By PlaNet-3 Software Grapple is a string finder for the Mac that is both friendly and intuitive to use. Originally inspired by the Unix utility grep, Grapple has evolved to be much more of a. Grapple your polygon self through the yellow checkpoints to reach the blue exit, and compete for the fastest time on an Internet leaderboard. You may want to check out more software for Mac, such as Hidden Relics, DrKawashima or Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children, which might be related to Acrobot. The program is categorized as Internet & Network Tools. This Mac app is an intellectual property of The Little App Factory Pty. The most popular version among the program users is 1.0. This program's bundle is identified as com.thelittleappfactory.Grappler. This software is compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 or later. MacOS Big Sur elevates the most advanced desktop operating system in the world to a new level of power and beauty. Experience Mac to the fullest with a refined new design. Enjoy the biggest Safari update ever. Discover new features for Maps and Messages. And get even more transparency around your privacy.

What does Sosumi reminds you of? Japanese cuisine? Apple sound designer Jim Reekes, the man behind the iconic Mac OS startup sound explains in this video interview.

Video: Apple Mac OS Sound Designer on Iconic Startup Sound & So Sue Me Sound

Interview with onemorething.nl is in English, with a very brief intro in what’s probably Dutch.

10 minutes version:

Full interview, 57 minutes:

Apple Startup Sound NOT Iconic! It’s Actually Ear-conic!

Composer Jim Reekes describes the work involved and thinking behind the two and a half second Mac OS startup sound, which contains “a lot of thick, rich sonic textures behind it. It’s in stereo sound, fades back and forth, there’s a little bit of a stereo reverb” and more.

“It had enough richness in it that it would sound recognizable no matter how you played it.” Jim Reekes said.

His sound is even immortalized in the Pixar motion picture Wall-E.

Regarding the recognizable nature of his Mac OS startup sound creation, Reekes hints his humor side. He said instead of iconic, the Mac startup sound can be considered “ear-conic!”

Let It Be, Let It Beep!

Jim Reekes also explains the story behind Sosumi.

Back in the days, the Beatles (Apple Records) was suing Apple Computers Inc. for anything related to music. https://sword-mac-os-softeast-novel-visual-pricess-amaltea-qg-the.peatix.com. The reason being that Apple Records believes customers might somehow confuse Apple Computers with music from the Beatles’ Fab Four.

Sosumi is a witty attempt to bypass a lawsuit.

When he created the sound in 1989, Apple sound designer Jim Reekes originally called the the xylophone sounding Sosumi Mac system sound “Chime.” But the Apple Legal thinks the name is too musical.

So Reekes immediately joked about changing the Mac system sound to “Let it Beep,” a spoof of Beatles hit song “Let it Be.” Someone took him seriously and said he would never get away with it, so Reekes responded with “so sue me.”

The result is the name “Sosumi.” Reekes speculates that the lawyers did realized what it meant but willing to let it go, with their sense of humor.

Apple.com So-Sue-Me Easter Egg

Decades later, Apple still has a sense of humor. Apple’s website actually has a “So Sue Me” easter egg, with the HTML code of legal section under the css class sosumi.

Besides being creator of the iconic Mac startup sound and So Sue Me sound, in an interview with BoingBoing, it is revealed that Jim Reekes’ sound is also used by Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park (when the computer restarts).

via
Interview with the creator of the Apple startup sound [tuaw]

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The Apple Developer Transition System – a Trojan Horse PowerMac

During the late 1990s and early 2000s the Macintosh was getting more powerful, and for a while the PowerPC G-series CPUs provided more computing power than comparable Intel chips. But by the middle of that decade the G5 was reaching an engineering tradeoff in terms of processing power versus thermal output; the fastest Macs ran very hot and required the development of liquid cooling systems. These limitations prevented the release of G5 based PowerBooks (though prototypes were rumored to exist), and required Apple to think differently about its future.

So in 2006 Apple stunned the world (again) by announcing they were going over to the Dark Side: the Macintosh was going to switch to Intel processors. Apple had been secretly compiling Mac OS X for Intel shortly after it’s evolution from NeXTstep. To allow developers to prepare their own software for the change, Apple designed special Macs with Pentium-based motherboards inside PowerMac G5 cases for testing purposes. Vanishing act slot. Called Developer Transition Systems (DTS), these Trojan horse “PowerMacs” came with a special developer version of Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.1 for Intel and were leased, not sold, to developers. The mothership required all DTS units to be returned after one year, so very few of these hybrid Macs survive outside the gates of Cupertino.

The DTS is an interesting beast. A small logic board labelled Barracuda sits inside a ridiculously large tower (to fool the passers-by). The processor is a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading. But despite being an Intel version of Mac OS X Universal applications will not launch in Intel mode, they just bounce a few times in the dock then abort. In order to launch third party software you need to check the preference to “Launch using Rosetta” in the Finder’s Get Info window. As far as these apps are concerned, they’re still running in a PowerPC world.

When you first start the machine a BIOS screen appears, allowing you to hit F4 and set the boot drive order, system date, etc. No Open Firmware here. Unlike other Macs the hard drive needs to be partitioned using Master Boot Record (MBR), not GUID as used for all shipping Intel-based Macs. That’s unique. This thing is really a PC with proprietary software pasted on top. Look at all those Pentium 4 CPU features!

As a VMM addition, this was a real find. I got system from used Mac shop that keeps an eye out for interesting items; they got it from someone who was going to dispose of the tower as scrap metal. Fortunately that fate was avoided and the DTS arrived in working condition, but it did not have a copy of Mac OS X installed. The previous owner had used the tower as a (shudder) Windows XP machine and erased the Apple development software. Noooooo!!!!

Finding a copy of the necessary software and then getting it to run on this system proved a bit of a challenge. That’s an understatement. These puppies require serious determination to bring back to life.

The magic system necessary is Mac OS X build 8b1025. After a few months I was lucky to get help from fellow Mac collector (and Prototype Man) Henry “Hap” Plain, who found a copy after locating a working DTS himself. But making drives from the disk image files he sent was unsuccessful, I couldn’t get my machine to boot. Multiple swapping of hard drives followed. After several tries we resorted to shipping drives across the country, and that finally worked. At last the mythical 10.4.1 on Intel was running live in front of me!

Grapple Man (prototype) Mac Os X

But I couldn’t duplicate the setup for backup purposes. This is an important part of keeping vintage computers working. Clones made of the startup disk would not boot the machine, they stalled at a black screen with a blinking cursor. More weeks of experimentation. More hard disks in and out. Let me tell you the drive slots on the G5 (err, DTS) tower are really annoying to deal with, they make me appreciate the Mac Pro design even more.

Damn it Apple, why are you making this (never-intended-to-be-released-to-the-public) system so difficult to restore? Never mind, don’t answer that.

Grapple Man (prototype) Mac Os 8

Eventually Hap managed to locate an image of the actual 10.4.1 install DVD that shipped with the towers from from Apple (I’m very jealous of his connections). This works better: with the DVD you can easily install OS X on the hard disk and reliably make the DTS come to life. But wait! Don’t put that installer away after installation, it also contains a boot loader necessary get the hard drive up and running. I’ve found that I need to keep the DVD in place in order to boot up the machine, otherwise it’s back to a blinking cursor.

As noted, this is not your Grandfather’s Macintosh. DTS, welcome to the VMM.

Grapple Man (prototype) Mac Os Sierra

1. Nice article! I have one of these machines, it’s been several years since I fired it up. Any interest in it, or can you recommend a good place to post it up for sale? I know this computer would only appeal to the collector crowd.

   Thanks,
   Ian

   • Hey, if you’re looking to get rid of that thing, can you send me an email?

     • You can send me an email at Alicespice @ aol.com. Seriously interested in it.

2. You might try the bootloaders developed by the OSx86 people, that are designed to bootstrap OS X on PC BIOS machines.

   • Hello Ian, I would be more than willing to purchase your macintosh. If you are willing to sell it still, please give me an offer and maybe we can work out a deal. Thanks, George

     • Sorry at the time I decided to keep it, but now I”m back in sell mode. However coming up with a price on this thing is pretty tricky, especially since I have evidence that this computer was at the WWDC in 2005. Whats your email?

       • Hi Ian,

         I realize this is a huge stretch as you made this post over a year ago now, but I’m looking for one of these machines and would be interested in purchasing it from you, if you still have for sale.

         My email address is derfbwh AT gmail dot com.

         Thanks!

         • Are you still interested in a DTS? I have one I wish to part with.

3. Hi all readers
   I have a Mac Pro DTS in fully working condition
   With a hard drive that boots without the need for a DVD to be in the drive
   Available for sale
   Getholdofjon At Gmail dot com

4. can you upload the installer? i want to try to make my own “mac” with tiger on it