Many of today's Macintosh users will have no recollection of System 6, but Mac veterans like myself remember it with varying degrees of fondness. Compared with today's Mac OS, System 6 was feature-challenged and simple, but it was also fast and very stable. My first Mac, a Mac Plus, shipped with System 6.0.1, which I later upgraded to System 6.0.3 in order to run Microsoft Word 5.1. System crashes, indeed crashes of any sort, were virtually nonexistent running this setup, and it was speedy, even with the puny 8 MHz 68000 processor, and a paltry 2.5 megabytes of RAM.

The System 6 user interface was one-dimensional and minimalist compared with Mac OS 9, but I quite liked its spare simplicity, and would be quite happy working with it today if modern features and functionality were added.

There are apparently still enthusiastic System 6 fans out there, and for anyone curious about the operating system that made the Mac famous, I encourage a visit to a Dutch Web site called:"The System 6 Heaven."

Their introductory blurb reads:

"System 6 will make any vintage Macintosh computer as fast as a g3.
It's more stable than system 7.x and provides almost instant booting.
It was way ahead of its time and can do far more than most people know.
It needs very little memory and takes up a small amount of hard disk space.
It's more elegant and user friendly than any other operating system ever made.
It is more inspiring for creative people than any other operating system ever made.
It's nicer and easier to work with than any other operating system ever made."

I pretty much agree with all this, and while it may seem like a bizarre flight of fancy, it has occurred to me that Apple could have done a lot worse then offering a System 6 style alternative user interface for Mac OS X for the legions that are underwhelmed by Aqua.

System 6 runs on most older Macintosh computers with 68000, 68020 and 68030 processors, but the lower end models like my old Mac Plus, which I still have, or the SE and the Classic are ideal. Any of the Mac II modular Macintoshes, which support color, will also just fly running System 6.

System 6 Heaven has published lists of what you can and cannot do with System 6. Partial excerpts with my annotations:

Can:
• Print on any postscript laserprinter ever made.
• Run PhotoShop (yes, I have a copy of Photoshop 1, that runs fine on the Mac plus)
• Run quark 3.31
• Run Word 5.1 (which in my estimation is still far superior to any subsequent version of Microsoft Word. Other word processors that will work with System 6 include: ClarisWorks 1.0 and 2.1, MacWrite II and Pro, MS Word 3.0 and 4.0, Nisus Compact, WordPerfect 3.0 and WriteNow 2.2 and 4.0.)
• Not mentioned by System 6 Heaven, but you can also run early versions of Microsoft Excel

Can't:
• Run 'modern' applications.
• Address more than 8 MB of RAM, unless you use a special third party program (not a problem with the original compact Macs, because they will only support For 4 MB RAM anyway.)
• Handle hard disks larger than 2 Gigabyte in size.
• Use any modern Web browser, (which is the biggest drawback to using System 6 on any Macintosh connected to the Internet. I have to concede that I have installed System 7 on my Mac Plus for this reason, although I have partitioned the tiny 20 MB hard drive, and also have a copy of System 6.0.8 installed for speed and stability when not online.)
• No Applescript support

There is also a comprehensive list of applications that will work with System 6, And you will also find a selection of tips and tricks for getting the best out of the old operating system, and links to many other System 6 sites.

If you are interested in using systems 6 on an older Mac, or just curious about this very important piece of Mac history, you can check out System 6 heaven at:
http://www.euronet.nl/users/mvdk/system_6_heaven.html

Manuel Mejia, Jr's Article, "Why System 6 for Compact Macs?" on Low End Mac is also worth a look:
http://lowendmac.com/macdan/991126.shtml

Charles W. Moore

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