaps changed from brown to gray. In January 1988, with reduced RAM prices, Apple began shipping 2- and 4- MB configurations and rebranded it simply as 'Macintosh Plus.' Among other design changes, it included the same trademarked inlaid Apple logo and recessed port icons as the Apple IIc and IIGS before it, but it essentially retained the original design.
An upgrade kit was offered for the earlier Macintosh 128K and Macintosh 512K/enhanced, which includes a new motherboard, floppy disk drive and rear case. The owner retained the front case, monitor and analog board. Because of this, there is no 'Macintosh Plus' on the front of upgraded units, and the Apple logo is recessed and in the bottom left hand corner of the front case. However, the label on the back of the case reads 'Macintosh Plus 1MB'. The new extended Plus keyboard could also be purchased. Unfortunately, this upgrade cost almost as much as a new machine.
The Mac Plus itself can be upgraded further with the use of third-party accelerators. When these are clipped or soldered onto the 68000 processor, a 32 MHz 68030 processor can be used, and up to 16 MB RAM. This allows it to run Mac OS 7.6.1.[7]
There is a program available called Mini vMac that can emulate a Mac Plus on a variety of platforms, including Unix, Windows, DOS, classic Mac OS, macOS, Pocket PC, iOS and even Nintendo DS.
Long production life[edit]
Although the Macintosh Plus would become overshadowed by two new Macintoshes, the Macintosh SE and the Macintosh II in March 1987, it remained in production as a cheaper alternative until the introduction of the Macintosh Classic on October 15, 1990. This made the Macintosh Plus the longest-produced Macintosh ever, having been on sale unchanged for 1,734 days, until the 2nd generation Mac Pro, introduced on December 19, 2013, surpassed the record on September 18, 2018. (it would ultimately last for 2,182 days before being discontinued on December 10, 2019) (Second to the Mid 2012 13 inch (unibody) Macbook Pro that has been on sale from June,11,2012 to October,27,2016 spanning 4 years, 4 months, and 16 days this macbooks holds the title of the longest-produced MacBook Pro ever) It continued to be supported by versions of the classic Mac OS up to version 7.5.5, released in 1996. Additionally, during its period of general market relevance, it was heavily discounted like the 512K/512Ke before it and offered to the educational market badged as the 'Macintosh Plus ED'.[8] Due to its popularity, long life and its introduction of many features that would become mainstays of the Macintosh platform for years, the Plus was a common 'base model' for many software and hardware products.
Problems[edit]
The lack of fan could cause the life of a Macintosh Plus to end early for some users. As the power supply would heat up, solder joints inside it would fracture causing many problems, such as loss of deflection in the monitor or a complete loss of power. As in most early compact Macs, the problem was common in the yoke connector, flyback transformer, and horizontal drive coupling capacitor.[9] A fan was also often added to reduce heat when the machine was upgraded to its full RAM capacity of 4 MB.[10]
From the debut of the Macintosh 128K through the Macintosh Plus, various third-party cooling add-ons were available to help increase airflow through the unit. Apple reorganized the compact Macintosh case to accommodate a fan with the release of the Macintosh SE, which optionally included a heat-generating internal hard disk.
ROM revisions[edit]
The Plus went through two ROM revisions during its general market relevance. The initial ROM was replaced after the first two months as it had a serious bug which prevented the Mac from booting if an external SCSI device was powered off. The second revision fixed a problem with some SCSI devices that could send the Mac into an endless reset at POST.[11]
Sentris: Debut Prototype Mac Os 7
Emulators[edit]
Timeline of compact Macintosh models
References[edit]
- ^'The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time'. PCWorld. August 11, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^'History of computer design: Apple Macintosh'. Landsnail.com. May 17, 1998. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^'History of computer design: Macintosh Plus'. Landsnail.com. May 17, 1998. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^Webster, Bruce (December 1985). 'Microcomputer Color Graphics-Observations'. BYTE. p. 405. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
- ^Knight, Dan. 'ScuzzyGraph and ScuzzyGraph II'. Low End Mac. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
- ^'Macintosh Plus: Technical Specifications'. Apple.
- ^'Mac Plus'. Low End Mac. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^[1]
- ^'Classic Mac Repair Notes'(PDF). 68kmla.org. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 6, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^Still Useful after All These Years -- The Mac Plus
- ^'Technical Notes'. Developer.apple.com. Archived from the original on October 29, 2004. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Macintosh Plus. |
- Macintosh Plus technical specifications at apple.com