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Nukernel

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NuKernel
DeveloperJeff Robbin, Thomas E. Saulpaugh, Bill M. Bruffey, Russell T. Williams
Working stateDiscontinued
Source modelClosed-source
Initial release1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Final releasePatent filing / 1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Marketing targetPersonal computers
Available inEnglish
PlatformsPowerPC
Kernel typeMicrokernel
Default
user interface
GUI
LicenseProprietary
Preceded byMach
Succeeded byXNU

NuKernel is a microkernel which was developed at Apple Computer during the early 1990s. Written from scratch and designed using concepts from the operating system (OS) Mach 3.0, with extensive additions for soft real-time scheduling to improve multimedia performance, it was intended to be used as the basis for the OS Copland. Only one version was seen publicly, in the Copland alpha release. It proved to be very unstable. Development ended in 1996 with the cancellation of Copland.

The External Reference Specification (ERS) for NuKernel is contained in its entirety in US patent 5590334, Saulpaugh, Thomas E.; Bruffey, Bill M. & Williams, Russell T., "Object oriented message passing system and method", published 1996-12-31, issued 1996-12-31, assigned to Apple Computer .

The one-time technical lead for NuKernel, Jeff Robbin, was one of the driving forces behind iTunes and the iPod.

The name NuKernel by Apple, should not be confused with nukernel, the custom kernel in BeOS.

See also