A detailed documentation for available copies of Macintosh System Software 1.0 (0.97) online

The System 0.97 Dilemma.md

The System 0.97 Dilemma

A side project detailing available disk dumps of Macintosh System Software 0.97, Finder 1.0.

Overview tl;dr: I would find a clean disk dump or a near perfect replica of the original System Disk.

Skip to the comparison table

Overview

In January 24th, 1984, Apple Computer Corporation introduced the Macintosh 128K (originally known as just Macintosh). It later became the most successful computer line in history, often becoming second place after the IBM PC compatible, with new models still being sold today, with the latest iterations using an in-house ARM chip. The system also popularized the GUI concept, influencing other operating systems to either follow suit or be made, with concepts lasting today.

Those original Macintosh models during that time released with the Macintosh System Software disk, version 1.0 (in reality, 0.97). The version lasted 4 months until it was replaced by System 1.1, which changed many aspects of the system, mostly just performance improvements and a different about box.

But, even if the releases are virtually the same, experience wise (like a fool might say), the System 0.97 disk proved to be important in the history of Apple, as it was, the first ever version of the system every Apple user and fanboy uses to this day (even if the system nowadays doesn't look like the systems of old, with the NeXTSTEP inheritance being the obvious difference between the two).

However, sadly, the original disk are lost to the sands of time, as the disks might have corrupted or been (over)written with other data, proving that a clean, unmodified disk dump hard to find. But, do not fret yet.

This file documents each and every available copy of Macintosh System Software 0.97 available online, as many has circulated in ages. Albeit modified, this serves as a guide to document the modifications made to each disk, and to give a clearer guide which one nearly match to the experience of the original system, as well as to motivate people to dump a museum-grade disk.

Motivations and goals

• to guide people to which copy nearly replicates the experience
• to motivate people to dump a clean, unmodified disk, accessible to everyone
• to provide documentation on every available copy of Macintosh System Software 0.97

What is supposed on the disk

• According to this blog post, Font Mover should be on the MacWrite/MacPint Disk.
• It should have an unmodified version of Chicago 12 seen in other versions

Comparison table

Copy	CRC-32 Hash	MD5 Hash	Notes/Remarks/Differences	Documented	Screenshot
Gamba's System Software Archive	96316A1B 783369B7 058AACB5	31f24858e9fb53ba90bc048c1138246f d7bdf2fa5622c53baae7b747e28b94b8 17890d548d965808e553053789d267b8	The most common copy, includes a modified pastel font instead of Chicago 12 as default. Also seen in WinWorld, Macintosh Garden and Macintosh Repository.	11/27/2023
Infinite Mac	8C537551	2310023cc054b3dac86b399bba05650b	Used in the website, it is modified to fit with the rest of the systems.	11/27/2023
Infinite Mac (Feb 25)	BCC0D42D	53e78bf9b912a3c27db0d332da21c43c	Initial disk image committed at that date.	11/27/2023
BetaArchive	6B5B64CF	f766d7457f087db5019bad4d1f7a41ea	Has a weird quirk where it changes the default font depending on the emulator, Chicago 12 in Mini vMac, the pastel font in Mini vMac 128K. (Might be the same as Gamba's)	11/27/2023
Archive.org	B3C13417	f1e04702aa967620e5da3d488470b939	Missing disk icon, with the remnants of a French system deep within the disk.	11/27/2023
Macintosh Repository Redump	C50BC0CF	4bbefa5f2b95ac4655d0787dbff937f9	Recreation of the disk, but different pattern.	11/27/2023
MacGUI 1st and 2nd copy	B997DCCD 0554D101	80831499d4ec72e7a2811ffcae2340e8 fb474f84a2a526aaac454cc584283eea	Only includes the contents of the System folder.	11/27/2023	N/A ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
earlymacintosh.org	B1EFA60F	2b5cf30b5bc5449795b493c9f188c255	Clean dumps by the webmaster, only includes the system folder and empty folder, with files on other disks. This dump came from New York, carefully preserved by a software developer, according to the webmaster. Also includes a dump of MacWrite/MacPaint disk.	11/29/2023
Mac512 User Group	2C763314	b36374a092374b4c98a91b6f320b09db	Proclaims to be "the first website" to upload this version. No disk icon + behaves like MacGUI 3. Freezes when opening a folder inside normal Mini vMac.	11/30/2023

Updates:

• Dec 11: The clean dumps from earlymacintosh.org have been uploaded to WinWorldPC.
• Dec 23: This gist was found by the dev of Infinite Mac, and the clean dumps are now available on Infinite Mac.

@Lucas-mother3 in case you're curious, mihaip/infinite-mac#100 (comment) explains the original provenance of the Infinite Mac image.

I just redid it (mihaip/infinite-mac@33e3375) based on the earlymacintosh.org on that you find.

@Lucas-mother3 in case you're curious, mihaip/infinite-mac#100 (comment) explains the original provenance of the Infinite Mac image.

I just redid it (mihaip/infinite-mac@33e3375) based on the earlymacintosh.org on that you find.

This was actually the inspiration why I started to document this, as I tried to search Google like reading a book cover-to-cover, finding secrets.

As for how I got the disks uploaded, I emailed the webmaster, initially expecting nothing (as old sites tend to have unreachable email addresses), but lo and behold, after some talking (such as asking if I could reupload the disks somewhere to ensure preservation), the webmaster uploaded it on his site later on.