MacWorks XL is an Apple Lisa

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

which shipped with the Macintosh XL. It allows 64K

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

ROM emulation so the Macintosh XL can run

classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...

programs.

History

Soon after the debut of the

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, which sold over 50,000 units in the first 100 days compared to only a few thousand Lisas during its entire first year, it became clear to Apple that the Lisa (then Lisa 2/10) would benefit from the ability to run the Macintosh system software as well as reduce the development platform resources required to maintain two separate operating systems. In April 1984, Apple introduced MacWorks v1.0 for the Lisa. Essentially it allowed the Lisa to run a Macintosh environment from a floppy disk, but did not support a hard disk environment. By the fall, Apple had introduced versions 2.0 & 3.0 which allowed MacWorks to run from the Lisa's internal Widget or attached ProFile hard disk. With the introduction of the re-branded Macintosh XL in January 1985, MacWorks was likewise renamed for the release.

Features

MacWorks XL shipped on two diskettes. The first booted the Lisa into the Mac OS bootloader. When that process completed, the system displayed an entirely white screen, ejected the first disk, and displayed the usual blinking question mark (with a Macintosh XL graphic below it) to indicate that a boot volume (the second disk) was needed. With this disk, titled the "MacWorks XL System Disk", the Lisa would boot Macintosh System 5. When the Lisa was discontinued, Sun Remarketing continued development of the MacWorks environment under license up to the release of MacWorks Plus 1.1 (which supports System Software 6). Dafax Processing Corp. with the assistance of Query Engineering, Inc. then further developed the environment to ''MacWorks Plus II'' which will support up to System 7.5 along with all other late model

Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...

History

Features

Timeline of Macintosh operating systems

References

External links