What is Mac OS X?
Mac OS X is a new operating system for the Macintosh,
based on a Unix kernel. It is a major advance over
previous operating systems, providing proper multi-tasking
and memory protection, and will benefit users in
a number of ways:
- Improved reliability - applications should be
more reliable and if one program crashes, the others
should stay working. The computer itself should
not crash.
- Multi-tasking - Mac OS X implements proper multi-tasking.
Programs will now run in the background no matter
what the front application is doing. This is a
great improvement on the current operating system
where if you hold down a menu item in one application,
everything else stops.
- User Interface - there are a number of user interface
changes.
- Memory Improvements - native Mac OS X applications
manage their own memory requirements, so you do
not need to allocate memory to an application.
Mac OS X does not have memory partitions.
- Multiple User Support - as Mac OS X is based
on UNIX, it supports multiple user customisation.
For more information, see: http://www.apple.com/macosx/
A Mac OS X native application is required to take
full advantage of these new features. This is a program
that has been specifically compiled to work with
Mac OS X. This also involves some rewriting of the
program.
Non-Mac OS X native applications that are compatible
with Mac OS 9 can run on a Mac OS X machine under
a Mac OS 9 compatibility mode. The compatibility
mode is called "Classic" and lets you run
non-native applications on a Mac OS X computer, but
you can not take advantage of some of the new features.
Multitasking improvements will not apply, and if
you crash a non-native application, all non-native
applications will crash.
If you are running non-Mac OS X native applications
only, then you should continue to use Mac OS 9. If
you are running Mac OS X native applications, then
you require Mac OS X, and you can then
run your non-native applications in Classic mode. PowerLab System Compatibility with
Mac OS X
LabChart requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Chart 5 and Scope 4 are Mac OS X native. Chart 5
requires Mac OS X 10.1
and above, Scope 4 requires Mac OS X 10.3 and above.
Some older versions of ADInstruments applications
may also run, but we recommend that you use the latest
version. Versions of our software that will run in
Classic mode are:
- Chart v4.2 or later
- Scope v3.6.9 or later
Mac OS X Classic mode does not support SCSI, but
it does support USB.
Note: SCSI PowerLab users can NOT use USB to SCSI
convertors to overcome this problem. Mac OS X Availability
Mac OS X was released in March 2001, and now ships
as the default operating system on all new Macintosh
computers. If you are still having
problems, send us a technical
assistance request detailing your query.
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