PC Side of the Mac?

[MJNC]

Hey PrintPlanet folk;
I am running a Mac dual core G5 here at work. My boss is asking me if we can use PC formats of applications on it- and also says there is a way to “boot from the PC side”. I have no idea how to do this...
I found some documentation that says I need an “emulator” on my Mac to run PC apps. Is that normally something we’d have to buy separately? Or does it already come on the G5 Dual Core? And how do you set up the reboot params?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!! And Peace to the PrintPlanet.
_mjnc

 

[Cory Smith]

He is probably thinking of bootcamp which will allow you to run windows on your intel mac. BootCamp will not run on the older G5's. There are a couple options to run windows on the G5's, but none I would suggest

You can either upgrade your mac to a intel processor then run boot camp (requires the purchase of a windows OS as well) OR just pickup a cheapo dell for a few hundred bucks and use that...

Either option will work, just a matter of what direction you want to go. If you G5 is working fine otherwise, i'd probably just pickup a cheap PC.

 

[MJNC]

Angels/Devils

Angels/Devils

Hi Cory; thanks for the speedy reply.
As I know nothing of IT stuff, I can tell you that this Mac has a “Dual-Core Intel Xeon” 2GHz Processor running OSX ver 10.4.11. Does that make it one of the ones that would work well with BootCamp?
I have pulled some stuff off the web to show my boss in a meeting (in 3 minutes) about Virtual PC 5.0 and Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac. Any info/opinion on them, or should we stick with trying BootCamp? Any others?
Peace- thanks for your help!
_mjnc

 

[Cory Smith]

if you already have a dual core then you are set.

Bootcamp will work, but can be a bit of a hassle (requires a new partition and rebooting of your machine)

I would look at parallels or VM Ware Fusion.

both have similar features. I use parallels myself.

 

[mattbeals]

Save your money, get Sun VirtualBox ( Downloads - VirtualBox )

Guest_OSes - VirtualBox

Works like a champ, and it's free! Plus you can stay working in your Mac OS and move things back and forth. You can use Boot Camp but you would have to reboot the machine to work in Windows. I can load up a virtual machine when running Windows and use Solaris 10, Ubuntu, etc. On your Mac you could do the same thing but with Windows XP ( Screenshots: VirtualBox_OSX_beta_3.png - VirtualBox )

 

[Cory Smith]

Looks cool Matt.. Does virtualbox have drivers for mac specific hardware?

 

[mattbeals]

What Mac specific hardware?

 

[Cory Smith]

hardware vid acceleration, built-in cam, firewire controller

 

[mattbeals]

Should all be accessible. I don't have a new Mac though, just a PowerBook G4 Aluminum.

Try this:
VirtualBox on Mac OS X Hosts (View forum) • virtualbox.org

 

[pcmodem]

If you have a Dual core Intel machine, then you do not have a G5. You would have a Mac Pro.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Thanks Matt, I will check out the offering from Sun! Cheers.

While on this general topic, the other two common names in the VM field have been previously mentioned in this thread - which leaves two other options that I know of for running MS Win programs on an Intel Mac...

CROSSOVER (commercial):
CrossOver Differentiators - CodeWeavers

This is not a VM, one does not need a copy of Windows.

I have not used this product, I once downloaded it for trial and never installed it as I found remote desktop control of Win from my Mac to suit my very limited and specific needs (I never got CoRD to work, I used the offering from Microsoft).

The second option is the free, WINE route (which the commercial Crossover is based on):
http://www.winehq.org/
http://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX
http://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX/Installing
http://davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/

Regards,

Stephen Marsh

 

[wonderings]

What in specific does he want you to do with Windows on your Mac Pro? I run Windows 7 Ultimate on my Macbook Pro using Parrallels and it runs great for my needs. But if I was running heavier programs I would boot rather then running a virtual computer. What exactly does your boss want you to do with Windows on your mac?

 

[MJNC]

Dual Core What?

Dual Core What?

If you have a Dual core Intel machine, then you do not have a G5. You would have a Mac Pro.

Thanks, pcmodem. You are correct, it is a Mac Pro.
Wonderings... my boss wants me to do edits in FileMaker Pro. I have office loaded, but no Filemaker. He has a PC copy of the app (ver7), but does not want to buy a new Mac copy as we would need it so rarely.
I have been doing all of the edits on an old G3 in FM ver4 (the original DVD that came with the app is gone, however), then exporting and sending him Excel files. Works fine for me! I think he is just trying to make the process more convenient for all.
Thanks everyone for all the input - as usual, PrintPlanet Rocks.
Peace to the Print Planet!
_mjnc

 

[wonderings]

Thanks, pcmodem. You are correct, it is a Mac Pro.
Wonderings... my boss wants me to do edits in FileMaker Pro. I have office loaded, but no Filemaker. He has a PC copy of the app (ver7), but does not want to buy a new Mac copy.
I have been doing all of the edits on an old G3 in FM ver4 (the original DVD that came with the app is gone, however), then exporting and sending him Excel files. Works fine for me! I think he is just trying to make the process more convenient for all.
Thanks everyone for all the input - as usual, PrintPlanet Rocks.
Peace to the Print Planet!
_mjnc

I have not played with the networking features to much with Windows in Parrallels, but I do know it does connect to the network and can be seen as a seperate computer. If I were in your shoes, I would install Windows with Parrallels. I am running Snow Leopard using Parrallels 4.0. I can run Windows in whats called coherence mode, so I dont have to actually have a seperate screen, it integrates the windows apps into OSX, much easier to work that way.

 

[pmhapp]

I agree with MattBeals... Sun VirtualBox. Free! Works! Faster than Parallels or Fusion! You still need a copy of Windows though.

 

[tapdn]

Another vote here for VirtualBox. I've been running Winders 7 beta on my Intel iMac with no problems. Stay away from emulators.

 

[steppy]

intel only?

intel only?

Should all be accessible. I don't have a new Mac though, just a PowerBook G4 Aluminum.

Try this:
VirtualBox on Mac OS X Hosts (View forum) • virtualbox.org

Does this work on G4 or G5 box or only intel processor?

stephen

 

[MJNC]

What now?

What now?

Hey PrintPlanet folk;
So, Virtual Box is loaded on my Mac, and I have my copy of Windows XP that I need to load and run. Virtual Box is telling me that its sees the installation CD, but I don’t know how to access it.
The Windows documentation says to look for the file called “Install Windows XP”. Of course on the mac desktop, I can see no file by that name; and I am pretty sure I need to run the install from Virtual Box anyway. Again, I know nothing of this stuff; anybody out there who can help me?
Thanks in advance, and Peace to the PrintPlanet!
_mjnc

 

[prepressguru]

Does this work on G4 or G5 box or only intel processor?

stephen

No you need a Core2Duo or newer intel processor for Fusion, VMware or Virtualbox to work.

Good luck

 

[steppy]

almost got excited!

almost got excited!

That's what I thought.

When I get my new home intel box I will have to try Virtual Box. We've had pretty good results with parallels at work.

stephen