15 replies to this topic

[liz1110]

Is anyone running GIS programs, specifically Manifold and Global Mapper, on an Intel-based Mac? If you are, what program are you using to run Windows, Boot Camp, Parallels or Fusion? Did you have any trouble getting the GIS programs to work, and was there anything special you had to do to get them up and running? Have you had any problems with the programs once installed?

[Hans van der Maarel]

Is anyone running GIS programs, specifically Manifold and Global Mapper, on an Intel-based Mac? If you are, what program are you using to run Windows, Boot Camp, Parallels or Fusion? Did you have any trouble getting the GIS programs to work, and was there anything special you had to do to get them up and running? Have you had any problems with the programs once installed?

Boot camp, running Manifold, Global Mapper, FME, QGis and ArcGis on Windows side, QGis on Mac side as well. Works great, had no trouble at all setting it up.

[l.jegou]

VMWare Fusion, running Global Mapper, ArcGIS, Mapinfo, very smoothly since i upgraded the mac pro to 4go of RAM, with 2 Go it was much slower (but usable).

[liz1110]

Thanks for the replies. I'm planning to replace my aging PC and Mac with a shiny new iMac in the next few weeks, but I wanted to make sure that I can still use my GIS programs. I have a couple of other questions:

What version of Windows are you running? Is Windows 7 available for the Mac yet?

My (limited) understanding is that you have to reboot the machine to switch from Mac OSX to Windows when using Boot Camp but that this is unnecessary when using Fusion. Is this correct? I think I'd like to be able to jump between the two operating systems without rebooting as this seems like it could be quite a hassle. On the other hand, Hans is running Manifold on Boot Camp without any problems and that is the main GIS program I use and I want to make sure it works for me when I get my new computer.

I think I might try Boot Camp since it's free and switch to Fusion if the rebooting gets to be too annoying. I'm definitely going to get as much RAM as I can afford. They all come with 4GB nowadays and I can upgrade to 8GB for just another $200. Seems like a no-brainer.

[Hans van der Maarel]

My (limited) understanding is that you have to reboot the machine to switch from Mac OSX to Windows when using Boot Camp but that this is unnecessary when using Fusion. Is this correct? I think I'd like to be able to jump between the two operating systems without rebooting as this seems like it could be quite a hassle. On the other hand, Hans is running Manifold on Boot Camp without any problems and that is the main GIS program I use and I want to make sure it works for me when I get my new computer.

That is essentially correct but...

If you have VMWare Fusion you can run a bootcamp partition directly from within MacOS. I've tried it and it's really sluggish though.

Whether you want to go for Bootcamp or Fusion is up to you. Keep in mind that with Bootcamp you get to use *all* of the hardware, Fusion puts some limits on RAM and processors (as well as needing to set some aside to keep MacOS running...). I've also had some issues with USB drives not being fully supported through Fusion.

[19° norte]

I´m running Windoze XP via Parallels and have no limitations (recognizes CD, DVD, USB, FireWire 400/800, AirPort, etc.) on an Intel iMac. No restart and no HD-partitioning required (your Mac HD gets recognized as a shared disk), and if Windoze gets stuck, you just restart (or force quit) Parallels.

I avoid using Windoze, though - well, as far as it is possible, which means that Quantum GIS, GRASS and others run in the MacOS/UNIX (via X11) environment.

[Adam Wilbert]

I run XP & Win7 via Parallels 5 and have had no stability problems whatsoever, even on my aging MacBook core2 duo. Sluggish, yes. But thats just my hardware. As far as "Windows 7 for the mac", that's not really how it works. With Bootcamp, Parallels or Fusion, you're just installing the PC version of the software into a virtual "bubble" created by the virtual machine software. For win7, I have a 3 pack license, one went onto my "real" pc, and another went on a "virtual" pc inside my mac. Same installation disc though.

FYI: Here's a link to a head-to-head comparison of Fusion 3 vs. Parallels 5, and the results were squarely on the Parallels side for performance.
http://www.mactech.c...tionHeadToHead/

I did try working with Sun's free Virtual Box virtualization package. It worked... but it wasn't much fun. It had a crazy virtual disk management system that I couldn't quite get a good handle on.

Have fun!

[mlbostwick]

I'm using Parallels. I mostly use it to run ArcMap, and have experienced very few problems. It's really easy to switch between the Mac and Windows, just option-return and you switch to the other OS. If I don't plan on using ArcMap that day, I'll keep Windows shut down. If I'm going back and forth between Illustrator and ArcMap, I'll have it running in the background. I have noticed a slight slowing down on the Mac side (in Illustrator) if I have been switching back and forth between OS a lot. A restart of Illustrator (or shutting down Windows) and everything is back to normal.

[thorEAU]

I have also just switched to using a new iMac from PC. Before going the Parallels or BootCamp route, try having a look at Sun's Virtual Box open source virtual machine (http://www.virtualbox.org/). I'm currently using this to run Win7 and ArcGIS 10. So far very impressed. You can allocate HD size and RAM as is desired for your applications.

[christine.skl]

I run into a problem while trying to run ArcGIS Explorer build 1200 using Parallels - it gave some video adapter error and crashed the whole program, had to switch to bootcamp (good in many ways, but not as comfortbale).

[liz1110]

I'm up and running! I installed 64-bit Windows 7 on my new 21" iMac with 8 GB of RAM and I'm running Global Mapper and Manifold with no trouble at all so far. I'm using BootCamp and I will probably stick with it since switching between OSX and Windows 7 hasn't seemed like such a hassle.

One thing I have noticed is that my Adobe CS2 programs don't seem to be running that much faster on the new Mac than they were running on the old G4 Powerbook. Can anyone think of a reason that this might be the case?

Thanks to everyone that replied to this thread. I was able to go out and buy the new computer I've wanted and needed for so long with the confidence that all my programs would work. just fine. And they do!

[christine.skl]

One thing I have noticed is that my Adobe CS2 programs don't seem to be running that much faster on the new Mac than they were running on the old G4 Powerbook. Can anyone think of a reason that this might be the case?

Hey, depends what are you comparing. The more RAM does not really mean everything runs faster. Every program has it's RAM usage maximum capacity(icluding an operating system), for example - Windows XP can use 3 GB RAM maximum, even if you put 4,6,8 GB of RAM it will only use 3 GB. Thus, with the development of hardware the software must follow. I presume Adobe CS4 would run faster. But I don't have a chance ot test this presumption in reality That's one reason. Glad that you bought another Mac:))

[liz1110]

One thing I have noticed is that my Adobe CS2 programs don't seem to be running that much faster on the new Mac than they were running on the old G4 Powerbook. Can anyone think of a reason that this might be the case?

Hey, depends what are you comparing. The more RAM does not really mean everything runs faster. Every program has it's RAM usage maximum capacity(icluding an operating system), for example - Windows XP can use 3 GB RAM maximum, even if you put 4,6,8 GB of RAM it will only use 3 GB. Thus, with the development of hardware the software must follow. I presume Adobe CS4 would run faster. But I don't have a chance ot test this presumption in reality That's one reason. Glad that you bought another Mac:))

It had occurred to me that the slowness of the program was due to the fact that I'm running CS2 rather than the newer versions which may have been written to take advantage of the Intel processors in today's Macs, but I'm going to wait awhile before I do any upgrading. I want to see what people think of CS5 before I spend any more money right now. This latest computer is Mac #5 for me, so I guess you could say I'm a fan of their products.

[Maptitude]

Most Macs purchased in the last several years will have an Intel CPU, and you can use virtualization software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop to run Windows, or indeed you can also boot up your machine natively in Windows using Apple's Boot Camp software. Any of these solutions works very well for running the Maptitude Mapping Software.

[mike]

One thing I have noticed is that my Adobe CS2 programs don't seem to be running that much faster on the new Mac than they were running on the old G4 Powerbook. Can anyone think of a reason that this might be the case?

Hey, depends what are you comparing. The more RAM does not really mean everything runs faster. Every program has it's RAM usage maximum capacity(icluding an operating system), for example - Windows XP can use 3 GB RAM maximum, even if you put 4,6,8 GB of RAM it will only use 3 GB. Thus, with the development of hardware the software must follow. I presume Adobe CS4 would run faster. But I don't have a chance ot test this presumption in reality That's one reason. Glad that you bought another Mac:))

It had occurred to me that the slowness of the program was due to the fact that I'm running CS2 rather than the newer versions which may have been written to take advantage of the Intel processors in today's Macs, but I'm going to wait awhile before I do any upgrading. I want to see what people think of CS5 before I spend any more money right now. This latest computer is Mac #5 for me, so I guess you could say I'm a fan of their products.

Adobe CS5 runs really fast on the new iMac. You should consider upgrading now.