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Author Running Windows on a Mac - using BootCamp or...?
Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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24th May 10 at 12:47   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Hi guys,

I understand that BootCamp is something that comes free with Snow Leopard which lets you set up a Windows partition and allows for dual-booting etc.

Is that the best thing to use for that purpose, or should I be using something else - i.e. Parallels Desktop, Sun VirtualBox?

I need to be able to use Windows (would like to use XP or Vista) for website testing purposes - basically just web browsers, Adobe Reader for PDFs, think that's about it really.

Thanks.
jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
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24th May 10 at 12:50   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

i also want to know this as my dad wants windows too
adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
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24th May 10 at 13:04   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I use bootcamp and have an XP partition. works really well.

just hold down the control key when booting up and then select the disk.

If you just wanna quickly test stuff then might be worth using parallels or something. I've never used those programs so can't really help.
AlunJ
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
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24th May 10 at 14:28   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I use bootcamp, runs pretty well - takes a bit longer to boot than if you were on a pc but once it's running there's no difference. mind you I hardly use windows on here
Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
Location: North Wales Drives: BMW, Corsa & Fiat
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24th May 10 at 15:21   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I use - http://browsershots.org/

You probablu use something similar yourself, but just thinking it might just save a lot of pissing about.

Always handy to have a windows partition / bootcamp on your mac though I guess.
jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
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24th May 10 at 15:31   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

sounds silly but my dad has the 24" imac and the only version of windows lying around is 64 bit Windows 7. Do you think this will work?
Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
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24th May 10 at 16:01   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by Whittie
I use - http://browsershots.org/

You probablu use something similar yourself, but just thinking it might just save a lot of pissing about.

Always handy to have a windows partition / bootcamp on your mac though I guess.


Too impatient to wait for anything on Browsershots, also won't work for me anyway as I have a LAN webserver which the outside world can't see
Whittie
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Registered: 11th Aug 06
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24th May 10 at 16:43   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Out of interest, how do you test php forms etc then?
ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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24th May 10 at 18:04   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by jamied
sounds silly but my dad has the 24" imac and the only version of windows lying around is 64 bit Windows 7. Do you think this will work?
Providing it's an Intel based Mac it will work.
Andrew
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Registered: 5th May 04
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24th May 10 at 18:41   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Bootcamp works brilliant. Much faster than Virtual Box.
Andrew
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24th May 10 at 18:42   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by ed
quote:
Originally posted by jamied
sounds silly but my dad has the 24" imac and the only version of windows lying around is 64 bit Windows 7. Do you think this will work?
Providing it's an Intel based Mac it will work.


Bootcamp is x86 sadly
ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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24th May 10 at 18:46   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Oops, missed the x64 bit.
John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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24th May 10 at 18:48   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

64 bit 7 works fine.
jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
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24th May 10 at 20:00   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Update.
I used bootcamp to install 32bit windows 7 enterprise. Was very easy and installed in no time. really is excellent and had not one problem with any device drivers. Speedwise is perfect. Cant recommend it enough really. Best of both worlds. Activation was a bit of a bastard but use slic activator and eventually worked.
JohnnyR
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Registered: 21st Sep 06
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24th May 10 at 21:49   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I installed Windows 7 using bootcamp and then installed VMWare Fusion within OSX. From that I can access the Windows 7 Partition and boot into it like a virtual machine and I sometimes run it in what's called Unity Mode, which allows you to launch programs (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, IE) directly within OSX.

I would definitely recommend it as it means you dont have to power down your instance of OSX and you can run them side by side.
Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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24th May 10 at 22:33   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

If it's just for testing then go down the virtualised route, eg: VMWare/Parallels, save you having to keep booting between Windows and OSX. Obviously bootcamp if you're going to be doing anything demanding (gaming etc).
Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
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25th May 10 at 10:49   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by Whittie
Out of interest, how do you test php forms etc then?


My local webserver has PHP installed on it.
Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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25th May 10 at 10:52   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by Dom
If it's just for testing then go down the virtualised route, eg: VMWare/Parallels, save you having to keep booting between Windows and OSX. Obviously bootcamp if you're going to be doing anything demanding (gaming etc).


JohnnyR's set up sounds good though (i.e. installing Windows to a separate partition using BootCamp, then accessing it with VMWare within OS X) - especially the Unity mode thing - but if I'm running resource hogs like Photoshop for example in OS X, would that not severely affect the performance of Windows in the virtual box?
JohnnyR
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25th May 10 at 11:04   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I've only got 2GB of RAM, I assigned 512mb to the Windows machine in VMWare, which as you probably know is more than enough to boot with and launch programs such as browsers.

Check it out free for 30 days, http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/
ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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26th May 10 at 08:47   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Do you get full Magic Mouse support in Windows? I.E. can you configure right click?
jamied
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Registered: 27th Oct 03
Location: Marbella,Spain Drives: C63
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27th May 10 at 19:54   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by JohnnyR
I installed Windows 7 using bootcamp and then installed VMWare Fusion within OSX. From that I can access the Windows 7 Partition and boot into it like a virtual machine and I sometimes run it in what's called Unity Mode, which allows you to launch programs (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, IE) directly within OSX.

I would definitely recommend it as it means you dont have to power down your instance of OSX and you can run them side by side.



thanks for this, works brill

 
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