Editing Mac OS 8 (section)

==Mac OS 8.1==

Released on January 19, 1998, Mac OS 8.1 was the last version of the Mac OS to run on Macs with [[Motorola 68000 series]] processors. It addressed performance and reliability improvements. It introduced a new file system named [[HFS Plus|HFS+]], also named Mac OS Extended, which supported large file sizes and made more efficient use of larger hard drives via using a smaller block size. To upgrade, users must [[disk format|reformat]] the hard drive, which deletes the entire contents of the drive. Some third-party utilities later appeared that preserved the user's data while upgrading to HFS+. The 68040 systems do not support booting from HFS+ disks; the boot drive must be HFS.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 13, 2015 |title=LowEndMac |url=http://lowendmac.com/2015/quadra-and-centris-mac-index/ |access-date=February 18, 2015 |archive-date=February 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218231628/http://lowendmac.com/2015/quadra-and-centris-mac-index/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Mac OS 8.1 was the first system to have a [[Universal Disk Format]] (UDF) driver,{{efn|Read and write version support for UDF version 1.02 only. Some earlier versions of the operating system could support UDF via third-party utilities as far back as 7.5, along with additional UDF version support. Future versions of UDF were not officially supported until 8.6.}} allowing for [[DVD]] support on the Mac for the first time. It also shipped with the new [[Java (programming language)|Java]] runtime (JDK 1.1.3).

Mac OS 8.1 also included an enhanced version of [[PC Exchange]], allowing Macintosh users to see the long file names (up to 255 characters) on files that were created on PCs running [[Microsoft Windows]], and supporting [[File Allocation Table#FAT32|FAT32]].

Mac OS 8.1 is the earliest version of the Mac OS that can run [[Carbon (API)|Carbon]] applications. Carbon support requires a PowerPC processor and installation of the CarbonLib software from Apple's website; it is not a standard component of Mac OS 8.1. Applications needing later versions of CarbonLib will not run on Mac OS 8.1. More recent versions of CarbonLib require Mac OS 8.6.

As part of [[Internet Explorer for Mac|Apple's agreement with Microsoft]], 8.1 included [[Internet Explorer 3]] initially, but soon switched to [[Internet Explorer 4]] as its default browser.

Mac OS 8.1 was free for Mac OS 8 owners and was available in February 1998 via the apple.com website.