The best of both worlds
 

I just finished installing windows XP in a 15 gig partition on my Mac Book Pro with intel dual core. It is like having two laptops in one now...time will tell which one I use the most. Right now, I am typing on OS X. I feel like I just put a chevy motor in my Porsche though...

Aurel

Re: The best of both worlds
 

That's the truth.

Yeah, but look at all the great Wintel games you can play now!

Re: The best of both worlds
 

Aurel, how easy is installing XP and running native windows apps? Any tricks or bugs?

Moses,

It is very easy, because Apple made a software just for that which burns a CD with all the drivers needed and installs them in XP. You have to update the firmware of the mac to the latest version too. Every thing is explained with that bootcamp software. You have to have your own XP install CD too.

For the little story, there was a challenge with a $13,000 prize for who would find a way to boot XP on a mac first. It was not trivial, because the new macs use EFI, and XP does not. The challenge was won, and shortly after, Apple came up with their own official solution.

Also, this is not an emulation. Indeed, XP runs native while OS X does not because large portions of it are still written for the PPC and translated for the Intel processor by the Rosetta engine. Now, when you think that one can use this trick with a $599 Mac Mini, it really opens horizons...

Aurel

No bugs noticed so far. But you will need a mouse with right click too. I have run Autocad and Labview without a problem on my Mac under XP.

Aurel

What is your use for Labview? We use it for data collection in our R&D compressor lab.

Try this.

http://www.parallels.com/

There's a free Beta so you've got nothing to lose.

No rebooting.

It's VM, (virtual machine) which is not the same as emulation.

Emulation like the old Virtual PC product required the PowerPC processor to emulate an Intel chip which is what made it suck but it was the only option.

You can have multiple Virtual Machines running simultaneously.

On a scale of 1-10, Emulation is a 1, Native (dual boot) is a 10, a VM is around an 8-9.

My webmaster is running it on his new 15 inch MacBook and loves it. He's got Windows 2000, XP and a Linux distro set up.

I'm just waiting for the 17 inch MacBook.

Scott

I have written a program that measures I-V curves on solar cells and calculates their efficiency. Labview controls the potentiostat, the light intensity, and measures the temperature of the cell.
I also made antother program that scans that wavelength of light with a monochromator and measures the photocurrent with a lock-in amplifier. I love programming with Labview. I never took a course for it, it is intuitive enough to be self tought. Sometimes I wish I could do just that...

Aurel

I have a lab of Macs and my new MacBookPro is the fastest, most awesome machine I've got (and I've got some big ones). It feels like my Powerbook 996 has been upgraded to a GT2, to use the Porsche comparisons.

Unfortunately, we're not using labview for control. The compressors are controlled with an Allen-Bradley controller. I put in a capital request for upgrading the system for full control, so we'll see if it happens.

I have two questions:

1) Is what Aurel did legal? I thought there was some rising flak from Microsoft about XP being able to run on Macs.

2) What about doing the opposite - running the Mac OS on an Intel system. Has anyone done that?

Thanks, Aurel. That seals it. I'm getting a Mac Mini. Anybody need my old Dell Crashpro 2000?

Totally legal.

Have not heard any flak from MSFT. Why would they care. Their potential customer base gets bigger with every Intel Mac that gets sold.

2 has been done with the Beta/developer versions but it ain't pretty.

DD74,

You can buy a licensed copy of windows XP from Microsoft, and install it on any machine you want, either a PC that you build yourself, a Mac, or whatever else can run it. So, for Microsoft, it is legal.
Now, for Apple, obviously they endorse it, they know it will raise their sales of Macs, and they are the ones who explain how to do it.

Now, running Mac OS in PC should be doable too, but I think Apple has made sure it will be much more difficult, the reason why they use the EFI system for booting. Obviously, Apple does not want his OS running on PC s that they don`t sell, while they welcome windows on their machines if that can incrase their market share.

Porsche had to make SUVs, Apple had to run XP. In both cases, it upsets the purists but helps the company stay around.

Aurel

Check out some of the benchmarks.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6484737.html

here's how to do it.
http://osx86.theplaceforitall.com/howto/

I wish Apple would get the rest of the Mac line converted to Intel already.

I've promised to buy my daughter her own laptop, and am waiting for the Intel iBook (MacBook?).

My home office, when I get it set up (need a home first), wants a quad-core PowerMac and triple screens. Again, I'm waiting for the Intel machines since some of our apps are Windows-only (Bloomberg APIs, etc).

As for my work laptop, I couldn't wait for the 12" MacBookPro, so I bought another IBM.

Come on!

The big difference between Macs and PCs is that all Macs are the same, while all PCs are different, from their hardware. So, a solution for booting XP that works on my Mac will work on your Mac, because we use the same drivers for our Macs.
But for booting OSX on PCs, each PC really is a different case, because you need drivers that are suported by OS X. That is why the author of this article had to build his own PC which he knew would have most chances to run OS X. OS X was not meant to use third party drivers like XP does. In other words, for XP, a Mac is just another PC, while for OS X, a PC is a total stranger, and you have to fool him he is on a Mac to boot!

Aurel

17 inch MacBooks announced today. Shipping in about a week. Placed my order this morning. Now the real waiting begins.

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/

Scott