Mac OS System 7.0, 7.1, 7.5, 8.0 beta screenies

[mrpijey]

I took the liberty of making a few screenshots when testing out the new betas we've got for BA. The screenies are not many, but shows at least some stuff. Most of it looks like their RTM counterparts except for minor bootlogos and menu items. The codenames may not be 100% accurate but most of them were extracted directly from the discs.

All these betas were installed directly from original CD-ROM discs, no modifications were made. I used the emulator BasiliskII without any special settings.

The releases themselves will be released on BA as soon as all scans has been done and everything has been archived and verified properly. Do not ask when.

• Apple Mac OS System 7.0a9, "Big Bang"
• Apple Mac OS System 7.0b1, "Big Bang"
• Apple Mac OS System 7.1b7, "Shuswap"*
• Apple Mac OS System 7.0b4, "SuperBeta"*
• Apple Mac OS System 7.5b2c2, "Mozart"
• Apple Mac OS System 8.0b3c1, "Tempo"

When time permits I will build a proper screenshot database for BetaArchive where all these (and any others I have) screenshots will be located.

--------
* BA already had this release, but it was just a tiny sit file. We have now the full CD-ROM with all the extras and tools, including netinstall and floppy images on the disc.

[finkmacunix]

Wow, nice screenshots.

It looks like the beta 7.0 control panel icons were colourized versions of the 6.x control panel icons...

Also note the beta "Apple Guide" icon, and the OS 8 "finder" icon using the small finder file icon, rather than the Mac OS face logo.

I'm sure there are many more interesting icons lurking in files, ResEdit can free them.

[Wheatley]

For whatever reason this made me lol

Anyway, thank you for the screenshots!

[mrpijey]

We managed to get hold of the full disc with the alpha9 version of MacOS 7.0, this one as early as May 1990! This early alpha was exceptionally buggy. The installer wouldn't run from the disc or floppy images without tossing out Error -119's all the time during install, Finder wouldn't install, and the System folder would be halfway corrupted as well. It would not boot in Basilisk II without completely freezing at the boot logo. I managed to get it running on vMac, but then without colors or any special features. But to do that I had to graft the Finder and System folder from the alpha with a Sys7 (RTM) boot floppy since vMac doesn't work with harddrives or CD-ROM units, so the System 7 floppy icon is not from this build, but from a RTM version of System 7. The screenshots that are available shows various screens from both. Icons are missing in vMac, not sure if it's the alpha or just vMac being buggy, and it crashes the emulator a lot. I will at a later date test it with a real Mac, but for now this will do.

I've updated the main post with a link.

[Wheatley]

Why does the "special" menu have SanJose in it in the 7.0a9? On the other screenshots such as this there is a different special string? Why?

[mrpijey]

That's actually a good question . At first I thought it was the actual codename for the build, but it doesn't match with other references in the same build. So I have no idea .

Added Apple Mac OS System 7.0b4, "SuperBeta"

[DJ Deedahx]

Wow. Thanks a lot, mrpijey!

I could say that SuperBeta looks slightly more refined than System 7.0.1 running on Mini vMac for some reason...