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An Answer To "What is Mac OS X?"

XCube writes: "'What is Mac OS X?' is a fascinating article over at KernelThread.com. According to Amit Singh it's a hacker-over-friendly answer to that question and a low-level taste of Apple's OS. The extensive article covers many details on Mac OS X: history, Mac firmware & boot loader, system architecture, kernel, startup, file systems, app environments, programming facilities, available software, and more. A great read if you are interested in Mac OS X, though some stuff is too technical methinks. On second thought, this may be a better read if you're *not* interested in Mac OS X! The author says he wrote it to introduce Mac OS X to the Linux User's Group at his work."

26 of 664 comments (clear)

  1. Hey, Wait a second by jetkust · · Score: 4, Funny

    On second thought, this may be a better read if you're *not* interested in OS X!

    But if I wasn't interested, then why would I be reading it?

    1. Re:Hey, Wait a second by KillerHamster · · Score: 4, Funny

      And even if you were interested, you probably still wouldn't read the article. This is Slashdot, after all.

    2. Re:Hey, Wait a second by phre4k · · Score: 2, Funny

      isn't being pissed-off a part of the zealot definition?

      --
      "Nobody really checks their email any more. They just delete their spam"
    3. Re:Hey, Wait a second by BorgCopyeditor · · Score: 5, Funny
      You know what else pisses people off?

      Sticking pins in them! Some people say it's wrong, but that's what makes it fun!!!

      --
      Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
  2. Re:OS X 10? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know what you mean...

    Yesterday I was having a great time editing my masterpiece "When Trolls attack" on Final Cut Pro, especially after I finally was done tweaking the shots in Photoshop and After Effects.

    Later I enjoyed solving another level of Halo while listening to my iTunes collection.

    Thank God for FreeBSD 4! I didn't have to pay for none of this stiffling proprietary OS X crap! :P~~~~

    Joe Anoymous.

  3. Re:OS X 10? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    What are these good or wack comments about? Are they good or are they wack?

  4. The question by CelticWhisper · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's been at the back of your mind all along, always there, you're always asking...

    "What is Mac OS X?"

    Do you want me to show you, Neo...er...Steve? Eat the blue apple, and you'll go on living your life, believing whatever you want to believe. Eat the red apple, and I'll show you how deep the worm hole goes. And you'll realize that there is no Mac OS X. It's only your mind that has unfathomably sexy UI elements.

    --
    Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
    http://www.tsanewsblog.com
    1. Re:The question by NaugaHunter · · Score: 4, Funny

      I took a bit out of a rainbow-colored apple and ended up in a wormhole to my life in the 70's...

      --
      R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
  5. What is Mac OS X? by mac+os+ken · · Score: 4, Funny
    Mac OS X is:

    stable

    easy to use

    gorgeous

    well rounded

    interesting Kind of sounds like the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend. But remember, we're talking about software here... :P

    --
    .deviatefromtheabsolute.
    1. Re:What is Mac OS X? by CelticWhisper · · Score: 3, Funny

      So then it's Software vs. Softwear?

      --
      Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
      http://www.tsanewsblog.com
    2. Re:What is Mac OS X? by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Funny

      " vs. Softwear? "

      Whoah.. I can sort by cup size. Man I'm glad I'm telecommuting today.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:What is Mac OS X? by shunnicutt · · Score: 3, Funny

      Mac OS X is:

      stable

      asy to use

      gorgeous

      well rounded

      You forgot "lickable"
    4. Re:What is Mac OS X? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      interesting Kind of sounds like the perfect boyfriend/girlfriend. But remember, we're talking about software here... :P

      Come on, this is slashdot. I think many of us, myself included, are at the stage where we have to take what we can get.

    5. Re:What is Mac OS X? by burns210 · · Score: 2, Funny
      You forgot "lickable"

      just like the perfect girlfriend! :)

  6. Re:Steve Jobs secret marketing meeting by ScottGant · · Score: 2, Funny

    Orc: What news from the eye me lord, what does it command?

    Steveron: Build me a G5 worthy of Mordor...

    Weeks later, looking over the 1100 G5's heading toward VA Tech...

    Steveron: There will be no dawn...of Windows

    --

    "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
  7. Re:It isn't MacOS X that turns people off of Macs. by daeley · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, it's too bad that Apple forces you to use its LCD monitors and wireless hardware.

    Oh wait, they don't.

    Go away, troll.

    --
    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  8. I know what OS X is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    FeeBSD.

  9. the Mac Zealot Translator a go-go! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Mac Zealot Translator-o-matic

    Apple have come up with some innovative products, but their market share remains tiny. Sadly, though, many buyers have been mislead by the marketing and eye-candy, and desperately try to justify their overpriced purchases to themselves on forums around the Net. Let's see what they really mean...

    "MacOS X is everything Linux wants to be."
    "Despite the fact that Linux is just code and can't WANT to be anything, I truly believe that it'd love to be a single-vendor, single-platform, sluggish half-proprietary OS with dwindling market share. Linux would love to throw away its impressively growing corporate takeup for that."

    "Apple hardware is for real computer lovers."
    "It's no hassle to use a plethora of keyboard combos to make up for the patronising one-button mouse. Despite the fact that my hands have FIVE fingers, and multiple-buttons make Web browsing so much more pleasant, I prefer my computer to be treat me like a special-needs child."

    "Aqua makes me so much more productive!"
    "My non-techie friends drool over the transparency and scaling effects, even though UI research has shown that they add practically nothing to getting real work done. It feels like KDE 2 on a Pentium 200, and I can't change to a light and fast WM, but those drop-shadows must make me work so quickly!"

    "OSX shows that Apple is committed to open source."
    "OpenDarwin.org and its community of about 27 is surely not just a token gesture by Apple. Pretty much nobody uses pure Darwin, and all the crucial components of the system are closed and require me to spend money just to get major OS updates, but they're really helping the community somehow."

    "You get what you pay for with Apple hardware."
    "My iBook was made by in Taiwan by AlphaTop and has design and build quality flaws (needing foam sheets jammed in to stop the common problem of the keyboard scratching the screen). But it's silvery and cost far more than an x86 laptop of better spec, so it must be much higher quality!"

    "...blah blah MHz myth blah..."
    "Although there's truth in PPC being more elegant than x86, it's crushing that the top-of-the-range 1.5 GHz chip is slaughtered by the equivalent 3 GHz Pentium 4. However, Steve Jobs showed some vague Photoshop filter benchmarks at the last MacWorld, so being a leprotard, I'm convinced."

  10. Re:Hi Steve, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    wow, nice mouth--while it's really impressive here on slashdot, somehow methinks you don't get any of the real thing;>

    i think the REAL issue is that Apple users are much more likely to have actual sex, while all the *nix trolls get is goat.se(x)...

  11. Re:Gimp mouse by dseyeffer · · Score: 2, Funny

    mod the above in the "hilarious" category

  12. Re:Carbon's roots are older by Don'tTreadOnMe · · Score: 2, Funny


    Holy Crap, you people are geeks !


    Oh, sorry, forgot where I was for a minute there...

  13. Re:Potential Linux Switchers: Read Up by Roydd+McWilson · · Score: 1, Funny

    But OS X is much like any other BSD.
    You mean it's dying?

    --
    THE NERD IS THE COMPUTER.
  14. Re:IT'S AN OPERATING SYSTEM. PERIOD. by as400tek · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can't we all just keep picking on Microsoft? and get along. MacOSX is not the devil!

    --
    David Vasta iSeries(AS/400) Admin & Junkie
  15. Re:It isn't MacOS X that turns people off of Macs. by MoneyT · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hmmm, damn I could have sworn the PowerMac we just bought is working absolutely fine with our nice Sony CRT and our NEC LCD monitor, both of which use standard VGA connections.

    And I could swear that the D-Link wireless card I have works very nicely in my Powerbook.

    I must just be dreaming though.

    --
    T Money
    World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
  16. Re:Adobe and Microsoft.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sorry, but Photoshop, Illustrator, GoLive (puke)

    A lot of graphics design people use mac, and the geeker crowd. But hey, NO ONE WANTS PHOTOSHOP At home? YEAH RIGHT.

    and Office are productivity tools, something you don't need (or even want) at home.

    Oh yeah, who wants word at home? gee, maybe someone who wants to write their resume in DOC format so they can mail it out to the rest of the real world who uses windows?

    They're commercial applications, and it's just fine if Apple doesn't have similar offerings.

    Yeah, just fine for the zealots, not for the average users, or normal well ajusted human beings who don't identify themselves by the OS they run.

    As for outlook, messenger and microsoft media player: if you're lucky enough to have a Mac and still use those Microsoft shits, then you need to wake up!

    If you surf the web, you will want something to play WMV's. I guess mac people only go to mac sites though right!

    There is non-Microsoft alternatives for Apple and even Windows users (I'm not sure since I don't have a Mac, but I think Sarafi might have an email client

    Safari doesn't come with a mail client, it does come with a nice bug where if you try to tab to a drop down box on a form it skips it. (No, really try it)

    Geeze... Being on OS X and still running Outlook, Messenger and MS Media Player... I just don't get it! I'm on Windoze and I stay far as I can from anything Microsoft! (except for the windoze, of course)

    try actually using a mac. I was all fuzzy and happy about mac (since I loved my apple 2 as a child) until I actually had to use one everyday. Mac doesn't have a mail client that works as well as outlook, "mail" sucks and so does entourage. You need media player to play WMV's if you want to watch them. Microsoft may suck, but apple sucks just as bad if not worse.

  17. It's compiled! DAMMIT!! by The+Muffin+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmm, he lists Lisp amongst the interpreted languages. I hope the rest of the article is more accurate...

    Edi.

    == Programming Language Myths ==

    BASIC Myth: People who learn BASIC go on to learn other languages.
    Reality: Most people who learn BASIC go on to find less nerdy ways of writing "Mr. Gzabowski is a lame teacher" over and over again.

    C Myth: C programs are insecure, full of buffer overflows and such.
    Reality: C programs are only insecure if written by imperfect programmers. Since all C programmers know that they are perfect, there's no problem.

    COBOL Myth: COBOL is dead.
    Reality: It stalks from out the ancient vaults of death, its putrid mind drawn to the blood of the living.

    Forth Myth: Forth makes no sense.
    Reality: backwards. think to have just you sense, perfect makes Forth

    Java Myth: You need Java to do business applications.
    Reality: You need Java to get a job.

    Lisp Myth: Lisp is an interpreted language.
    Reality: Lisp is COMPILED DAMMIT COMPILED! IT'S IN THE FUCKING STANDARD!!!

    Pascal Myth: Pascal is a toy.
    Reality: Oh, wait, that is not a myth, it is true ...

    Perl Myth: Perl is impossible to read.
    Reality: You are not taking enough psychedelics.

    Python Myth: Python's only problem is the whitespace thing.
    Reality: Python's only problem is that it is fucking slow.