I did something last night that I didn’t think I’d ever do… No, I didn’t shave my head like my BF Britney. It’s too cold here for that and besides, I have an oddly shaped noggin. ;o)
What I did do is install Windows XP Professional on my Macbook Pro. Did I just hear a collective gasp from the audience? Yes, It’s true, I did it after several hours of frustration trying to get the Sony Reader Connect software installed on my Acer Ferrari laptop running Vista. The install process would appear to be working normally, only to stop with a lame message saying that it had been interrupted. Wow, thanks for the details! I tried a couple of times and then went to Sony’s site and grabbed their latest version that is supposed to be Vista compatible. No joy; it gave me the same results.
Then I remembered the DualCor CPC and booted it up only to remember that I needed to install Bluetooth drivers so that I could use a BT mouse and keyboard with it. An hour later, I still trying to get my Thinkoutside BT keyboard to work with the CPC. It kept asking me for the passcode when I would pair the two devices, but then I could not get the onscreen keyboard to allow me to type the code in the box. ARGH.
At this point I was getting kind of antsy because it was late in the evening and I needed to redeem a $50 gift certificate for the Connect store before it expired today. Then I had a light bulb moment and realized that DUH, I could install Apple’s Boot Camp or Parallels Desktop software on my Intel iMac or Macbook Pro. I decided to try the 15 day trial of Parallels instead of going with Boot Camp, which is free. My decision was based on the fact that the Boot Camp download is 143mb vs. 30mb for Parallels Desktop. My satellite has not been behaving nicely lately, so I didn’t want to wait 8.34 months for the download to complete.
A few minutes later, I launched the application, it asked me for my Windows CD and away it went! There was a sticky moment in the process, where it said it could not find a prior version of Windows and asked me for an NT, 2000, or 98 CD. I was puzzled because I was pretty sure my XP CD was not an upgrade CD… I got a little nervous would I could not find my old Win 98 disc. Luckily though, I found a Windows XP Home disc that it did accept. Approximately 30 minutes later, Windows was installed and ready to go.
It’s a very odd feeling to see a window with the Windows desktop on my Mac. So far I’m impressed though. The install of Sony’s Reader software went through without a hitch and I was able to redeem my gift certificate. Yay!
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Take a look at VMWare Workstation for MacOS. It’s free (VMWare Workstation is free on all platforms) and I’m told it blows Parallels away on performance – although I have personally never used either program.
VMWare Workstation is not free. VMware server is free (but NOT the ESX version). VMware works great, but Parallels has something VMware does not….Coherence. Coherence will let you run JUST the app you want in a Window and not the whole Windows XP instance. This will make it appear that the app is actually running right on top of Mac OS X when it really is not.
You’re right. My mistake.
It just occurred to me that there was another solution that I could have tried. I can’t think of the name right now, but I recall that there’s a way to emulate Windows XP on the Mac without even installing XP. I think the company / program name is Code something. Does anyone know what the heck I’m talking about and if so how well does it work?
I have 12 days left of my trail of Parallels and haven’t made up my mind if I will buy it yet ($80).
My guess is “CodeWeavers”. They’re the folks who’ve been helping fund Wine (the Windows API emulator for Linux), and they’re now advertising an OSX version of their “CrossOver” version of Wine. Their Linux versions were More Or Less Okay, although really specialized stuff would usually cause it to explode. It’s been several years since I last used it, though, so my info may be slightly out of date. 😉
They’re at http://www.codeweavers.com/
Hope this helps!
Viqsi:
Yes! That’s the one I was thinking of :o)
Who thinks that Leopard will have features like Parallels built in?
Julie, have you considered installing Windows on your iMac? Curious to know when buying a replacement Windows deskop, I should just get a iMac and run Windows on it instead – also, is the 24″ iMac working out for you?
Also are you using (satellite) DirecTV for your internet connection?
wonderdawg:
I don’t want to ‘contaminate’ my main computer (iMac) with Windows ;o) My Macbook Pro is a sit-in-front-of-the-tv and travel computer. If it gets goofed up, I can easily wipe it clean and start from scratch without much hassle. That’s why I installed Parallels on it.
My 24″ iMac is wonderful! I love it.
And yes, I’m using HughesNet for my internet connection. At least I am right now. In less than 106 days, I’ll have a T1 line.