MacOS

Background: macOS is an operating system made by Apple, starting out as just "Mac OS" during the '80s. Originally being made as a development of the Apple Lisa interface, it debuted with the release of the Macintosh 128K in 1984. The operating system would later change over the time with various improvements. After 2001 with the release of version 10, the OS would change it's name to "Mac OS X". With the release of Mountain Lion, the name was changed to "OS X". The name of the OS is currently "macOS", starting with Sierra in 2016.

1st Screen

(January 24, 1984-February 1, 2002)

Nicknames:

"The Happy Mac", "B&W Happy Mac"
For the error variant: "The Sad Mac" The Mac from Hell/Of doom
For the Mac OS 8.5 variant: "The Colored Happy Mac"

Screen: On a gray background, an icon of a Macintosh with a happy face on the screen appears.

Variants:

Whenever the Macintosh has a severe error, (or happen to press the interrupt switch on the side of some Macs) It will display a black background with the same Image of the Macintosh, but it will be displaying a frown and has X's over its eyes. This is called the "Sad Mac", which was used in 1984 to 2002.
Starting with Mac OS 8.5 to 10.1 Puma, the background is gray, and the Happy Mac icon of the 1st logo appears, but colored. Starting with the release of Mac OS X 10.0, the Happy Mac became flatter and the spinning wait cursor (commonly known as the"spinning pin wheel of death") appears on the top right corner.

FX/SFX: None.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): The trademark Apple note has been known to evolve during the course of the Happy Mac startup, these include:

Macintosh 128K, 512K, Plus, SE and Classic (1984-1992): A beeping sound.
Macintosh II & Macintosh SE/30 (1987-1991): A synthesized guitar note.
Macintosh LC Series & Macintosh Classic II (1990-1996): A quiet synth note.
Macintosh Color Classic, Quadra/Centris Series and 68k Powerbooks (1991-1995): An airy keyboard note.
Power Macintosh & Performa 5200/5300 Series (1995-1997): A string chord.
NuBus Power Macintoshes (1994-1996): A live guitar note.
Quadra/Centris AV Series (1993-1994): The trademark synth chime note that would later be used on newer computers.
PCI Power Macintoshes (1996-1998): A lower pitch version of the same synth chime.
20th Anniversary Macintosh (1997-1998): An echoing light synth note.
iMac G3 & Power Macintosh G3 Blue & White (1998-2002): An even lower pitch and lower quality version of the Quadra/Centris AV chime. The same chime would be used on newer and current Macs.

All these sounds can be heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTwmtvrdJlQ" target="_self">here</a>.

Startup Sound Variants: When the Sad Mac is displayed, depending on what Mac you're using. A noise will be heard in the background. These chimes are nicknamed the "Chimes of Death":

Macintosh 128K, 512K, Plus, SE, Classic, iMac, & Power Macintosh G3 Blue & White (1984-1992, 1998-2002): None.
Macintosh II and SE/30 (1987-1993): A synthesized guitar arpeggio. Depending on the error, this suceeds either a short chord, a single note, or two notes.
Macintosh LC Series & Macintosh Classic II (1990-1996): A higher pitched version of the arpeggio played on a synth followed by four more notes.
Quadra/Centris AV Series (1993-1994): A short, steady tempo tune.
Performa 5200/5300 Series & Macintoshes with PowerPC upgrade card (1995-1997): A dramatic three note brass fanfare followed by drumbeats.
Performa 6100 series (1994-1996): A car engine sound followed by a car crash.
PCI Power Macintoshes (1995-1998): An airy shattering/axe sound.

All of the chimes can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS34WkPThzw" target="_self" title="here.">here</a>.

Availability: Appears on all Macintosh computers running System 0.97 to Mac OS 9.2.1 (when using a Old World ROM Mac). After the release of Mac OS System 3.0, this screen would appear before the next one, then before the 3rd logo in Mac OS 7.6.

Scare Factor:

None to low, depending on the sound being used for the startups. However, it's a favorite of many Mac users and Apple fans alike.
Low to high for the Sad Mac variants, as its jarring appearance and whatever noise it plays will startle you. The fact that your computer is in trouble might raise the scare factor for some.
Low to nightmare for the Performa 5200/5300 and PowerPC Sad Mac variant. The dramatic theme may scare a lot of people. The scare factor will raise to those who were expecting the other chimes to start playing and this plays!
Medium to nightmare for the Power Macintosh 6100 Sad Mac variant, the car sound effects come out of nowhere and the crash might be unsettling to a bunch of people.

2ndScreen

(January 24, 1984-April 7, 1997)

Screen: On a dotted graybackground, a bordered rectangle appears, with an icon of the computer and mouse on the left and the text "Welcome to Macintosh." in the center.

FX/SFX: TBA

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): TBA

Availability: Rare. Appears on Macintosh computers beginning with the Macintosh 128k (System 0.97), presumably ending with the release of System 7.5.5 due to the introduction of the next startup screen with Mac OS 7.6.

Scare Factor: None.

3rdScreen

(January 7, 1997-February 1, 2002)

Nicknames: "The Finder Icon", "The Blue Face"

Screen: On agraybackground, a bordered gray square appears with another bordered square inside, filled in white. Inside that square there's an icon of a blue/cyan face with a large nose, causing it to look like two faces if you look closely, one of then looking at the screen and the other pointing at the left. Below there's "Mac OS", with a "TM" trademark above "Mac". Below the white square there's the text "Starting up..." and the download bar below. The background varies depending on the version; it may be gray or blue (with or without little Finder faces in the background). At the very bottom of the screen, icons representing the system's extensions appear one by one as they are loaded.

Trivia: Extensions were removed in Mac OS X due to the fact that extensions sometimes tended to make the system very unstable.

Variants: On every update, there are changes that happen to the logo.

Mac OS 7.6 (1997): The "U" in "up" is now uppercase. Plus, the background is now blue with several copies of the Mac OS logo.
Mac OS 8.0 (1997):The "TM" symbol is not above "Mac", remaining the background the same as the Mac OS 7.6 update.
Mac OS 8.5 (1998): The download bar has a new blue gradient fill. Plus the "Mac OS" wordmarks on each copy of the logo is removed and the background is now darker.
Mac OS 8.6 (1999): "OS" is no longer blue and a "8.6" is seen next to the wordmark,thus making it read as "Mac OS 8.6". The background is still the one from the Mac OS 8.5 update.
Mac OS 9.0 (1999): The number is changed to "9", thus making it read as "Mac OS 9". The background from the Mac OS 8.5 update.
Mac OS 9.1 (2001): The number is changed to "9.1", thus making it read as "Mac OS 9.1". The background is also cyan with a cyan gradient fill.
Mac OS 9.2 (2001): The number is changed to "9.2", thus making it read as "Mac OS 9.2". The background is plain blue this time.

FX/SFX: The download bar.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): None.

Availability: Uncommon. Appears on Macintosh computers running Mac OS 7.6, 8, and 9, such as the PCI Power Macintosh computers and the iconic iMac G3.

Scare Factor: None.

4th Screen

(March 24, 2001-November 14, 2007)

Nicknames: "The Blue Apple Logo (2001-2003)", "The Glossy Apple Logo (2003-2007)"

Screen:

2001 (10.0): On a blue background, a rectangle in the center with lines appears, with a metalic apple logo near the top, and the text "Mac OS X" below it. The progress bar is seen below. "Welcome to Macintosh." is seen below the bar. Then, verbose information about the startup appears in place of "Welcome to Macintosh".
2001-2003 (10.1-10.2): Same concept, but with a blue, glassy apple logo.
2003-2007: (10.3-10.4): It's the same concept as before, but the apple logo is in white with a streak, "Mac OS X" is seen with a different font, and the loading bar and "Welcome to Macintosh." with theverbose information (in Panther) or "Starting Mac OS X..." (in Tiger, with no verbose info) text are inside a darker rectangle section.

FX/SFX: The download bar.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): None (since the "Colored Happy Mac" and the next logo actually serve the startup sound).

Availability: Pretty rare. Appears in Mac OS X 10.0-10.4 computers.

Scare Factor: None.

5th Screen

(August 23, 2002- )

Nickname: "The Apple Logo"

Screen: A gray background fades in. The dark Apple logo then appears at the center. After a while, the loading circle appears below the logo.

Variant: Starting with 10.10 Yosemite, a progress bar appears. On newer Macs, the background is black and the Apple logo is white. Prior to 10.10 Yosemite, on safe boot, the progress bar appeared below the circle.

FX/SFX: The logo appearing.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): The 1998 iMac synth chime, again. On newer Macs, starting with MacBook Pro, none.

Availability: Current. Appears on all the Mac computers using 10.2 Jaguar onwards. This serves as the 1st screen that appears before the 2nd screen of the previous startup on 10.2 Jaguar, and also before the next logo on 10.3 Panther. Versions after 10.4 Tiger has no other screen following afterwards besides the desktop or log-on request.

Scare Factor: None. It's appearance during the black screen may startle a few, but this logo's actually harmless.

MacOS

Navigation menu

Search