Macintosh "Boot Camp" Clarification and Info

[The Cleaner]

I was reading this site and thought it may be of some use to some of you. I thought Mac Boot Camp INCLUDED Windows XP or Vista but I was wrong. According to this writeup you have to purchase Windows separately and install yourself. Also it seems you have to partition your Mac hard drive.

Another thing - Boot Camp allows you to run Windows natively but you have to get Parallels Desktop if you want to cut and paste, etc. between Windows and Mac. You can only use Parallels Desktop with Vista Ultimate or Vista Business.

After Windows installation is complete, the Installation Assistant automatically installs Parallels Tools, a free set of useful add-ons that improve networking, video, and sound support, syncs mouse activity and OS system clocks, and enables cutting, copying and pasting of data, as well as file sharing, between Windows and OS X.

The end user license agreement (EULA) for Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium forbids using these versions of Microsoft Vista on virtualization software like Parallels. For that reason, we only offer Mac CPU/Parallel bundles with Vista Business and Vista Ultimate.

NOTE: Upgrading Parallels Desktop does not require a re-install of any guest operating systems or any applications. After upgrading, users should re-install Parallels Tools.

Boot Camp 1.2

It lets you install Windows XP or Vista (32-bit) without moving your Mac data, though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows. Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don’t have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/promotions/custom5~p~BootCamp1.1orParallels.asp

[Deja Q]

1. www.openbsd.org

95% identical to "Mac OS X" and doesn't need the person to buy a brand new computer (a $800-$3000 savings).

It's a free download. A $800-$3000 savings.

The differences is, some of Apple's modifications to the GUI aren't there. But it is fundamentally the same and open source software is easy to learn.

Americans learned the Commodore 64 OS, which wasn't graphical at all.

Heck, OpenBSD sounds easier to install than the Parallels install mess; which is roughly identical to what I did to dual boot Vista on my XP box. (which, if it had an Intel processor would be as much an Intel-based PC as any "Macintosh" that requires OS X these days.)

Also, as with any virtualization software, the operating system one desires to be emulated does NOT come with virtualization software. That'd put the virtualization company out of business fairly quickly.

[negativenihil]

2. oh please

you cannot just tell someone interested in consumer grade home desktop machines to up and use openbsd.

they'll be frustrated before you know it.

Also - for your information the core of OSX is based around FreeBSD, not OpenBSD, and the OSX GUI (Aqua) is nothing like any of the GUIs available for *BSD or Linux. It's a completely homegrown Apple product.

[originalpckelly]

4. I know. To most users that's the OS.

Not the underlying powerful operating system.

[originalpckelly]

3. Actually, FreeBSD is much easier to use and install...

because it has fairly easy to use menus and the ports collection that I believe OpenBSD can use as well, originated with the FreeBSD project. I hate the mishmash that is Linux, so I prefer the cleaner and consistent FreeBSD.

[negativenihil]

6. ports

the ports system can be used on any of the BSD systems - FreeBSd, OpenBSD and NetBSD. there's also the pkgsrc system which will work on all the BSDs as well as a pile of other non-BSD unix flavored OSes (linux, solaris, etc).

In any case - imo this is not a good solution for your average desktop user. most average users i know do not have the patience to deal with the ins and outs of a unix flavored system.

[Rob H.]

5. Actually Parallels Desktop is compatible with WAY more OSes

than just Vista Ultimate or Vista Business.

Edit: Oops, dang. I misunderstood what you meant. Parallels Desktop lets you use Vista Ultimate or Vista Business, and Boot Camp doesn't.

Further edit: Bootcamp does work with Vista Ultimate and Vista Business. MacMall needs to update their info.

From Parallels' site:

Supported Primary Operating Systems
• MacOS X “Tiger” 10.4.6 or higher running on Intel-powered Mac

Supported Guest Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows Guest Operating Systems:
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows 2003 Standard Edition SP0
• Windows 2003 Standard Edition SP1
• Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP0
• Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1
• Windows 2003 Web Edition SP0
• Windows 2003 Web Edition SP1
• Windows XP SP2 Professional
• Windows XP SP2 Home
• Windows XP SP1 Professional
• Windows XP SP1 Home
• Windows XP SP0 Professional
• Windows XP SP0 Home
• Windows 2000 Professional Edition SP4
• Windows 2000 Server SP4
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4
• Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6
• Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6
• Windows ME
• Windows 98
• Windows 95
• Windows 3.11
• Windows 3.1

Linux Guest Operating Systems:
• Xandrox Linux 4.0
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS4
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS4
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS3
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES4
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES3
• Red Hat Linux 9
• Red Hat Linux 8
• Red Hat Linux 7.3
• Debian Linux 3.1
• Fedora Core Linux 5
• Fedora Core Linux 4
• Fedora Core Linux 3
• SUSE Linux 10
• SUSE Linux 9.3
• SUSE Linux 9.2
• SUSE Linux 9.1
• SUSE Linux 9.0
• Mandriva Linux 10.1
• Mandriva Linux 10
• Mandriva Linux 9.2
• Ubuntu Linux 5.04

FreeBSD Guest Operating Systems:
• FreeBSD 5.4
• FreeBSD 5.3
• FreeBSD 4.5
• FreeBSD 4.1

OS/2 and eComStation Guest Operating Systems:
• OS/2 warp 4.5
• OS/2 warp 4
• OS/2 warp 3
• eComStation 1.2
• eComStation 1.1

Sun Solaris Guest Operating Systems:
• Solaris 10
• Solaris 9

MS-DOS Guest Operating Systems:
• MS-DOS 6.22

[Poiuyt]

7. Also, Apple makes no claims to support the Windows side of your computer

You have to be cautious about getting worms or viruses on the Windows side that Mac users haven't had to worry about.

[brooklynite]

8. You need to know your application needs...

If you are cutting and pasting between MS Office on the Mac and Windows, then yes, Parallels would be a better choice, but since Office already exists on the Mac side, and the document files are OS transparent, why bother?

If you are running anything graphics intensive (games in particular), Parallels will tell you their emulation will not work.