Egg Freckles

With the absense of easily obtainable installation media Mac OS X Lion looks like it might make for a difficult clean install. Not so, Apple was hiding the official installation media disc image under our noses the entire time.

1. Purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store on any Lion compatible Mac running Snow Leopard.
2. Right click on “Mac OS X Lion” installer and choose the option to “Show Package Contents.”
3. Inside the Contents folder that appears you will find a SharedSupport folder and inside the SharedSupport folder you will find the “InstallESD.dmg.” This is the Lion boot disc image we have all been waiting for.
4. Copy “InstallESD.dmg” to another folder like the Desktop.
5. Launch Disk Utility and click the burn button.
6. Select the copied “InstallESD.dmg” as the image to burn, insert a standard sized 4.7 GB DVD, and wait for your new Lion Boot Disc to come out toasty hot.

It is important that you burn your Lion boot disc or backup the Lion installer prior to installing Lion itself. If left in the Applications folder the installer will be removed after the Lion installation is completed. If you are reading this article after upgrading to Lion all is not lost. A fresh copy of the Lion installer can always be re downloaded from the Mac App Store by clicking on the Purchased tab with the Option key held down.

With the Lion boot disc you can boot any Lion compatible Mac, and install 10.7 just like you installed previous versions of Mac OS X. You can even use Disk Utility’s Restore function to image your Lion boot disc image onto a external drive suitable for performing a clean install on a computer without an optical drive. Clean installs with Lion are easy once you find where Apple has hidden the secret boot disk.

With the unveiling of Lion just days away it is easy to look back at past releases of Mac OS and see how we arrived at Apple’s latest system software. Over the last 27 years Apple has introduced more than 17 major releases of its premier desktop operating system. Some releases such as System 7, and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger brought revolutionary changes to the Mac while making the transition between hardware architectures. Evolutionary releases like System 6, and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard consolidated features while improving stability. The entire history of Mac OS says more about Apple than any other product, and it is the best of Mac OS that says the most about Apple’s future.

When considering the best version of Mac OS you must compare releases that offered the greatest number of new features against versions that clocked the longest up time. You must reference the classic system software of yesterday’s Macintosh against the latest breaking developments in Mac OS X. Your answer might be swayed by the first version you ever used, or the operating system that shipped with your first Mac. The best Mac OS is as much a personal question as it is a technical comparison. There is no right choice and it is often our own experiences and requirements that dictate our answer.

It is popular to assume that the latest technology is always the greatest, and this is often true for operating systems where the most recent versions have the most features. But features alone do not make great operating systems, and all Macs cannot run the latest OS. So instead of picking the most stable Mac OS with the most features I choose four versions that span the entire Macintosh product line and provide the best user experience Apple has to offer.

System 6

System 6 was the first widely available Macintosh operating system to be given a unified “Macintosh System Software” version number. From System 6 forward, the Finder would have a version number closely matching that of the System, alleviating much of the confusion caused by the often considerable differences found on earlier Systems.

System 6 oversaw the introduction of the Motorola 68030 processor, the 1.44 MB SuperDrive, and the legendary Macintosh SE/30. Later, it would include support for the first specialized laptop features with the introduction of the Macintosh Portable. System 6’s most remarkable feature was cooperative multitasking by way of a optional system extension called MultiFinder.

Multifinder gave each application CPU time, it provided a way for windows from different applications to co-exist by using an application layering model. When an application was activated, all of its windows were brought forward as a single layer. This approach was necessary for backward compatibility, but MultiFinder combined with System 6’s limited 24 bits of addressable RAM introduced many of the memory management problems that would plague Mac OS until the introduction of Mac OS X.

Despite the memory management issues it introduced, System 6 is a favorite among 68k Mac fans for its small memory footprint, and minimalist appeal. It installs from two floppies, uses 600k of RAM, and doesn’t require an additional hard disk. 6.0.8. the final version of System 6 not only consolidated the existing Macintosh System Software, but incorporated important features from System 7 like TrueType fonts, andQuicktime. With MultiFinder turned off System 6 was easily the most stable operating system for classic Macintosh and became a important comparison against the instabilities of System 7.

Mac OS 8

Codename Tempo, Mac OS 8.0 began life as Mac OS 7.7 but was renumbered 8 to exploit a legal loophole shutting down the Macintosh clone market. Mac OS 8 saw the introduction of many new features such as a customizable appearance, contextual menus, pop-up windows, spring-loaded folders, live scrolling, WindowShade, a multithreaded Finder, and desktop pictures. Despite all of these significant usability advances, Mac OS 8’s most important improvements came in later point releases.

Mac OS 8.1 introduced a new file system known as HFS+, which supported large file sizes and made more efficient use of larger hard drives by using a smaller block size. Mac OS 8.5 focused on speed and stability by eliminating 68k support, and requiring a PowerPC processor. Mac OS 8.6 added a new nanokernel making it the most stable classic Mac OS for PowerPC machines.

Mac OS 8 oversaw the introduction of the G3, the iMac, the iBook, and the Power Mac G4. It added a number of features from the abandoned en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland_(operating_system text: Copland) project, and kept Mac OS moving forward during a difficult time for Apple. Mac OS 9 might be commonly remembered as the last classic Mac OS, but it was a transitional release that traded stability for features and Mac OS X compatibility. Mac OS 8 was the Mac OS that saved Apple.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

I had a tough time picking a best Mac OS between Jaguar, Panther, and Tiger. Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar brought Mac OS X’s feature-set up to par with Mac OS 9 making Mac OS X usable for a wider audience. Mac OS X 10.3 Panther improved upon Jaguar with faster speeds, while retaining Jaguar’s minimal system requirements. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger ushered in a new era for Mac OS X by implementing exciting new features, and moving the Mac from PowerPC to Intel based processors. If Tiger wasn’t also the best Mac OS for modern PowerPC Macs I would have a hard time recommending it. I am weary of OS upgrades that try to do too much, and the transition from PowerPC to Intel would have been a monumental leap for most OSes, but Tiger pulled it off with ease. I will always have a soft spot for Panther, the last Mac OS before Apple’s popularity exploded, but Tiger is the undisputed favorite on Twitter.

Tiger removed support for the original iMac and iBook, and required 256MBs of RAM, twice the memory as previous versions of Mac OS X. All other system requirements were the same, although to take full advantage of Core Image a graphics card with 64 MBs of video RAM was required. Tiger didn’t ask a lot from its users but it gave a lot in return.

Automator, Grapher, Dictionary, Quartz Composer, AU Lab, and Dashboard were all brand new applications introduced in Tiger. iChat AV, Safari, Mail, and Quicktime all saw significant updates. With Tiger scripting became easier, graphics transitions and effects were more fluid, real-time audio processing was possible. Definitions, weather, stock market information, flight tracking, and built-in RSS were available at the push of a button. Spotlight, Tiger’s new contextual search engine, brought the contents of your hard drive to the forefront with only a few simple keystrokes. And Quicktime 7 combined with H.264 and iChat AV made video conferencing available for the rest of us.

Almost all of these features were made possible by architecture changes first implemented in Tiger. A 64-bit aware kernel allowed for more memory to be available for individual processes running on a Mac with a 64-bit processor. Launchd modernized Mac OS X’s Unix underpinning and allowed for faster startup. Core Image, Core Video, and Core Audio made all of Tiger’s whiz-bang graphical and audio effects possible, while Core Data made it easier for developers to handle structured data in their applications.

On top of all these new applications and technologies Tiger made the transition from PowerPC to Intel in less than 30 months. It took System 7 almost 7 years to make the switch from 68k to PowerPC. It comes at no surprise that Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is one of the best selling versions of Mac OS X to date, and one of the best versions of Mac OS ever.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard is my favorite version of Mac OS X not because of the features it added, but because of the ones it took away. Snow Leopard only runs on Macs with Intel processors. It was the first Mac OS release since System 7.1.1 that does not support the PowerPC architecture (although PowerPC applications are supported via Rosetta , an optional install. Shedding all of those Universal Binaries), and adopting an advanced application compression scheme means Snow Leopard saves 6 GBs of disk space over its predecessor 10.5.

Among Snow Leopard’s select new features are a updated Finder rewritten in Cocoa. A new version of Safari that includes a 50{493f798df480ad5a2796e65210fbf6e65215ebdcc2070f4d9b100f3865a5d00d} increase in JavaScript performance, and support for Microsoft Exchange in Mail, iCal, and Address Book. Under the hood Snow Leopard is the first Mac OS to ship with a 64-bit kernel that can take advantage of greater amounts of memory. QuickTime was completely rewritten to take advantage of audio video codecs in 64-bit, and Grand Central Dispatch was invented to ease the development of applications with multi-core support.

Visually 10.6 Snow Leopard is not much different from 10.5 Leopard. The operating systems looks and acts the same, but in addition to PowerPC support some features have been removed. AppleTalk, Creator Codes, and Classic HFS write access are the most glaring omissions for long time Mac users, but I wouldn’t have Snow Leopard any other way. By making the tough choices and trading features for stability, Snow Leopard is more than a best of breed operating system it is the foundation for the future of Mac OS.

Lion is right around the corner. Built from the best of Mac OS it combines the stability and refinement of Snow Leopard with the usability innovations first seen on the iPhone. It has yet to be determined if the multitouch gestures and full screen apps will be a success on the desktop, and if Lion will be one of the best of Mac OS. All that is certain is that Apple is not standing still, and Lion for better or worse is the future of Mac OS. Let’s hope it will be a good one.

Stacey is a framework for building simple websites.

The project is based around two core ideals:

• Separating textual content & assets from your HTML
• Keeping ugly PHP-style logic out of your templates

Stacey accomplishes this without a database, or installation files. Simply drag the application onto a web server with PHP installed and Stacey starts runing. “Content is managed by creating folders and editing text files.” Templates are generated by authoring HTML with a special set of tags. You have complete control over every piece of markup that is generated. All of the dynamic parts like breadcrumbs, navigation lists, and embedding images are handled for you automatically.

I start a new note in Stacey by copying the folder for the last note I have written. Each folder contains all of the note’s assets. Text can be written in plaintext, markdown, or HTML. Images can be .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, or .png. Stacey also supports videos, sounds and PDFs.

Each note’s folder receives a unique name and number. The number determines the note’s position in the blog. Older entries have a lower number. Newer entries have a higher number. The name determines the note’s URL (slug). Categories are notes separated into folders. The text in each note can be tagged with metadata including title and date. New tags can be created as needed.

I do all of my editing in VIM on the same server that hosts Egg Freckles. Some people sync what they write from a local computer using Dropbox or rsync. Because everything I write is in plaintext, I can edit from a Mac, Newton, or mobile phone.

Even though Stacey is old, and no longer being maintained, I still use it. I like that Stacey doesn’t use a database, and every edit I save is published instantly without pressing a button. I started Egg Freckles with the goal of writing a blog that looked like a Newton on a Newton. Stacey isn’t the only CMS I can use from my MessagePad, but it is the closest I have come replicating the Newton experince.

Apple released four distinct Newton form factors containing eight different models between August 1993 and February 1998. Each form factor was an evolutionary step forward for the platform, and introduced design considerations and features that were different from past and subsequent models. Choosing a Newton requires understanding each models benefits and weaknesses and applying that knowledge towards selecting the Newton that best meets your needs.

Original MessagePad & 100

The OMP was unveiled and released on August 3, 1993 at MacWorld Boston. It’s release was somewhat premature and it is referred to by some of the Newton faithful as the ‘grand public beta test’.

Unfortunately Calligrapher the word-based handwriting recognition engine in the Newton which was developed by the Soviet programmers at Paragraph International Inc. got more attention for what it couldn’t do than what it could.

The golden screen color, graceful curves, and soft touch casing of the Original MessagePads make these two models some of the most attractive Newtons ever made. But real work on a MessagePad requires real character recognition, and these original MessagePads just don’t offer the versatility or the recognition to make them anything more than collector’s items.

MessagePad 110, 120 & 130

In March of 1994, at the same time the MessagePad 100 was released, Apple updated the Newton form factor with the introduction of a new model. The MessagePad 110 allows for improved portability over the Original MessagePad by offering a slightly smaller display and flip over screen protector that resembles the front cover on a reporter’s notepad. The stylus was redesigned into a more familiar round shape, and internalizing the holster started a trend that made all subsequent MessagePads thinner and more comfortable to hold. The 110 shipped with the same limited Newton OS 1.3 software as the MessagePad 100.

Although all second generation MessagePads look identical, they were produced during a transition period in Apple’s Newton platform and have different specifications. The first models like the MessagePad 110 and the initial release of the MessagePad 120 shipped with the same 1.3 software that makes the Original MessagePads unsuitable for daily use, but later models like the second revision of the 120 and MessagePad 130 shipped with Newton OS 2.0 and its new printed handwriting recognizer Rosetta.

The printed recognizer in OS 2.0 was flawless and required no dictionary or learning period. It worked with familiar and strange handwriting styles alike. It only required separated printed characters to analyze. Even today, its recognition system is unmatched in the computing industry.

The MessagePad 130 is my recommendation for a Newton from this generation. Not only does it sport the comfortable form factor of the 110 and 120, but it is guaranteed to ship with Newton OS 2.0, an extra 512k worth of memory, and over 78,000 new words in its Calligrapher dictionary. It may not have the soft touch casing of the Original MessagePads, but it does have a textured screen with a backlight that is more pleasurable to write on, even in the dark.

MessagePad 2000 & 2100

The MessagePad 130 was just a taste of things to come. The introduction of the MessagePad 2000 brought a true revolution to the MessagePad hardware.

The 2000/2100 series has an ECL backlit screen like the MP130 but with twice the number of pixels (480 x 320 vs. previous model’s 320 x 240) in a 20{493f798df480ad5a2796e65210fbf6e65215ebdcc2070f4d9b100f3865a5d00d} increase in screen dimensions resulting in a high resolution display (100 dpi vs. 85 dpi). It also propelled the newton from being just black and white pixels to 16 level grey scale pixels.

The previous Newtons all had 20MHz ARM RISC chips that ran at 15 MIPS (1/10 th the speed) and 100 MIPS/watt thus using 4 times as much power. The net result of the StrongARM chip is an unbelievable ten fold increase in speed with 1/4 the power usage.

Although both MessagePads shipped with Newton OS 2.1 and greatly improved performance, a 2100 or upgraded 2000 is the Newton to get if you want to experience the most of what the platform has to offer. The additional memory is practically a requirement for web browsing and multitasking, and because these were the last MessagePads released they have the hardware specifications required to experience the entire back catalog of Newton software.

eMate 300

The eMate 300 is Apple’s first and only non-MessagePad Newton with a built-in keyboard. The eMate 300 was designed to take the rugged lifestyle of a K-12 education. For example the eMate’s keyboard has no circuitry hidden underneath to avoid damage from liquid spills, and its protective casing is designed to withstand drops from a student’s hands. If the screen or keyboard is damaged, both are designed for easy removal and replacement.

The screen on the eMate 300 has the same number of pixels but is slightly larger than the MessagePad 2000. And its built-in keyboard adds a row of function keys along the top which replace the button bar and provide one-touch access to built-in applications and common commands such as Close and Backlight On/Off.

My Choice

My first Newton was a MessagePad 130 and I fell in love with its ease of use, character recognition, and slender form factor. In my opinion no other Newton is better for quick, portable note taking. Later models such as the 2100 are far more versatile, but their features pale considerably when compared to modern devices like the iPad. If you are looking for a first Newton that will do everything the platform has to offer get a 2100. But if you are looking for the optimal MessagePad to do what a Newton does best Note taking, a MessagePad 130 is the smallest device you will find with real handwriting recognition.

A Newton MessagePad, the grandfather of all PDAs, is a funny thing to carry around with you when most people are sliding super slim, constantly connected, application-rich smartphones into their pockets. Compared to the iPhone a Newton MessagePad looks like a green brick, and I have been accused more than once of stealing the rubberized signature pad from a UPS delivery man. Despite what my Newton lacks in portability, connectivity, and applications it makes up for with a unique set of features no other mobile computer can match.

Battery Life

MessagePads have a battery life that can be measured in weeks and not days. While most modern smartphones struggle to make it through a twenty four hour period, my Newton keeps on ticking due to an energy conscious design that continues to impress more than ten years later. Best of all, when my Newton runs out of juice a simple AA battery swap will get it back on task while a modern smartphone must wait three to four hours before going back to work. Sure my Newton might not be able to do as much as a smartphone in the same amount of time, but when it comes to writing and note taking my Newton’s closest competitor is the longevity of a pad of paper — not your smartphone.

Handwriting Recognition

Randy Murray makes the argument that In Meetings, Pen & Paper, Not Glass and Fingers help him connect with his clients and keep technology from getting in the way. He points to the iPad as being a distraction while taking notes, and I agree it must be hard to concentrate on your client when your eyes are focused on a virtual keyboard. The Newton alleviates that problem by recognizing your handwriting, and letting you take notes in the time honored fashion we all grew up with.

Want to start a new note? Just draw a horizontal line across the page. Add bullet items and hierarchy to your thoughts the same way you would on paper. Because you are concentrating on the speaker and not your Newton note taking comes naturally. And because your Newton is a computer those notes, bullets, and hierarchy can be reorganized as many times as you like without crossing out lines or throwing away paper.

Searching through your Newton is far easier than searching through a Moleskine. And when you are done no transcription necessary. Just print, email, fax, or sync your notes back to your computer. Show your client what you captured from the meeting before leaving the room. A Newton allows you to preserve the natural habits of note taking, without the adapting to technology, or the transcription required for traditional handwriting.

Document Centric Workflow

When you turn on a smartphone you are presented with a grid of applications that represent tasks your phone can do. When you turn on a Newton you are presented with your content. On a Newton their is no workflow to follow to get back to your writing because you are already there. There is no file system past a simple index. No open or save dialog boxes because what you write and read is always in front of you. A pad of paper never gets in your way because there is nothing between you and the content. In this respect a Newton is the same as a pad of paper.

Share Everything

If you have ever created something on an iOS device you know your data is stored in the app you created it in. You know how to access it by tapping on the app, but do you know how to get it out and share it with other applications or the rest of the world? On the iPhone sharing your creations is different for every single application. Not onl the methods of sharing, but the process of sharing as well. On the Newton everything is sharable, and shared in the same way. You can fax, email, beam, and print anything from the routing button. As new methods of sharing are installed they too are added to the routing button. Because the process is the same for any type of data you create, sharing on the Newton is almost as easy as ripping a page from your notepad and handing it across the table — and the best part is you get to keep the original.

Expandability

The only reason the Newton is still with us today is because it has managed to keep up with the times. Introduced before the popularity of the World Wide Web, the Newton community has developed both a web browser and and an email client for its users. No small feat for a device that was designed without the ability to network past infrared beaming and analog faxing. Later MessagePads have even gained the ability to print via IP, connect to Wifi hotspots, beam using Bluetooth, and in limited cases communicate through cellular modems. These achievements might sound like old news compared to modern smartphones, but the real message behind a Newton’s expandability is the community that brought it this far.

Community

The Newton is a great note taking device with a long lasting battery life, that puts your content first and allows you to share it with the world. Those features alone might sell you on the platform, but the Newton is no wonder device. It is over ten years old, and far past its prime. The reason I still carry a Newton is because of the community that makes the Newton great. NewtonTalk is a mailing list of passionate users that embrace a Newton’s philosophy of putting your data first while expanding the platforms capabilities for another generation of users to discover and enjoy.

If it wasn’t for the Newton’s community I would never have found the Newton in the first place. I still carry my Newton not only for what a Newton does for me, but what I can do for the community of Newton users that embrace technology in the same way I do. Egg Freckles is my way of celebrating the Newton’s unique capabilities, and the community of users that are responsible for pushing the Newton forward.