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| Developer(s) | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| Initial release | April 1984; 40 years ago (1984-04) |
| Operating system | Classic Mac OS |
MacWorks XL is anApple Lisacomputer program which shipped with theMacintosh XL. It allows 64KApple Macintosh ROM emulation so the Macintosh XL can runclassic Mac OS programs.
Soon after the debut of theMacintosh, 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 introducedMacWorks v1.0 for the Lisa.[1] 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 internalWidget or attachedProFile hard disk. With the introduction of the re-branded Macintosh XL in January 1985, MacWorks was likewise renamed for the release.
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 MacintoshSystem 5.
When the Lisa was discontinued,Sun Remarketing continued development of the MacWorks environment under license up to the release ofMacWorks Plus 1.1 (which supportsSystem Software 6). Dafax Processing Corp. with the assistance of Query Engineering, Inc. then further developed the environment toMacWorks Plus II which will support up toSystem 7.5 along with all other late modelMotorola 68000-based Macs.
