[comp.sys.mac.system] What is A/ROSE?

tisu@quads.uchicago.edu (Seth Tisue) (05/21/91)

What does the A/ROSE (I may be misremembering the exact filename, but that's
the gist of it) System Extension on one of the System 7 installation disks do?
I've loaded it, to no visible effect.



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peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) (05/22/91)

In article <1991May21.022750.13870@midway.uchicago.edu>, tisu@quads.uchicago.edu (Seth Tisue) writes:
> What does the A/ROSE (I may be misremembering the exact filename, but that's
> the gist of it) System Extension on one of the System 7 installation disks do?
> I've loaded it, to no visible effect.

It's an operating system from Apple for embedded systems running on
68000 cards.  It's used on some Apple and 3rd party NuBus cards -
I'm pretty sure the ISDN card uses it for example.

-- michael

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glenn@gla-aux.uucp (Glenn Austin) (05/28/91)

In article <1991May21.022750.13870@midway.uchicago.edu>, tisu@quads.uchicago.edu (Seth Tisue) writes:
> What does the A/ROSE (I may be misremembering the exact filename, but that's
> the gist of it) System Extension on one of the System 7 installation disks do?
> I've loaded it, to no visible effect.

A/ROSE (Apple Realtime Operating System Extension) is used with intelligent
cards, such as the TokenTalk and newer EtherTalk cards.  It is an extension
to the base Mac OS that makes it easier to build intelligent NuBus cards
which include their own 68000 processors.

===============================================================================
| Glenn L. Austin                | "Turn too soon, run out of room.           |
| Macintosh Wizard and           |    Turn too late, much better fate."       |
| Auto Racing Driver             |   -- Jim Russell Racing School Instructors |
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| Usenet:  glenn@gla-aux.uucp         | CI$:       76354,1434                 |
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rkn@apple.com (Hud Nordin) (06/12/91)

In article <0E010021.1grw6l@gla-aux.uucp> glenn@gla-aux.uucp (Glenn
Austin) writes:

> In article <1991May21.022750.13870@midway.uchicago.edu>,
> tisu@quads.uchicago.edu (Seth Tisue) writes:
> > What does the A/ROSE (I may be misremembering the exact filename, but
> > that's the gist of it) System Extension on one of the System 7 
> > installation disks do?
> > I've loaded it, to no visible effect.
> 
> A/ROSE (Apple Realtime Operating System Extension) is used with 
> intelligent cards, such as the TokenTalk and newer EtherTalk cards.
> It is an extension to the base Mac OS that makes it easier to build 
> intelligent NuBus cards which include their own 68000 processors.
> 
> ==================================================================
> | Glenn L. Austin      | "Turn too soon, run out of room.
> | Macintosh Wizard and |    Turn too late, much better fate."
> | Auto Racing Driver   |   -- Jim Russell Racing School Instructor
> |-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks, Glenn. I expected we'd get some questions about the A/ROSE file in
the Extensions Folder. May I expand?

A/ROSE is the Apple Real-time Operating System Environment, a developer
package (from APDA) for implementing real-time applications on intelligent
NuBus cards. One part of A/ROSE is its kernel, a message-based
pre-emptive multitasking, real-time operating system that runs on
intelligent Macintosh II-family NuBus cards, the prime example being the
generic Macintosh Coprocessor Platform card. There also is a Macintosh OS
extension that provides interprocess communication for code on the
main logic board.

The A/ROSE file in the Extensions folder holds these pieces as well as
related resources. For the first time with System 7.0, A/ROSE comes as
part of a system release; it is installed as needed. As an extension,
A/ROSE is useless unless there is client software to utilize it.

The A/ROSE kernel and IPC were designed to be small, configurable,
distributed across processors, and to achieve high throughput. The
context switch on the 10 MHz 68000-based MCP card is 110 microseconds.
IPC rates are more than 4000 msgs/sec on an MCP card and more than
10000 msgs/sec on a Macintosh II. (Sorry, A/ROSE does not provide
pre-emptive multitasking for the Macintosh OS.)

A/ROSE is currently used in several Apple products, including MacAPPC
(IBM SNA Advanced Program to Program Communication), MacDFT (3270/3570
Terminal Emulation),  TokenTalk, SMB File Transfer and MacX25, with more
on the way; it is also being used by third party developers, mostly for
in-house applications.

Curiousity satisfied?

-------------------------------------------------
Hud Nordin
Apple Computer, Inc.      HUD@applelink@apple.com
20525 Mariani Ave.        rkn@apple.com
Cupertino, CA 95014       AppleLink HUD