AUGUST 2012 SYSTEM EXTENSION by Stephen M. Hackett copyright 2012, Hackett Technical Media, LLC HOW IS IT AUGUST ALREADY? Welcome to the second edition of System Extension. The first edition was met with such enthusiasm that I decided to make a few changes to how the magazine will be available from here on out. System Extension is free to all 512 Pixels readers. To help cover the hard costs of producing and hosting the document, it is ad supported. Members of 512 Pixels will get early access each month, with no ads. Regrettably, System Extension will not be available as an .ibooks file. Due to some silly restrictions Apple has put on the .ibooks file format, I cannot distribute it and collect any income from it without going through the iBookstore, which is a whole set of headaches in and of itself. I’d love to see Apple change its terms and give users the freedom to do whatever they wish to with these files. iBooks Author may be the single most exciting piece of software Apple’s shipped in a long time, and it’s angering to see the company have an unneeded stranglehold on it. While .pdf files are a little more boring, they are the best option for me moving forward. As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll enjoy this month’s content. 2 APPLE’S MEEK & MIGHTY MICE In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh brought the mouse to the masses. Since then, Apple’s released numerous models of its pointing device. photos used with permission under the Creative Commons license A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 1983: The Lisa Mouse (Model A9M0050) A year before the Macintosh was released, Apple’s Lisa introduced the concept of a GUI and mouse to Apple’s customers. Often considered to be ahead of its time, the Lisa also offered protected memory, limited multitasking, hard disk support and more. Ultimately a failure, the Lisa was priced at $9,995. 1984: The Macintosh Mouse (Model M0100) This is the mouse that put mice on the map. Not unlike the Lisa mouse, the Macintosh Mouse featured a (now rubber, as opposed to steel) rollerball with a single, rectangle-shaped button in the center of its top. It connected to the original Macintosh via a DE-9 port, as it was before the ADB standard had been invented. Originally beige, the Macintosh mouse came in Platinum after 1987. 4 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 1984: Apple Mouse IIc (Model M0100) Just a few months after the Macintosh was released, the Apple IIc was introduced, bringing the mouse to the Apple II family. This mouse was a tad sleeker than the Macintosh mouse, and had a slightly different color. The IIc could use the mouse as a pointer or joystick, depending on what application was running at the time on the machine. In 1988, the Mouse IIc was revamped, moving to the Platinum look. 1986: Apple Desktop Mouse (Model A2M2070) Apple Desktop Bus (see the cable to the right) was created by Geek God Steve Wozniak in the mid 1980s to connect low-power and low-speed devices to Apple hardware. Using a 4-pin connector, ADB was used by Apple for mice, keyboards and more up until the iMac G3. The Apple Desktop Mouse retained the blocky style of Apple’s earlier mice, but had a lower profile. It followed the Snow White Design Language, with a uniform gray color, with the cable and connectors in the darker “Smoke” color. Of note, the button was flush with the top of the mouse’s body. 5 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 1992: Apple Desktop Mouse II (Model M2706) The ADB II mouse brought a radical redesign to Apple’s pointer device. Its rounded top and small profile made it feel much smaller than previous versions. The Apple Desktop Mouse II would be the standard Apple mouse for just over 6 years, shipping with multiple lines of Macintosh computers. A black version was produced and shipped with the Macintosh TV. The Macintosh TV was Apple's first attempt at computer-television integration. It shared the external appearance of the Macintosh LC 500 series, but in black. The Macintosh TV was essentially a Performa 520 that could switch its built-in 14" Sony Trinitron CRT from being a computer display to a cable-ready television. It was incapable of showing television in a desktop window, although it could capture still frames to PICT files. One of the reasons cited for its failure was its sub-par graphics performance. It came with a small credit card-sized remote control that was also compatible with Sony televisions. It was the first Macintosh to be made in black and came with a custom black keyboard and mouse. Later Apple would issue a custom black Performa 5420 in markets outside the United States with many of the features of the Mac TV. The Mac TV tuner card was a popular option for the LC & Performa series. Only 10,000 were made in the model's short time on the market. SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA 6 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 1998: Apple USB Mouse (Model M4848) Worst. Thing. Ever. Here it is. The Hockey puck. As with previous Apple mice, the USB mouse featured a single button, that depressed in to the body when clicked. Shipped with the original iMac, this new mouse used USB, as the ADB standard was left out of the iMac by Steve Jobs and company, looking to Besides the shape, users also complained that the cable was too short on move forward from legacy standards. the USB mouse. Originally designed to be plugged in to the side of Apple’s new USB keyboard, notebook users found out the hard way that the cable The translucent plastic housed a circuit board and two tone rollerball that was simply not long enough. could be seen easily. However, the perfectly round body often led to mistakes, as users would assume the mouse was in the correct Mercifully, Apple put the USB Mouse and the company’s customer orientation, even if it wasn’t. base out of their misery just two years later. 7 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 2000: Apple Pro Mouse (Model M5769) Savior of the Nerds? After two years of suffering, The Apple Gods smiled upon the Users Originally released in black, the Pro Mouse’s body featured thick and the Pro Mouse was handed down from on high. transparent acrylic, matching Apple’s PowerMac G4 Cube and other machines at the time. Literally. At Macworld 2000, Apple gave keynote attendees free mice. Sadly, the Pro Mouse wasn’t perfect. Users still complained about Returning to an oblong body, the Pro Mouse was Apple’s first optical the cord, which was still short and would fray after heavy use. mouse, ditching the mechanical rollerball used by most manufactures at the time. It featured zero buttons. Rather, the front In 2003, Apple refreshed the mouse, fixing the cord strain issues, and part of the mouse “settled” on to the underlying chassis, registering dropping “Pro” from the name. This model shipped with the Power a click. Mac G4 Mirror Drive Door, Power Mac G5, eMac, and iMac G4 and G5. A Bluetooth model was also available. 8 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 2005: The Mighty Mouse (Model A1152) In 2005, for the first time in its 22 years of making mice, Apple shipped a model with two buttons. Instead of using physical mechanisms, the Mighty Mouse featured touch-sensitive buttons. Like the Pro Mouse before it, the body of the mouse would respond to the click. On the top, a free-spinning track ball allowed users to scroll in any direction. Two touch- sensitive areas on the side of the body could be squeezed for additional input. OS X is the only operating system to fully support the Mighty Mouse. 2006-2009: The Wireless Mighty Mouse In 2006, Apple added a Bluetooth model to the lineup, eventually replacing the wired version completely. One year later, Apple revamped the mouse, changing the sides of the mouse to the same white as the top, ditching the gray. On October 20, 2009, Apple was forced to rename the Mighty Mouse the Apple Mouse (part number MB112LL/A) due to legal issues regarding the name. Whoops. 9 A HISTORY OF POINTING DEVICES 2009: The Magic Mouse (Model MB829LL/A) In October 2009, Apple released the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse. Build on an aluminum base, this mouse’s curved top works as a single touch-sensitive area, with “zones” for right and left-clicking. Scrolling and gestures can be done using two fingers. The following operating systems support the Magic Mouse: ▪ Mac OS X v10.5.8, v10.6.23 or later with Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0. This update is essential for the Magic Mouse to work. ▪ Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista using Boot Camp tools under Mac OS X. To work with Windows 7, Mac OS X Lion is required as the latest drivers are available only with a version of Boot Camp that is installable on Mac OS X Lion 10 WAIT... THIS ISN’T A MOUSE... Announced in July, 2010, the Magic Trackpad is roughly 75% larger than the trackpad found on the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Powered by two AA batteries hidden in the “hinge,” the entire Trackpad clicks, thanks to its two small rubber feet. Unlike the Magic Mouse, the Magic Trackpad supports up to four-fingered gestures. When ordering a new desktop Mac, customers can select a Magic Trackpad in place of a mouse at no additional charge.