Early System Software versions

[tanaquil]

After seeing Rasmus post his/her recent thread on early Mac power cords, I was reminded of a perennial quixotic quest of mine to re-create early System software disks. (I use the adjective "quixotic" advisedly: my quest is most likely both fruitless and pointless. And yet, I joust.)





I didn't want to hijack that thread, so I am posting this one in hopes of getting the help of experts. http://earlymacintosh.org/#software has been one of the most useful resources in my quest.

I have a number of early Mac software disks (e.g. an almost complete B set of May 1984 128K disks), and I quickly learned by inspecting them that early Mac users tended to abuse the heck out of their system disks. Back when every byte of disk space counted, people would routinely delete and re-create files, delete fonts and DAs out of the system file, etc.

Purely for my own aesthetic pleasure, I would love to be able to re-create a simulation of the early Macintosh disks as they were issued with each system update. Rasmus' site provides a great deal of vital information, but I still have questions.

For example:

What would a screenshot of the layout of icons on each early system disk look like?

What were the original creation dates of each file on each disk?

What fonts/DAs were included in each early system file?
What did the labels on each disk look like?

After the release of System 5.0 in 1987, these questions are easy to answer, but many of the releases before that are obscure. In particular, everything before June 1985 is a big mess.

I would love it if anyone who has access to relatively virgin/original disks (or, perhaps even more importantly, photographs in early documentation) could weigh in. I have my own notes that I would be happy to share, but a lot of it is detective work rather than primary source documentation.

If it helps, this is an example of some of my detective work in this area. If you see any errors, please tell me!

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/early-apple-fonts

 

[slomacuser]

I have made chart of Twiggy Mac Software, maybe @Rasmus should update his site about Twiggy Mac too

 

[tanaquil]

This is really cool, thank you for sharing!

 

[tanaquil]

Small update - I originally said disks before June 85 were a problem because I forgot that Rasmus' site also has unaltered Paint/Write disk images from April 85, so really it is everything before that (mostly 1984) that is problematic. Of course, the earliest of the earliest is the stuff I love to root around in.

http://www.earlymacintosh.org/disk_images.html

 

[Rasmus]

I have made chart of Twiggy Mac Software, maybe @Rasmus should update his site about Twiggy Mac too

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Nice job. I see the state of knowledge about these things has progressed in recent years -- most of my core work was done ca. 2004 or so -- it was originally an iDisk HomePage site -- I got the current URL when they discontinued MobileMe, around 2012 or so.

I think I was aware of the existence of the Macintosh 512K Guided Tour disk (System 1.1, Finder 1.1h) that you list, but I must not have had access to it and so wasn't completely sure it wasn't a myth. So it's not shown on my site. Where did you get that date? Do you know what the disk itself looked like? If there is a different set of disks (or just a different Guided Tour disk) in the box for later 512Ks, obviously that would be something I'd be very interested in.

One area that I have never seen explored is Finders 2.6 and 3.4, which were distributed for testing among developers and dealers during the long 11-month run of System 1.1. There's a fairly complete description of Finder 2.6 in MacTech (see my site for link). It would be fun to find those.

 

[MOS8_030]

Here's what the Ke tour disk looks like. I have a bunch of early system disks but I have never looked at the contents of most of them.

 

[Rasmus]

Small update - I originally said disks before June 85 were a problem because I forgot that Rasmus' site also has unaltered Paint/Write disk images from April 85, so really it is everything before that (mostly 1984) that is problematic. Of course, the earliest of the earliest is the stuff I love to root around in.

http://www.earlymacintosh.org/disk_images.html

I have unaltered early disks. Are you using an emulator? I think I have disk images of most of the early ones, but I don't supply them on the site. My approach was always just to provide what Apple would if it were doing it (which they weren't). So I only supplied the recommended releases for each machine. This kept me out of trouble -- other people supplied other, more problematic, releases and received takedown notices from Apple. I never did, despite at least one prominent site who then openly complained that they had been shut down but I had not. I think the care and precision of my site helped, but most likely it was the fact it didn't have ads and it was hosted via iDisk and Apple's HomePage servers.

Anyhow, I'm happy so send you all the disk images I have, just contact me via email. It might take me a while to respond, but it's no problem.

 

[tanaquil]

That would be absolutely lovely! I'll take this to email. (Still glad to have other input on this thread though.)

I use a mixture of emulators (mostly just to quickly test or view the contents of an image on my modern MacBook Pro) and real hardware (having a non-updated 512K, albeit a weird one with a HyperDrive in it, has been a fun way to test the compatibility of some of my older disk images).

 

[Rasmus]

[...] I think I was aware of the existence of the Macintosh 512K Guided Tour disk (System 1.1, Finder 1.1h) that you list, but I must not have had access to it and so wasn't completely sure it wasn't a myth. So it's not shown on my site. Where did you get that date? Do you know what the disk itself looked like? If there is a different set of disks (or just a different Guided Tour disk) in the box for later 512Ks, obviously that would be something I'd be very interested in. [...]

Sorry for the confusion, it's been a while since I thought about these things -- I see now what that is -- I've just never seen it referred to as the "Mac 512K Guided Tour" disk. It is the 690-5002-C disk, right? I can't remember if it is different from the 690-5002B disk.

 

[tanaquil]

For anyone else who might google this thread and is curious, here's a link to a (in-progress, incomplete) copy of a spreadsheet I've been tinkering with. It attempts to identify original creation dates and which items appeared on which disks. The information for 1985 is fairly secure, 1984 not so much.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nXV2Q9N2HYeYviNpmgtPfS57w8xEOf6ByhwS_6RO6C0/edit?usp=sharing

 

[tanaquil]

Sorry for the confusion, it's been a while since I thought about these things -- I see now what that is -- I've just never seen it referred to as the "Mac 512K Guided Tour" disk. It is the 690-5002-C disk, right? I can't remember if it is different from the 690-5002B disk.

I'm curious about this as well. I have an original copy of 690-5002B (Label: A Guided Tour of Macintosh) and it seems to have Finder 1.1h as well. My disk is munged up, like so many of my early disks; it boots the 512K but throws an error about "missing needed files" if I try to run anything except "Let me use my Mac" or "I'm ready to quit." I will try to snap a screenshot of the contents when I get a chance. I'd love to figure out what files are allegedly missing, to see if there's any way to get them back. I know these early Guided Tour disks were copy protected so it might be difficult.

 

[Rasmus]

I'm curious about this as well. I have an original copy of 690-5002B (Label: A Guided Tour of Macintosh) and it seems to have Finder 1.1h as well. My disk is munged up, like so many of my early disks; it boots the 512K but throws an error about "missing needed files" if I try to run anything except "Let me use my Mac" or "I'm ready to quit." I will try to snap a screenshot of the contents when I get a chance. I'd love to figure out what files are allegedly missing, to see if there's any way to get them back. I know these early Guided Tour disks were copy protected so it might be difficult.

It is the 690-5002-C disk. I just checked and confirmed it: Finder 1.1h. It's the same content as the 690-5002B disk, but my original 690-5002B disk has developed a system error when you try to click on anything, so I couldn't reconfirm that.

I believe the correct date for that disk (and thus for Finder 1.1h) is May 2, 1984 (not April 24, 1984), at least according to my original copy of 690-5002-C.

Most likely what you're experiencing is just an old disk (like mine) that is breaking down, not missing files. One of the things I did in 2004 was make copies of everything on new media, but looking through them now it looks like I didn't do the training disks. I do have disk images for them, though.

 

[tanaquil]

I believe the correct date for that disk (and thus for Finder 1.1h) is May 2, 1984 (not April 24, 1984), at least according to my original copy of 690-5002-C.

I wish I could confirm the creation date for the copy of Finder 1.1h on my copy of 690-4002-B, but that file has a mangled creation date of 1904. The System file does have a May 2 creation date though, which seems to confirm what you're saying - that there was no content change between 5002B and 5002C.

 

[Rasmus]

I wish I could confirm the creation date for the copy of Finder 1.1h on my copy of 690-4002-B, but that file has a mangled creation date of 1904. The System file does have a May 2 creation date though, which seems to confirm what you're saying - that there was no content change between 5002B and 5002C.

No, you're right. Mine is the same for the Finder file with its weird icon. I think there is a way to use a resource editor to get the date -- most likely that is where the April 24 date comes from. May 2 is the date the disk was finalized and put into production. The Finder 1.1g System disks and such all have that same date.

 

[sandro]

Rasmus, you might be able to clear up a mystery for me.  Do you know what the original shipping Macintosh 128k came with?  I'm assuming it was what is variously called System 0.97/Finder 1.0.  I've been trying to get an unadulterated image for years.  The versions I keep finding work fine in an emulator, but show up with Venice as the system font instead of Chicago when running on a real 128k (check 2 different machines).  All of the marketing material of the era (reviews, pictures of Steve & Mac, etc.) seem to have the typical Chicago running as the system font.

On the images I've managed to find, the system files all seem to have been modified, so I suspect people were mucking with the fonts to fit more on the disk.  Oddly, the various Apple Developer legacy software CD/DVDs all seemed to omit this first OS.  Do you have/know what the appropriate versions, files sizes, and results would have been on that first version of the System Software?

 

[tanaquil]

I have that same Venice thing you’re talking about, and yes, I’m sure that is just a peculiarity of that particular widely shared image. Chicago/Geneva were the default on the original disks. (Chicago for menus, Geneva for icon names.)

The google spreadsheet I linked to before has my best guess info on original file sizes, dates, versions etc, and the link in the first post goes to my best guess at early font information. File sizes are a bit unreliable though since they change depending what size drive you view them on. 

 

[tanaquil]

And here is my best guess at the font usage on early disks. (This is copied directly from a plain text file that I included on the page that I linked to in my OP.)

Researched by Tanaquil
March 2016

Standard fonts installed in System 1.0 Jan 84
* required for system

Athens 18
*Chicago 12
*Geneva 9
Geneva 12
Geneva 14
Geneva 18
Geneva 24
London 18
*Monaco 9
Monaco 12
New York 9
*New York 12
New York 14
New York 18
New York 24
San Francisco 18
Toronto 9
Toronto 12
Toronto 14
Toronto 18
Toronto 24
Venice 14

Standard Fonts installed in System 1.1 May 84
* required for system

Athens 18
*Chicago 12
*Geneva 9
Geneva 10
*Geneva 12
Geneva 14
Geneva 18
Geneva 20
Geneva 24
London 18
*Monaco 9
Monaco 12
New York 9
New York 10
New York 12
New York 14
New York 18
New York 20
New York 24
Venice 14

In Fonts file included with System 1.1 May 84

Cairo 18
Los Angeles 12
Los Angeles 24
New York 36
San Francisco 18
Toronto 9
Toronto 12
Toronto 14
Toronto 18
Toronto 24

Seattle 10/20 was included in the System file on Microsoft Multiplan disks (1984).

Taliesin was included with the System Update in April 1985.

A list of all fonts and sizes, regardless of when they were introduced:

Athens 18 Cairo 18 Chicago 12 Geneva 9 Geneva 10 Geneva 12 Geneva 14 Geneva 18 Geneva 20 Geneva 24 London 18 Los Angeles 12 Los Angeles 24
Monaco 9 Monaco 12 New York 9 New York 10 New York 12 New York 14 New York 18 New York 20 New York 24 New York 36 San Francisco 18 Seattle 10 Seattle 20 Taliesin 18 Toronto 9 Toronto 12 Toronto 14 Toronto 18 Toronto 24 Venice 14

Font faces (by name, regardless of size)

Athens
Cairo
Chicago
Geneva
London
Los Angeles
Monaco
New York
San Francisco
Seattle
Taliesin
Toronto
Venice

I have not fully researched changes in how fonts were included in System files and on installer disks after April 1985. Apparently Taliesin was renamed "Mobile" in System 6.

 

[Dog Cow]

Apparently Taliesin was renamed "Mobile" in System 6.

Check again. I seem to recall Taliesin became Cairo, and that name change was earlier than System 6. Sorry I don't have a source at hand. Possibly Macworld or MacUser from 1985 or 86.

 

[tanaquil]

Not according to this source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonts_on_Macintosh

Cairo was there from very early on (it is trademarked to Susan Kare in 1984).

Of course, Wikipedia is always subject to correction, but as I recall my research in contemporary books/magazines backed up this assertion. I need to go back in and add my footnotes so that I have better supporting evidence. (Once an academic, always an academic.) If you do find contradictory evidence, I'd be very glad to take account of it.