The next version of McOS Re is now avaiable. McOS Re 0.4.2f has been released in two StuffIt archives: “Boot” (for users) and “Build” (for devs). The project’s website is now featuring FAQ and Progress pages. Please note that this project is still not at “pactical use” stage, it’s more at “demo” stage.
Introducing McOS Re 0.4.2f
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I realize that people are free to do as they like, but this absolutely reeks of wasted time. I know that some people prefer the Classic Mac GUI (not me, but I also love the NeXTSTEP GUI as well), but to try to recreate the Classic OS is a mind blowing waste of time. If you’re so jazzed about the old OS, keep using it. If you want to use the classic OS on newer hardware, you can run it from within OS X via an emulator. I probably sound like a jerk saying all of this, but I work as a tech for a Mac-centric company and I did a little dance of joy whenever a client moved to OS X. That usually meant that my workload just got a little lighter. Granted, OS X is not perfect and has it’s own issues, but over one two year period of running OS X on my iBook (averaged about 12-14 hours of use per day) I had one system crash running OS X. And that kernal panic was a result of bad piece of RAM. I wish the project admin all of the luck in the world with McOS, but I hope that in the future he spends some of time and valuble skill at PowerPC assembly working on making OS X even better. Having said that, I’m now ready to be flamed by the Classic Mac OS afficinados out there.
I realize that people are free to do as they like, but this absolutely reeks of wasted time.
But, you have failed to realize it’s a hobby project. Hobby means people like to waste the time on something for fun.
This is a very cool project. I meet longtime Mac users who still won’t switch to OS X because they aren’t used to the new interface. I personally like OS X, it’s what made me want a Mac, but Classic has some good points to it:
– Applications are very responsive, even on old, slow machines
– It’s dead simple, you just run your apps, no worries
– It’s lightweight
– It looks pretty nice, to me anyway
Things I don’t like (mostly geeky things that most people don’t care about):
– I get unhappy without a command line
– Multiuser is good, at least as an option, though the non-technical user shouldn’t have to worry about it
– Not robust enough
– Should be able to change network settings on the fly
Those are just a few thoughts I have on Classic vs. OS X. I haven’t been using Macs for that long, but it’s just some impressions I’ve gotten.
This is yet another big OS project, but they might have some advantages working for them:
– Limited range of hardware to support
– Preexisting design, though I don’t know how well documented it is. Does anyone have pointers to that?
I personally think this is a great idea. If this all works out on current Mac hardware, then those with older machines (such as myself) won’t be forced to get rid of them. I jumped to open source operating systems for many reasons, one of which was being able to keep my older systems and not be left out in the cold as far as software was concerned.
I have an old 160 MHz Motorola StarMax 4000 MT w/ 96 MB of RAM and a Voodoo3 2000 video card that was running Debian before, but did so sluggishly. Mac OS 9 runs very well on this machine with only 96 MB of RAM, but development on this OS is dead. McOS Re might give us the best GUI experience from OS 9 as well as the geeky stuff we find in Linux/BSD/OS X. And it doesn’t come with all the eye candy that makes OS X still seem sluggish on certain things even on capable hardware.
Plus, the fact that it IS open source will allow it to be more stable and robust as it develops. This is something I’ve never seen in Apple’s Mac OS Anything-Before-10.2. We could also see some more options with regards to navigation that was only available through third-parties in Mac OS Classic. The possibilities are endless.
I personally think it’s NOT a waste of time at all. I would prefer to see projects like this than some REAL time waste projects I have seen around lately. The project may progress beyond the nightmare that MacOS was (I was sysadmin for macs too) into something much more stable and fast. It may also discover something that may revolutionise all OS’ somehow? Maybe evolve onto handhelds iPod style?
I would love to see it on my old 68000, but that is never going to happen ;(
I have a soft spot in my heart for Classic Mac OS, but these days you just can’t live without preemptive multitasking. You just can’t. Apple had no choice but to move on, and I’m more than happy with OS X.
It is not impossible to rewrite MacOS 9.
For example ARDIs Executor
http://www.ardi.com/executor.php
is a complete rewrite of MacOS 9. And it runs on ppc and x86 computer.
I think it would be a thought, if it is possible to buy the copyright on the old Executor (I think, that he since MacOS X do no longer money with it) and put it under GPL/LGPL.
I think, that Executor is in a lot of aspects interesting. Not only as MacOS 9 clone. Also as fast virtuel machine.
> I have a soft spot in my heart for Classic Mac OS,
> but these days you just can’t live without preemptive
> multitasking. You just can’t.
Why not?
Actually, it is a partial reimplementation of MacOS 7.x with a few MacOS 8 things thrown in.
It is not complete, and due to health problems of the author, and the need for him to support his family, may never be complete.
It was FUN project to watch when it was active.
I first bought it in 1990 or so, and watched it go from a way to run Microsoft Word for the Mac on a PC, to a darn nice Emulator for old 68k Apps.
But, it doesn’t have Network Support, and is only a 68k Emulator.
It’s nice, but is NOT a reimplementation of MacOS 9.
I wish McOS guys lots of luck…
A freeware reimplementation of Classic Mac OS can only be good for everyone.