The Macintosh Application Environment (MAE) is a software package introduced by

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

in 1994 that allows certain

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

-based

computer workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

s to run

System 7 System 7 (later named Mac OS 7) is the seventh major release of the classic Mac OS operating system for Macintosh computers, made by Apple Computer. It was launched on May 13, 1991, to succeed System 6 with virtual memory, personal file shari ...

and its

application software Application software is any computer program that is intended for end-user use not operating, administering or programming the computer. An application (app, application program, software application) is any program that can be categorized as ...

Overview

MAE uses the

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

to provide the

Macintosh Finder The Finder is the default file manager and graphical user interface shell used on all Macintosh operating systems. Described in its "About" window as "The Macintosh Desktop Experience", it is responsible for the launching of other applications, ...

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

in a window. MAE 1.0 was launched in 1994 for SPARC-based systems running Solaris 2.3 and PA-RISC-based systems running HP-UX 9.0, at . It features a special version of System 7.1 with its integrated

MultiFinder MultiFinder is an extension for the Apple Macintosh's classic Mac OS, introduced on August 11, 1987 and included with System Software 5. It adds cooperative multitasking of several applications at once – a great improvement over the previo ...

environment, running on an emulated 68LC040 CPU (which lacks floating-point support). Up to 70% of host RAM can be allocated to MAE using its customized Memory control panel. The custom environment omits support for some Macintosh functionality, such as QuickTime, sound, serial, networking, and hardware drivers within CDEVs and INITs. Host integration was introduced to compensate, with the host system's storage, including floppy and CD-ROM drives, being available to Macintosh applications. Files within the emulated environment are stored in the host's filesystem. Clipboard integration permits textual and graphical copying and pasting between the Macintosh and X Window System environments. MAE includes a license manager, allowing floating network licenses. The final version of 3.0 provides System 7.5.3, and runs on

Solaris Solaris is the Latin word for sun. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Sol ...

2.5 and later and

HP-UX HP-UX (from "Hewlett Packard Unix") is a proprietary software, proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise; current versions support HPE Integrity Servers, based on Intel's Itanium architect ...

9.05 or 10.10. MAE was discontinued on May 14, 1998.

Reception

Reviewed as an "impressive piece of work" in 1994 by ''Open Systems Today'' magazine, MAE 1.0's performance on a SPARCclassic workstation with 32 MB of RAM was "sluggish" with screen redraws "slower than a Mac Plus", but higher-end workstations have performance comparable to a Macintosh IIci.

References

External links

Apple's MAE page
*{{cite web , url=http://www.aux-penelope.com/mae/index.htm , archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140124200012/http://www.aux-penelope.com/mae/index.htm , archivedate=January 24, 2014 , url-status=dead , title=MAE screenshots , accessdate=March 4, 2015 Apple Inc. software Unix emulation software Products introduced in 1994

Overview

Reception

See also

References

External links