BootX (Apple)

BootX
Developer(s)Apple Inc.
Initial releaseAugust 24, 2002 (with Mac OS X 10.2)[1][2]
Operating systemDarwin & Mac OS X[3]
PlatformPowerPC[4]
TypeBoot loader
LicenseApple Public Source License[5]
For the similarly-named bootloader that is one of the bootloaders that enables Old World PowerPC Macintoshes to boot native (i.e. non-MkLinux) Linux, see BootX (Linux).

BootX is a software-based bootloader designed and developed by Apple Inc. for use on the company's Macintosh computer range. BootX is used to prepare the computer for use, by loading all required device drivers and then starting-up Mac OS X by booting the kernel on all PowerPC Macintoshes running the Mac OS X 10.2 operating system or later versions.[2][6]

Using BootROM, a read-only memory (ROM) computer chip containing Open Firmware, a graphical bootsplash is shown briefly on all compatible Macintosh computers as a grey Apple logo with a spinning cursor that appears during the startup sequence.[7]

The program is freely available as part of the Darwin operating system under the open-source Apple Public Source License.[5]

BootX was superseded by another nearly identical bootloader named boot.efi and an Extensible Firmware Interface ROM on the release of the Intel-based Mac.[4]

  1. ^ "Jaguar "Unleashed" at 10:20 p.m. Tonight". Apple Inc. August 23, 2002. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Siracusa, John (September 5, 2002). "Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar". Ars Technica. p. 3. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  3. ^ BootX-81 on GitHub
  4. ^ a b "System Startup Programming Topics: The Boot Process". Apple Inc. February 8, 2007. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Apple Public Source License". Apple Inc. August 6, 2003. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  6. ^ Singh, Amit (2007) [2006]. "The Firmware and the Bootloader". Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach. Addison-Wesley. pp. 324–325. ISBN 978-0-321-27854-8. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
  7. ^ Tanous, Jim. "Booting Mac OS X". tekrevue.com. Retrieved September 29, 2014.