Diskworld ( ISSN 0899-4838) was a disk magazine for the Apple Macintosh computer system, published by Softdisk [1] beginning in 1988. It was a sister publication of Softdisk for the Apple II, Loadstar for the Commodore 64, and Big Blue Disk for the IBM PC. [2] Diskworld ceased publication in 1998.
Diskworld was originally designed and created by Sean Golden (Managing Editor), Jeff Billings (Senior Programmer) and Lynda Fowler (Junior Programmer). Sean Golden wrote the original Diskworld "shell" program which provided access to the monthly disk contents. He also wrote most of the editorial content each month. Jeff Billings and Lynda Fowler developed monthly productivity, utility or game programs which were published on the disk. Jeff and Lynda also provided some editorial content, and Sean also contributed programs. Freelance programmers also provided content for a fee. The product was broken down into editorials, articles, reviews, artwork and software, all presented with the custom "shell" program which allowed users to run the disk without having to swap out system disks on the original Macintosh. The early issues were published on 400K disks, but moved to 800K disks when the 400K disks become obsolete.
Eventually it was possible to produce a version of the "shell" program that did not carry a duplicate version of the Mac OS when hard drives became commonplace. That allowed for more content to be published on each disk. Jeff Billings left the company and Lynda Fowler became Senior Programmer. When Sean Golden was promoted to Softdisk Publishing, Inc. Publisher, Lynda Fowler became Managing Editor of Diskworld.
Later, Diskworld was renamed Softdisk for Mac, but it ceased publication in 1998 [3] along with the other disk magazines published by Softdisk (other than Loadstar, which broke off as an independent company and continued into the 2000s) as the company moved more into Internet development.
GS/OS is an operating system developed by Apple Computer for its Apple IIGS personal computer. It provides facilities for accessing the file system, controlling input/output devices, loading and running program files, and a system allowing programs to handle interrupts and signals. It uses ProDOS as its primary filing system. GS/OS is a component of Apple IIGS System Software versions 4.0 through 6.0.1, and was the first true 16-bit operating system for the IIGS.
Historically, the classic Mac OS used a form of memory management that has fallen out of favor in modern systems. Criticism of this approach was one of the key areas addressed by the change to Mac OS X.
System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and renamed Mac OS 7 since version 7.6, is the main operating system for Macintosh computers from Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6 upon launch on May 13, 1991, and new features since then include virtual memory, personal file sharing, QuickTime, QuickDraw 3D, and an improved user interface.
Star Trek is the code name that was given to a secret prototype project, running a port of Macintosh System 7 and its applications on Intel-compatible x86 personal computers. The project, starting in February 1992, was conceived in collaboration between Apple Computer, who provided the majority of engineers, and Novell, who at the time was one of the leaders of cross-platform file-servers. The plan was that Novell would market the resulting OS as a challenge to Microsoft Windows, but the project was discontinued in 1993 and never released, although components were reused in other projects. The project was named after the Star Trek science fiction franchise with the slogan "To boldly go where no Mac has gone before".
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop (MPW) is a software development environment for the Classic Mac OS operating system, written by Apple Computer. For Macintosh developers, it was one of the primary tools for building applications for System 7.x and Mac OS 8.x and 9.x. Initially MPW was available for purchase as part of Apple's professional developers program, but Apple made it a free download after it was superseded by CodeWarrior. On Mac OS X it was replaced by the Project Builder IDE, which eventually became Xcode.
The Macintosh Toolbox implements many of the high-level features of the Classic Mac OS, including a set of application programming interfaces for software development on the platform. The Toolbox consists of a number of "managers," software components such as QuickDraw, responsible for drawing onscreen graphics, and the Menu Manager, which maintain data structures describing the menu bar. As the original Macintosh was designed without virtual memory or memory protection, it was important to classify code according to when it should be loaded into memory or kept on disk, and how it should be accessed. The Toolbox consists of subroutines essential enough to be permanently kept in memory and accessible by a two-byte machine instruction; however it excludes core "kernel" functionality such as memory management and the file system. Note that the Toolbox does not draw the menu onscreen: menus were designed to have a customizable appearance, so the drawing code was stored in a resource, which could be on a disk.
The Print Shop is a basic desktop publishing software package originally published in 1984 by Broderbund. It was unique in that it provided libraries of clip art and templates through a simple interface to build signs, posters and banners with household dot-matrix printers. Over the years, the software has been updated to accommodate changing file formats and printer technologies.
Beagle Bros was an American software company that specialized in creating personal computing products. Their primary focus was on the Apple II family of computers. Although they ceased business in 1991, owner Mark Simonsen permitted the Beagle Bros name and logo to be included on the 30th anniversary reboot of I. O. Silver, released on December 12, 2014 by former Beagle programmer Randy Brandt.
Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines. It was affiliated and partly owned by paper magazine Softalk at founding, but survived its demise.
The Apple community is the users, media, and third party companies interested in Apple Inc. and its products. They discuss rumors, future products, news stories, and support of Apple's products. Apple has a cult-like following, especially for the Apple II, Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and luminary staff members. The personal computer revolution, mixed with Apple's vertical integration of its products and services, has increased popularity. Apple's corporate policy of extreme secrecy about future products intensify interest in the company's activities.
A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag or diskzine, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence their name. The rise of the Internet in the late 1990s caused them to be superseded almost entirely by online publications, which are sometimes still called "diskmags" despite the lack of physical disks.
Loadstar was a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 computer, published starting in 1984 and ceasing publication in 2007 with its unreleased 250th issue. It derived its name from the command commonly used to execute commercial software from a Commodore 1541 disk: LOAD "*",8,1, with inspiration from the word "lodestar".
Softalk was an American magazine of the early 1980s that focused on the Apple II computer. Published from September 1980 through August 1984, it featured articles about hardware and software associated with the Apple II platform and the people and companies who made them. The name was originally used on a newsletter of Apple Software pioneer company, Softape, who in 1980 changed its name to Artsci Inc.
Softdisk, originally Softdisk Magazette, was a disk magazine for the Apple II computer line, published from 1981 through 1995. It was the first publication of the company that was also known as Softdisk, which would go on to publish disk magazines for other systems, other software, and later be involved in Internet access, hosting, and development.
The Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) is a users' group established in 1978 by Val Golding.
Mac OS is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The Macintosh operating system is credited with having popularized the graphical user interface concept. It was included with every Macintosh that was sold during the era in which it was developed, and many updates to the system software were done in conjunction with the introduction of new Macintosh systems.
Comparison of user features of operating systems refers to a comparison of the general user features of major operating systems in a narrative format. It does not encompass a full exhaustive comparison or description of all technical details of all operating systems. It is a comparison of basic roles and the most prominent features. It also includes the most important features of the operating system's origins, historical development, and role.
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