Apple Technical Notes

Apple Technical Notes answer many specific questions about the operation of Macintosh computers and the Mac OS. The technical notes are available on the website at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/

3D Graphics

Developers of 3D graphics for games should know about OpenGL for Macintosh¬®, a new version of SGI’s application programming interface (API) and software library for 3D graphics.

General information on OpenGL is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.opengl.org

Developer support and documentation is available at

http://developer.apple.com/opengl/

PowerPC G4 Microprocessor

Information about the PowerPC G4 microprocessor is available on the World Wide Web at

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC7447A&nodeId=018rH3bTdG8653

Mac OS X

Mac OS X version 10.3.7 is installed by default on the 12-inch PowerBook G4. For access to Apple’s developer documentation for Mac OS X, see the Apple Developer Connection (ADC) website at

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/index.html

O'Reilly & Associates publishes a series of books about Mac OS X development. The books in this series have been technically reviewed by Apple engineers and are recommended by the Apple Developer Connection.

Velocity Engine

Velocity Engine is Apple’s name for the AltiVec vector processor in the PowerPC G4 microprocessor. Apple provides support for developers who are starting to use the Velocity Engine in their applications. Documentation, development tools, and sample code are available on the Apple website, at

http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/ve/index.html

AltiVec Technology Programming Environments Manual (AltiVec PEM) is a reference guide for programmers. It contains a description for each instruction and information to help in understanding how the instruction works. Obtain a copy of the AltiVec PEM from the following Freescale site on the World Wide Web by logging in and searching for ALTIVECPEM/D.

http://www.freescale.com/

Open Firmware

Three technical notes provide an introduction to Open Firmware on the Macintosh platform. They are:

TN1061: Open Firmware, Part I, available on the technical note web site at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1061.html

TN1062: Open Firmware, Part II, available on the technical note web site at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1062.html

TN1044: Open Firmware, Part III, available on the technical note web site at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1044.html

TN2001: Running Files from a Hard Drive in Open Firmware, at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2001.html

Another technical note tells how to debug open firmware code. Please refer to TN2004: Debugging Open Firmware Using Telnet, available on the technical note web site at

http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn2004.html

RAM Expansion Modules

The mechanical characteristics of the RAM DDR SO-DIMM are given in JEDEC specification number JESD95. The specification can be found by using the search string JESD95 on the Electronics Industry Association’s website at

http://www.jedec.org/DOWNLOAD/default.cfm

The electrical characteristics of the RAM SO-DIMM are given in JEDEC Standard 21-C. The specification can be found by using the search string JESD-21C on the Electronics Industry Association’s website at

http://www.jedec.org/DOWNLOAD/default.cfm

ATA Devices

ATA (AT Attachment), also referred to as integrated drive electronics (IDE), is a standard interface used with storage devices such as hard disk drives. For more information on ATA, refer to the following Apple website at

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeviceManagers/ata/ata.html

Information about the ATA standards is available at the Technical Committee T13 AT Attachment website, at

http://www.t13.org/

USB Interface

For more information about USB on Macintosh computers, refer to Apple Computer’s Accessing Hardware from Applications at

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/DeviceManagers/usb/usb.html

For full specifications of the Universal Serial Bus, refer to the USB Implementation Forum on the World Wide Web, at:

http://www.usb.org/developers/docs

FireWire 400 Interface

For additional information about the FireWire 400 IEEE 1394a interface and the Apple APIs for FireWire software, refer to the resources available on the Apple FireWire web site at:

http://developer.apple.com/firewire/index.html

The IEEE 1394a standard is available from the IEEE. Ordering information can be found on the World Wide Web at

http://shop.ieee.org/store/

Useful information is also available at the 1394 Trade Association’s web site:

http://www.1394ta.org/

Wireless Networks

More information about Wi-Fi and wireless networks using the IEEE 802.11 standard is available on the web site of the WiFi Alliance, at

http://www.wi-fi.org

Bluetooth

For more information regarding Bluetooth technology, refer to the following locations on the World Wide Web.

Bluetooth specification:

http://www.bluetooth.org/spec/

Bluetooth SIG:

http://www.bluetooth.org

Bluetooth developer tools on the Apple web site at:

http://developer.apple.com/hardwaredrivers/bluetooth/