Apple, iPhone, and Mac news, reviews, and opinion.
Author: Dog Cow Fri, 24 Jun 2022 12:32:22 (GMT -0) One of the goals of the Mac 512K Blog is to bring to light obscure, long-forgotten elements of early Macintosh computing from the years 1983 to about 1986. Indeed, so much of these early years has fallen into the darkness that almost every subject would likewise fall into this category. Today we will examine the inner workings of CoreEdit , the…
Author: Dog Cow Sat, 07 May 2022 12:50:11 (GMT -0) This is not the Mac 128K Blog. But today, it is. The Mac 512K Blog has had a few articles over the years which center more on the Mac 128K. Most recently we had Mac 128K: What Really Limited It? . Prior to that, it was Faking a Mac 128K and How to Use the Hard Disk 20 with Mac 128K Well, I am happy to show that I don't have to fake it anymore, or…
Author: Dog Cow Tue, 15 Feb 2022 12:30:27 (GMT -0) Let's review some common knowledge that everyone knows is true: the Apple Lisa and Macintosh both use the same Motorola 68000 microprocessor, but the Lisa allowed for multitasking. It was possible on Lisa to have more than one application on screen at the same time, and copy data between LisaWrite and LisaDraw , for example. Macintosh, however,…
Author: Dog Cow Thu, 20 Jan 2022 19:36:07 (GMT -0) Interrupts are essential to the Macintosh; without interrupts, the arrow cursor would not move on screen. This Mac 512K Blog article will first explain how the Mac's CPU handles interrupts, then will show the source code and dispatch tables for the two main interrupting devices on the Macintosh 512K and 128K motherboard with 64K ROM. The…
Author: Dog Cow Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:55:06 (GMT -0) In today's Mac 512K Blog article, we will take a look at the SystemTask procedure to see how it works and how we developers can make it work for us. The information in this article will be of particular interest to developers who want to write operating system drivers which need background processing time. According to Inside Macintosh , volume 1,…
Author: Dog Cow Tue, 14 Dec 2021 16:12:45 (GMT -0) The Mac 128K. The original Macintosh. The "thin Mac." Despite its legendary status as the first Macintosh in January 1984, it is the most maligned model. Despite its collectible nature, it is derided as a useless toy, a computer which cannot run any applications. But is this modern-day appraisal truly warranted? After all, the contemporaneous…
Author: Dog Cow Sat, 11 Sep 2021 13:49:56 (GMT -0) Thirty-seven years ago today, September 11, 1984, Apple Computer announced the Macintosh with 512K of RAM, colloquially termed the "Fat Mac." This model of Macintosh was completely identical to the original Mac 128K of January 1984, except that it had an additional 384K of RAM. There were now three models of Macintosh available, including the Lisa…
Author: Dog Cow Sun, 08 Aug 2021 12:48:01 (GMT -0) Since learning 68000 assembly language and the Macintosh Toolbox, I have written a few applications that work on the Mac 512K, and that theoretically should work fine on the Mac 128K. My current project is the Sabina suite of Internet applications : email, FTP, and Telnet which are compatible with the Mac 128K, 512K, and Lisa 2 running MacWorks.…
Author: Dog Cow Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:18:54 (GMT -0) I acquired a second Mac 512K back in September 2019 . This one was significant to me because it was manufactured in December 1985, just a month before the Macintosh Plus was announced, making it one of the newest Mac 512K computers out there. I showed a lot of pictures of it, and it needed some repairs, but until now I have been too embarassed to…
Author: Dog Cow Wed, 23 Jun 2021 02:19:42 (GMT -0) In today's Mac 512K Blog article we are going to cover the history of C on the Macintosh and the 68000. Following, I will outline some of the technical difficulties and considerations for a C compiler on the Macintosh. Next, I'll give an overview of nine different C compilers which produced Macintosh applications, available from 1984 until 1986.…
