MAC OS X

Mac OS X is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., It is the tenth major version of Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. Previous Macintosh operating systems were named using Arabic numerals, e.g. Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9. The letter X in Mac OS X's name refers to the number 10, a Roman numeral. It is therefore correctly pronounced as the number 10 in this context , though pronouncing the letter "X" is a common mistake for users.

Mac OS X's core is a POSIX compliant operating system (OS) built on top of the XNU kernel, with standard Unix facilities available from the command line interface. Apple released this set of software as a free and open source operating system named Darwin. On top of Darwin, Apple layered a number of components, including the Aqua interface and the Finder, to complete the GUI-based operating system which is Mac OS X.Mac OS X introduced a number of new capabilities to provide a more stable and reliable platform than its predecessor, Mac OS 9. Many aspects of Mac OS X's architecture are derived from Openstep, which was designed to be portable—to ease the transition from one platform to another. Mac OS X includes its own software development tools, most prominently an integrated development environment called Xcode. Xcode provides interfaces to compilers that support several programming languages including C, C++, Objective-C, and Java. For the Apple Intel Transition, it was modified so that developers could build their applications as a universal binary, which provides compatibility with both the Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macintosh lines.

10.0 (Cheetah)

· The first major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system.
· It was released on March 24, 2001 for a price of US$129.

System Requirement

·Supported Computers: Power Macintosh G3, G3 B&W, G4, G4 Cube, iMac, PowerBook G3, PowerBook G4, iBook (The original "Kanga" PowerBook G3 was the only G3-based Mac not to be supported by Mac OS X).
·RAM required:
o 64 MB minimum
o 128 MB recommended
·Hard Drive Space: 1.5 gigabytes
o 800 MB for the minimal install

10.1 (Puma)

·The second major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system.
·It was released on September 25, 2001 as a 'free update' to version 10.0.

System Requirement

·Supported computers — Power Mac G3, G4, G4 Cube, iMac G3, DV, eMac, PowerBook, or iBook
·RAM required — 128 megabytes(unofficially 64 megabytes minimum)
·Free hard drive space — 1.5 gigabytes

10.2 (Jaguar)

·The third major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system.
·It was initially available on 23 August 2002 either for single-computer installations, and in a "family pack", which allows five installations on separate computers in one household.

System Requirement

·Supported Computers: PowerMac G3, G4, early PowerMac G5, iMac, eMac, PowerBook G3 or G4, or iBook computer
·Amount of RAM Required: 128 megabytes (Although 256MB to 512MB is highly recommended by many people who have used Mac OS X v10.2.8 as the real amount of RAM used when only the Operating System is running is around 200MB, but it can be run with as low as 96 MB)
·Processor Type: PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 running at 233 MHz or higher.

10.3 (Panther)

· The fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system.
· Apple released Panther on October 24, 2003.

System Requirement

· PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor (at least 233 MHz)
· Built-in USB (indicative of a New World ROM being present)
· At least 128 MB of RAM (512 MB recommended)
· At least 1.5 GB of available hard disk space
·CD drive
·Internet access requires a compatible service provider; iDisk requires a .Mac account

Video conferencing requires:

· 333 MHz or faster PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
· broadband Internet access (100 kbit/s or faster)Compatible FireWire DV camera or web camera

10.4 (Tiger)

·The fifth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
·It was released to the public on 29 April 2005 for US$129.95.
·Was included with all new Macintosh computers, and was also available as an upgrade for existing Mac OS X users, or users of supported pre-Mac OS X systems.
·It is the first version of any released Apple operating system to work on Apple-Intel architecture machines (Apple machines using x86 processors).

System Requirement

·A PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor running at 333 MHz or more
·Built-in FireWire
·At least 256 MB of RAM (512 MB or 1 GB recommended)
·At least 3 GB of available hard disk space; 4 GB of disk space including the Xcode 2 Tools
·DVD drive (CD media exchange was available; offer ended 19 March 2007)

10.5 (Leopard)

·The sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.
·Leopard was released on 26 October 2007

System Requirement

·Processor must be any Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 MHz and faster)
·DVD drive (for installation of the operating system)
·At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM (1 GB) is recommended for development purposes)At least 9 GB of disk space available.

FEATURES

Apple introduced many new features with each new release of OS X. One of the major differences between the previous versions of Mac OS and OS X was the addition of the Aqua GUI, a fluid graphical user interface with water-like elements. Furthermore, every window element, texts, graphics or widgets was drawn on-screen using the anti-aliasing technology. ColorSync, a technology introduced many years before, was improved and built into the core drawing engine, to provide color matching for printing and multimedia professionals. Also, drop shadows were added around windows and isolated text elements to provide a sense of depth. New interface elements were integrated, including sheets (document modal dialog boxes attached to specific windows) and drawers.

The human interface guidelines published by Apple for Mac OS X are followed by many applications, giving them consistent user interface and keyboard shortcuts. In addition, new services for applications were included, which included spelling and grammar checkers, special characters palette, color picker, font chooser and dictionary; these global features are present in every Cocoa application, adding consistency. The graphics system OpenGL composites windows onto the screen to allow hardware-accelerated drawing. This technology, introduced in version 10.2, is called Quartz Extreme, a component of Quartz. Quartz's internal imaging model correlates well with the Portable Document Format (PDF) imaging model, making it easy to output PDF to multiple devices. As a side result, PDF viewing is a built-in feature.

·Version 10.3 - Apple added Exposé, a feature which includes three functions to help accessibility between windows and desktop. Its functions are to instantly display all open windows as thumbnails for easy navigation to different tasks, display all open windows as thumbnails from the current application, and hide all windows to access the desktop. Also, FileVault was introduced, which is an optional encryption of the user's files with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128).

·Version 10.4 - include Automator, an application designed to create an automatic workflow for different tasks; Dashboard, a full-screen group of small applications called desktop widgets that can be called up and dismissed in one keystroke; and Front Row, a media viewer interface accessed by the Apple Remote. Moreover, the Sync Services were included, which is a system that allows applications to access a centralized extensible database for various elements of user data, including calendar and contact items. The operating system then managed conflicting edits and data consistency.

·Version 10.5 - all system icons are scalable up to 512×512 pixels, to accommodate various places where they appear in larger size, including for example the Cover Flow view, a three-dimensional graphical user interface included with iTunes, the Finder, and other Apple products for visually skimming through files and digital media libraries via cover artwork. This version includes Spaces, a virtual desktop implementation which enables the user to have more than one desktop and display them in an Exposé-like interface. Mac OS X v10.5 includes an automatic backup technology called Time Machine, which provides the ability to view and restore previous versions of files and application data; and Screen Sharing was built in for the first time.

Finder is a file browser allowing quick access to all areas of the computer, which has been modified throughout subsequent releases of Mac OS X.

Quick Look is part of Mac OS X Leopard's Finder. It allows for dynamic previews of files, including videos and multi-page documents, without opening their parent applications.

Spotlight search technology, which is integrated into the Finder since Mac OS X Tiger, allows rapid real-time searches of data files; mail messages; photos; and other information based on item properties (meta data) and/or content. Mac OS X makes use of a Dock, which holds file and folder shortcuts as well as minimized windows. Mac OS X Architecture implements a layered framework. The layered framework aids rapid development of applications by providing existing code for common tasks.

References: wikipedia.com