New to Mac World

Got my first Apple, a 15in MacBook pro 2.66GHz with 320Gb and just trying to get the hang of it having come from a PC world. I do know PCs inside out but MAC is new arena for me.

I'm currently struggling with porting some PC apps over & I'm using Parallels v4. The two most critical I need ported are Sage Line 50 FC 2007 & Actinic eCommerce package V9.0.5 Business edition. Is there anyone on the forum who has the above two apps working successsfully on a MacBook, can you please advise? or should I use VMware Fusion.

Many Thanks in Advance
Nilesh

I just wanted to say "Hi" and welcome to the forum. My history is like yours. The first thing I did was get Parallels and install XP on my Mac. Now I only use Mac software, and don't even have Windows capability on it. I found I didn't need it. And, the further away from the Microsoft/Windows world I got, the happier I became. Good luck, and enjoy that Mac!

Thanks for the warm welcome.
Its good to know I'm on the right track & don't think I'll regret it. Its a matter of getting use to it.

With regards to windows.... ooh, how I'd like to ditched it. Unfortunately, can't get away from it right away as both Sage & Actinic only run on Windows and these are two apps I need at the moment. If worse comes to worse, I'll leave these two apps on an old PC.

I ran sage on VM fusion using XP for a while , but now just use mac side of things as got a lappy for work given to me for those sort of things. I can see why you've gone down that road though as there is still a couple of things that only run on windows.
And a warm welcome from a nearly newbie myself .

Thanks Flapjack for the warm welcome.

Two simple questions, based on your experience.

1. Is VM Fusion better than Parallels in order to run Windows based apps, especially Sage & Actinic? If so, I'll swap over.

2. Is it better to ditch both, VM fusion & Parallels in favour of a separate Windows laptop? Don't want to do this having splashed out on a MacBook pro which isn't cheap compared to a reasonable laptop. Currently, these apps are running on a desktop & I really needed portability for these.

Thanks
Nilesh

Although I don't use either of those packages, I was wondering what kinds of problems you're having with them? It might be that the problems themselves are general ones that someone here might be able to help with in terms of Parallels (or fusion for that matter)

The other option is if you need that other software, but don't need to use it all the time, you can look into setting up a bootcamp partition and install Windows on it and boot to that when you need to use that particular software (of course, if you use it all the time, using it through a vm would be much more convenient...)

Important package at the moment is Actinic eCommerce which is a PC based application and maintains my website. First problem I'm facing is the differing version of Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC). The default installed version is 2.8 whilst Actinic insists on 2.6. I'm trying to resolve this. The second issue is performance. Running Actinic on MAC through Parallels is significantly slower than running it on a Dell PC. I believe at the moment its a matter of configuration. However, I was looking if anyone out there is using Sage and/or Actinic on MAC and understand how Parallels or Fusion its configured. Hopefully, I can learn & migrate quickly.

Longterm wise, I'm installing a windows based ePOS system with backoffice where I can put these two apps, thus freeing up the MAC. A big downer on this saga is that none of the hardware I invested in my business such as barcode scanners, no longer work as they were PC based only. MacBook has become a nice to have but not too practical at the moment. Shame.

the 2.6 version of mdac can be installed, it's file is mdac_typ.exe, which you can download from here:

Download details: Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.6 Service Pack 2

we use a custom software package here that requires 2.6 installed on all of our stations...

You may want to try getting vmware fusion (I'm pretty sure they have a trial available) and see how it performs - I don't know about Parallels but vmware just came out with a new version of fusion that is tuned for snow leopard.

Now, any of those devices that are usb, you should be able to assign that usb port to the VM. If it requires serial access, you should be able to get a USB->serial cable and bind it to the vm.

I was running sage 05 2.6 and vmfusion llet it load ok, that said I got a bit giddy and nearly fluffed it . I now run snow leopard and if I try to run it it tells me to upgrade
so I think it may something to do with that.I've not run ecommerce so I can't comment nor have I tried parrallel

Update:

Deleted & Recreated the Windows XP VM in Parallels. Reinstalled XP, SP2, Sage & Actinic eCommerce. Also resolved MDAC issues as & when they cropped up. Still, Actinic is running dead slow.
Apperently, there are some users who are running Actinic OK on the same config. So there is hope. Have raised the issues on the Actinic Forum & see what come up. Might have to consider VM Fusion.