on 21/10/02 21:14, Donald Keenan at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On Monday, October 21, 2002, at 08:11 PM, Obi-Wan wrote: > >>>> You are correct. Tony has always been a Mac guy. Well maybe not >>>> always, >>>> but at least for the last 5 years. I remember reading an article in >>>> one of >>>> the Mac Mags about his MacAddiction. Maybe he used a PC years ago?? >>> >>> It was in MacAddict..Feb 2001, he did an interview and a short how-to >>> on >>> getting good skate video. Hew was on the staff video that month too. I >>> have it laying about the house somewhere... >> >> No. It was wayyy before that one. Like 1997 or something. Anyway, I >> re-watched the ad and it makes no mention of him switching. Funny huh? >> Watch it again. All he says is that he uses his mac to make Movies. >> It's >> not really a switch ad. Apple has blurred the lines. Same with Kelly >> Slater >> and DJ Qbert. > > I think it's time for Apple to shake up its advertising campaign. The > new 17" FP iMac deserves a better market share. > Donald > PS Speaking of OSes, I'm reading a "History of Unix for Dummies" kind of > article for my web development class. It suggests that Unix held or has > the promise of running on any kind of computer. What is being done to OS > X to make its Unix code machine specific? Is something in the code > specific to the processor? Is it the specifications of the GUI laid over > the Unix code that makes it incompatible with anything but a mac?
The basic layer is what is called Darwin. This is an open source project, I think that's the right term. It means that anybody can collaborate to the core project, and Apple (or some kind of a governing body?) reserves the right to include the modifications in Darwin. Darwin is the Apple's variant of Unix. Darwin runs on PowerPC and on x86. When they say that Unix can run on any platform, it means that usually, you start with the C source code to the system and you then compile it on the platform you want to deploy. Usually, Unix is based on ANSI C. There are some variations among all Unixes out there, however. Also, depending on the processor, the developer that wants to compile some Unix tool for a given processor might have to tweak the variables defined used by the code, because some processor are "big-endian" and others are "little-indians" (for more details about that, see <http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/big_endian.html>). What makes the Mac what it is is Foundation and AppKit, a collection of Objective-C classes that provide everything you see when you boot into OS X. AppKit is actually Aqua, but it's also using Foundation. There are also other components, like CoreFoundation, but most of what is used to build applications right now is probably Objective-C. The majority of applications provided by Apple are from Foundation/AppKit. That's the part that makes OS X incompatible with any other platform. However, there are rumors that Apple is secretly maintaining an x86 version of OS X, so that whenever changes are made to the main code, it recompiles OK on a x86 architecture. That helps find some bugs sometimes, because it requires more discipline when writing code to different architecture and that's apparently the purpose of this secret x86 version. FYI, OPENSTEP, the OS on which OS X is heavily based, was running on Intel processor. Since Objective-C is based on C, it is relatively easy to recompile any Objective-C framework to a different architecture... -Laurent. -- ============================================================================ Laurent Daudelin AIM/RV: LaurentDaudelin <http://nemesys.dyndns.org> Logiciels Nemesys Software mailto:laurent.daudelin@;verizon.net fear and loathing n.: [from Hunter S. Thompson] A state inspired by the prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally brain-damaged but ubiquitous -- Intel 8086s, or COBOL, or EBCDIC, or any IBM machine bigger than a workstation. "Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI machine. Fear and loathing time!" -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:G-Books@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:G-Books-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:G-Books-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lemlists.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
