Assignment due using Windows.exe applications

[verbatim210]

Exactly, Im sitting here at work on my (personal) mac surrounded by PC's. School teaches to the industry standard. If you do it in school on mac when you get out into the real world you'll more than likely be sitting infront of a Window's machine.

Hate to say it but maybe you should consider buying a cheapie windows machine, the programs you are talking about running should run fine on almost anything. You can pick one up for 200-300 which would be enough to run office and other basic programs (live in socal? I've got a XP machine w/ office I'd love to get rid of you can have for next to nothing if you pick it up)

Thanks for the offer Toyman but I have just spend $1400 on a brand new laptop and I intend to make full use of it... I don't give up that easily =]

 

[dtravis7]

I think you've got the wrong picture, i'm not trying to force / complain / argue about anything.

I bought a Mac because I was convinced it was a reliable machine and with the student discount how could I refuse. Anyway, the point is i'm just trying to live in harmony in this PC dominated world. So all I need to do, is find a solution for this problem and that is probably by either using VM Fusion or Boot Camp.

Just trying to weigh up which is the lesser of two evils at the moment...

Don't forget Parallels. It will run all those applications just fine right in OSX so you will not have to Dual Boot. All my friends who use the latest version of Parallels love it and say it's quite fast.

 

[verbatim210]

Stick with VMWARE fusion.





Thats not how VMWARE works... its pretty smart actually. Its doesnt drain your resources. You can set it so that your main priority can be Mac OS X or alternatively your VMWARE running XP ----- or whatever operating system you choose.


;D

Thanks iRock, i'll try playing around with the memory allocation and see what sort of results I get. If i'm not satisfied then I guess I have to sacrifice the gorgeous OS X system and just live with Boot Camp.

Feels so silly though, buy a MacBook just so you can use Windows XP.

 

[verbatim210]

Don't forget Parallels. It will run all those applications just fine right in OSX so you will not have to Dual Boot. All my friends who use the latest version of Parallels love it and say it's quite fast.

Parallels is the same as VM Fusion right?

I've already installed Fusion so that's why i'm using it, Parallels better in any way?

 

[dtravis7]

I have not personally used VM Fusion but know from experience that Parallels works and well. Only thing that does not work well are some 3d games. Otherwise Windows programs work great and up to speed.

 

[verbatim210]

have you tried WINE? http://winehq.com

you can convert those programs to mac format and run em nativly, no windows needed

Thanks for the tip Austin this sounds really good, I hope this works out if theres any problems with it i'll let you know.

Wine actually had crossed me mind when I remembered a friend using it to run Warcraft III on his linux system, not sure why I didn't think more of it. I didn't know it converts software, I thought it just emulated the software without emulating the entire operating system.

 

[verbatim210]

I have not personally used VM Fusion but know from experience that Parallels works and well. Only thing that does not work well are some 3d games. Otherwise Windows programs work great and up to speed.

Thanks travis, that's enough comment for me to go and give it a try!

 

[verbatim210]

I don't think WINE will work with Access since it requires bits from other windows libraries and stuff. You would have to convert the whole .NET framework and I don't know if that's possible. Could try it I guess...

This screenshot suggests PowerPoint works:
http://www.winehq.org/images/shots/full/wine_1.png

So unless Access and PowerPoint is all that different, maybe this is the best way to go?

 

[Village Idiot]

I think you've got the wrong picture, i'm not trying to force / complain / argue about anything.

I bought a Mac because I was convinced it was a reliable machine and with the student discount how could I refuse. Anyway, the point is i'm just trying to live in harmony in this PC dominated world. So all I need to do, is find a solution for this problem and that is probably by either using VM Fusion or Boot Camp.

Just trying to weigh up which is the lesser of two evils at the moment...

No, I think you have the wrong picture. I was responding in part to the person that said you should take it above your professor's head and complain that they're not being fair in giving you mac type programs to work with and "forcing" you to work with Windows programs.

 

[Village Idiot]

This screenshot suggests PowerPoint works:
http://www.winehq.org/images/shots/full/wine_1.png

So unless Access and PowerPoint is all that different, maybe this is the best way to go?

Access is a whole 'nother boat. If you look at MS Office for mac, it comes with every thing except Access. That's because Access uses the .NET framework and uses references from different programs and Windows OS's. Essentially, you can make a database do what ever you want with forms and such. It's almost like a minature Visual Studio, but geared towards databases. You can even make forms that call information from any file on the hard drive, other Office apps, or uses part of Window's like file dialof boxes and such. You can use Access as just a database program, but with all the underlying architecture, there's no way of running it on OS X as a full app unless either .NET and everything else gets transfered to OS X or you're running it through an emulated Windows OS.

Not a Mac vs. PC things...just a program that will never be ported to OS X because of the way it's built thing.

But if I'm right in thinking this, you're probably not going to get into using Access as much more than a DB unless you're taking something that focus on that specific Aspect. It's mainly, learn C then apply it to VB and other programs afterwards...that's how some of the Colleges around here operate...

Edit: I do DB programming at work. So, Access is one of the programs that sits open on my desktop for 95% of my day.

 

[verbatim210]

Thank's for clarifying Village, a lot of interesting information about Access there. I just want to ask, why aren't you using something like MySQL? Isn't Access weak compared to other databases available?

I'm using Access in a business subject, so I think they are more inclined to teach us about the business related advantages using Access rather than focusing on the software itself. I'll have to ask my lecturor about this to know for sure.

 

[dtravis7]

I personally do not like Access, but if your class, work, whatever requires you to use it, there is pretty much nothing else that will do the job for you.

 

[verbatim210]

I agree, why use Access when you can use MySQL which is so much better and "free-er".

 

[verbatim210]

I've just installed Parallels.
Works fine, just like VM Fusion can't see any differences so far.

Then...

I installed Boot Camp, problem.
I followed the instructions, got up to the stage where you reboot the machine with the Windows XP CD inside. After Windows got past the hardware check and all of that, it takes me to the "press enter to install, r to repair and f3 to exit" screen.

Fine, I press enter and nothing happens. The MacBook has frozen.
Turn off, Turn on try again same thing (I did this twice).

Am I in trouble, did I do something wrong?

 

[chat19]

Easy solution: use boot camp. That way you only lose the minimum amount of HD space to the partition. and because only one OS is running at one time, the resources are not split. Go to class with XP running, your prof wont know the difference.

 

[cwa107]

I've just installed Parallels.
Works fine, just like VM Fusion can't see any differences so far.

Then...

I installed Boot Camp, problem.
I followed the instructions, got up to the stage where you reboot the machine with the Windows XP CD inside. After Windows got past the hardware check and all of that, it takes me to the "press enter to install, r to repair and f3 to exit" screen.

Fine, I press enter and nothing happens. The MacBook has frozen.
Turn off, Turn on try again same thing (I did this twice).

Am I in trouble, did I do something wrong?

If you want to use your Boot Camp partition in Parallels, you need to have Boot Camp installed and running with Windows before setting up the VM in Parallels. Since the Boot Camp partition already exists and Windows is already installed, you just need to tell Parallels to use a Boot Camp partition. There's no need to have your Windows disc handy.

With that said, Parallels will run your applications just fine, forgoing the need for Boot Camp altogether. The other advantage to using a Parallels virtual hard disk is that it will only dynamically resize the partition according to your needs. So, there's no need to take up more hard disk space than what you actually use in Windows.

As far as Parallels vs. Fusion goes - VMWare is a very solid company and they are pioneers in the Virtualization market. Parallels is a relative newcomer, until you start talking about Macs. Parallels Desktop for Mac is far more mature than Fusion. So, if you're going to invest in one or the other, Parallels makes more sense at this point in time.

 

[spilio]

Thank's for clarifying Village, a lot of interesting information about Access there. I just want to ask, why aren't you using something like MySQL? Isn't Access weak compared to other databases available?

I'm using Access in a business subject, so I think they are more inclined to teach us about the business related advantages using Access rather than focusing on the software itself. I'll have to ask my lecturor about this to know for sure.

While Access is weak when it comes to many (10+) simultaneous remote connections, it is still an extremely useful package. Because it's so simple to use, lots of departments within corporations use Access to develop their own small, department-specific applications.

I used to work for Ames (before it went bankrupt) and I saw people using Access apps to do some really amazing things - without the creators ever writing a single line of code, be it SQL or VB.

In my case, I used Access specifically to manage my class registrations (I was a technical trainer). With no programming knowledge whatsoever, in a few hours I built my tables, setup forms, developed printable class rosters, and built a web-based evaluation system for my students. I later added some statistics reports, at my managers request.

I've attached a screen capture of that old app.

I suppose the same things could be done using MySQL and some kind of compiled or web-based front end, but there aren't many people in, say, an HR department with the skills to do it - nor was there a need to tie up busy IT folks to do something that that front-line users can whip up so easily and in so little time.

Even when I get my first Mac later this year, Access will remain in my arsenal via VM Fusion.

J