TITLE
    Mac OS X Server: What is MacOS.app?
Article ID:
Created:
Modified: 		30607
7/16/98
5/29/00
TOPIC

    What is MacOS.app, or "the Blue Box?"

DISCUSSION

    MacOS.app is a high-performance, very high compatibility environment for running Mac OS software with the Mac OS X Server operating system. Very high compatibility is achieved by running Mac OS essentially unchanged in a virtual environment which appears to be a new Macintosh hardware model. Because of this, the vast majority of Mac OS applications, utilities, extensions and software drivers just work. The only software not expected to work is that which directly accesses hardware, uses undocumented internal APIs of Mac OS (such as the internals of Virtual Memory), or relies on Mac OS managers not yet supported by this release.

    This release of MacOS.app comes with Mac OS 8.5.1 and is also expected to support future versions of the Mac OS. Previous versions of Mac OS are not supported.

    The first time you launch MacOS.app, a private Mac OS 8.5.1 startup disk image (called StartupDisk.img) will be created. The language of the image will be selected based on the Localization settings from the Preferences application and the MacOS.app languages that have been installed. The selected image will be copied and uncompressed into /Local/Library/MacOS/Users/. This process will take a little time and is accompanied by a dialog box with a progress bar. At the end of creating the startup disk image, a virtual PRAM file called "PRAM" will also be created in the same directory.

    Release notes for MacOS.app are in /System/Documentation/Readme/MacOS.html and contain excellent information on features, compatibility and known issues.

    MacOS.app is designed to be very responsive. The tradeoff to this is that it may cause the performance of other services to degrade. MacOS.app is not meant to run Mac OS server programs at the same time.

    Choosing Shut Down from Mac OS 8.5 Finder's Special menu will quit MacOS.app. Similarly, choosing Restart will quit and re-launch MacOS.app. You may also use the Power key, which will bring up the standard Mac OS "Shut Down / Restart" dialog box.

    To switch between the Mac OS and Mac OS X Server environments, use the Application menu at the far right of the menu bar. In both MacOS.app and Mac OS X Server, this menu has been extended to list all applications running in both environments, grouped by environment. If you choose an application that is running in the other environment, you will be switched to that environment and the selected application will be activated.

    There is a special item in the application menu of each environment that will switch you to the other environment and bring you back to the last application you were using in that environment. That item is called "Mac OS X Server" in the Mac OS environment and "MacOS" in the Mac OS X Server environment.

    The following special keys combinations are available when you are in the Mac OS environment, and supersede any Mac OS use of these key combinations:
    • Command-Return is a shortcut for choosing "Mac OS X Server" from the application menu. Since this may interfere with some applications that use this combination of keys, you may disable it, as discussed under "User Input" in the "Bugs and Compatibility Issues" section.
    • Command-Shift-Q will force-quit MacOS.app. This would be equivalent to pulling the power plug out of the wall on native Mac OS and should only be used when Mac OS is hung.
    • All other Mac OS special keys (e.g., Command-Power for NMI - to enter MacsBug) function as expected.

    System Requirements

    The minimum recommended RAM for running Mac OS X Server with MacOS.app is 48 MB.

    Each user running MacOS.app on the computer will require a minimum of 175 MB of disk space for the Mac OS 8.5.1 startup disk image.

    To manipulate disk images in Mac OS X Server, you must use a command line utility called createimage, located in /usr/bin/createimage. For more information, see the topic "Working with Disk Image Files" in the Mac OS Release Notes (/System/Documentation/ReadMe/MacOS.html)

    Networking

    MacOS.app supports Open Transport AppleTalk and TCP/IP networking using built-in Ethernet and any PCI Ethernet devices supported by Mac OS X Server. LocalTalk (AppleTalk over serial ports) is not supported. As with native Mac OS, AppleTalk networking is active by default if connected to a network.

    AppleShare Client as well as Personal File Sharing, AppleShare Server and AppleShare IP Server are fully supported by MacOS.app. Personal Web Sharing is also supported.

    Since Mac OS 8 uses a different networking model than Mac OS X Server (Open Transport vs. Sockets), you must use a separate IP address for MacOS.app TCP/IP from that used by Mac OS X Server. This is best accomplished by using a static IP address in the TCP/IP control panel (or by using MacIP - IP over AppleTalk).

Document Information
Product Area: Mac OS System Software
Category: Mac OS X Server
Sub Category: General Topics

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