Enabler Question

[Scott Baret]

When System 7.1 came out Apple started using a new enabler with each new Mac. Veterans of the platform probably know that this was done to prevent double decimal point upgrades, especially because Apple was releasing dozens of new Macs at any one time in 1993-1994. These little enabler programs allowed System 7.1 to recognize new equipment without having to be upgraded.

If Apple could write enablers to allow 7.1 to utilize the hardware of a PowerBook 180c, Color Classic, or Quadra 840av, would it be possible to have 7.1 recognize a much newer Mac? Yes, it may need to be the PPC-native 7.1.2, but what is the probability that one could write an enabler to allow a clamshell iBook or original iMac to run 7.1?

 

[Charlieman]

If Apple could write enablers to allow 7.1 to utilize the hardware of a PowerBook 180c, Color Classic, or Quadra 840av, would it be possible to have 7.1 recognize a much newer Mac?

Yes, Sonnet wrote their own enabler for the 7200/G3 accelerator for several versions of Mac OS. That particular enabler has to transfer the boot process from the 601 to a G3 on a PCI card and patch the OS to recognise additional RAM on the PCI card. All of which sounds amazingly difficult to me. Patching System 7.1.2 to work on a PCI Mac sounds close to impossible without access to Apple's internal documentation. Patching a version of System 7.x or Mac OS 8.x to *limp* on slightly later hardware may be achievable as long as you don't need a new hardware feature to run your software.

 

[Grex]

...These little enabler programs allowed System 7.1 to recognize new equipment without having to be upgraded...

Ah, now I finally understannd what enablers are good for!

Thanks!

 

[Dog Cow]

...These little enabler programs allowed System 7.1 to recognize new equipment without having to be upgraded...

Ah, now I finally understannd what enablers are good for!

Thanks!

IMO, Enablers are the worst-possible aspect of System 7 and I absolutely hate them.

I 3 different machines which run System 7 whose HDs I often swap between them, and out of them, the Quadra is the one that needs the enabler. So what do I have to do? I have to constantly think about putting the 065 enabler on the drives, plus on any Disk Tools disks that I have. It's a headache, that and minimal system installs. Hate those too.

 

[Scott Baret]

Enablers were considered to be the lesser of the two evils when System 7.1 came out...

We have seen double decimal point upgrades both in the past and in the present. This made it tricky for people buying software since some developers would require, say, System 6.0.5 as a minimum. This problem actually still exists today although it's easier to work around since the system can be updated from the internet within a few minutes. However, double decimal points are not mathematically correct and some double decimal releases get downright ugly in naming (OS X 10.4.10 comes to mind).

Using enablers and a "reference release" such as System 7.1 gives developers something to aim for when designing software. I'm sure we can all remember looking at products that needed System 7.1, not 7.0.6 as a minimum, and feeling good about having that system. It also gave software engineers higher standards when designing software, as illustrated below:

The Double Decimal Thought: "Oh well, let's release it with some bugs. We can always patch it next Thursday and release it as a double-decimal upgrade."

The Reference Release Thought: "We have to get our act together and debug this software now. If not we'll have a buggy release on the market for two years, and we know about the consequences of that because we remember Word 3.0."

The drawback to 7.1-type releases, as mentioned, is the need for an enabler on a startup disk. This was a huge problem for Performa owners who often did not get system disks with their machine.

Both have their pros and cons. However, nothing could be as ridiculous as coming out with a new edition of a product after its successor has been released only to change many aspects of it while keeping the name. (I'm referring to Windows 98 Second Edition here, although I will admit that I have found 982E to be quite stable and usable).

 

[Bunsen]

the system can be updated from the internet within a few minutes.

8-o I want your internets!