Switching to a PC - somebody stop me!!!

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:32 am

I just spent a weekend with a new MacBook and Parallels, an app which allows you to run Windows on an Intel Mac without having to boot into it first - you can switch between the Mac OS and Windows XP simply by clicking within your Windows interface, or by clicking on your Mac desktop.

Started installing Windows software and once again was reminded of how truly dumb-ass Windows XP really is. Printer worked for a day, then quit, can't get Windows to communicate with it anymore. Driver conflicts, boot device conflicts. Virtual IRQ conflicts. Maybe I need new drivers - but then I need updated drivers for my cable modem which I can't connect to while in Windows, because it doesn't have the drivers to connect. Mysterious " Missing Windows NT 4.0 packages" messages when trying to boot newly installed apps. Have you tried downloading Adobe products, like Acrobat Reader for Windows, lately? First you have to download the "downloader", install that, then download again. I could go on and on..it's just crazy. Crazy stupid.

It's all too easy to forget how pathetic Windows is. Try to keep that in mind.

arth · Post by **arth** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:38 pm

What a troll.

First of all, "virtual IRQ conflicts" just don't happen on any system newer than, oh, say, 7-8 years or so. Since PCI 2.1 and ACPI came out. Are you trying to use cards made in the last century, or are you just lying based on what you remember?

What's a "boot device conflict"? You can't have those on a BIOS based machine like a PC, cause you have to select the boot device order in the BIOS. There's no way to assign the same priority to two devices. You can get boot device ERRORS, but not conflicts.

"Missing Windows NT 4.0 packages"? Well, if you try to install MacOS 7 packages on MacOS X, I bet you would get some problems too.

"boot newly installed apps"? You don't boot apps, unless you are smart enough to build a static app and link it into a boot loader. You aren't.

As for Acrobat Reader using a downloader, that's not a Windows thing, it's an application thing, and pretty smart too -- you only need to download the parts you need. If you don't need Farsi and Swedish support, and already have the core fonts, why should you download those parts?

Yes, something is pathetic, and I'll keep that in mind.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:00 am

Hey, Arth.

It's none of my business, but I'd like to defend a fellow Unicorn, if I may.
Ignore this post if you like, Arth; no worries.

David's not a troll. Far from it, in fact.
This guy's greatly experienced and has contributed much to our cause.
He's a serious, talented, well-mannered and honest fella from what I can tell.
He certainly wouldn't be too hasty in labelling anyone a troll.

Assuming you're correct, it's possible David didn't keep detailed records of all the unexpected fun, as he wouldn't have been planning the post.
He may not quite have your experience with Windows machines, but his comments seem valid from a mac user's perspective.

Sorry, I just didn't think he deserved that tag.
If he'd rudely persisted with baseless arguments in defiance of your (no doubt patient) succinct elucidations as to the facts regarding Windows "complications", he'd be a troll.

We now resume scheduled programming...
MM

Jidis · Post by **Jidis** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:48 am

FWIW, those issues do sound more like some weirdness you'd only get when running Windows within some sort of emulated shell, alongside another system. I install and run 98,2K,and XP in various forms on an assortment of machines and am not familiar with those sort of errors. Sounds like a matter of "Parallels" not achieving it's goal (a difficult one indeed). I think many OS's, including Apple's, would probably complain if not given the proper access to the system that they expected.

Take care,

George

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:29 pm

I guess "arth" is a PC enthusiast who didn't like what I had to say. Ah well -

As some people may know, I'm a sound designer who does work for Yamaha, Korg, Native Instruments, and other companies. I also create and sell sound libraries for the Yamaha Motif and S90 synthesizers. When someone contacts me about a problem they are having with one of my libraries, I don't call them an idiot or a moron, even if I know their question indicates they are really inexperienced. I try to help them solve their problem.

For the record, I have since discovered the source of my problems with Parallels running Windows XP - it's Parallels itself. I got an e-mail from their tech support this morning saying yes they are aware of the problems with USB printers in a Windows XP/Parallels set-up. (The problem is - a USB printer connected to the computer via a USB cable will not work). They are working on "solutions" which will be included in the next update of Parallels.
At the Parallels user forum there was mention of a workaround, involving downloading and installing Bonjour for Windows from Apple's site - I did this,
but still couldn't get it to work (in Windows XP, the USB port the printer is connected to is unavailable).

So, if you are considering running Parallels on an Intel Mac, be aware that the only way you can use a printer is to run it as a shared device over an Ethernet network. It won't work if you just attach it to your computer directly and set it up as your only printer via USB.

I'm sorry, I used an inappropriate term - I wasn't getting "boot device conflicts" I was getting a messaage at Windows startup saying "cannot locate boot device". It turned out the cause of THAT was I had inadvertently created a second CD-ROM drive in Parallels Virtual machine configuration. Windows was simply looking for another CD-ROM drive that didn't exist. I deleted the second virtual drive and the message went away.

I thought my printer problem was related to IRQ's, that's why I mentioned that I couldn't sort them out and seemed to be having conflicts. I have had problems with IRQ conflicts on my Sony Vaio desktop, related to my M-Audio Delta interface. I was simply trying to determine why my printer wouldn't print.

The "missing Windows NT 4.0 packages" message was related to an older PCdatabase app that my wife uses for her work (we got the Macbook for her, thinking that she'd have the best of both worlds with it). Upgrading to the newest version of that app and installing the latest version of something called "Jet Engine" eliminated that message.

My answer to arth's statement, "You don't boot apps" is - yes, you do. When you launch an app, you boot it - that's how I think of it.

You don't need a downloader for Adobe Reader if you are using a Mac - you just download the reader, there's no separate "downloader" needed.

All of what I've said reinforces, I think, my statement about Windows. I still stand by it - Windows forces you to go through too many hoops to get things to work. In OSX, you simply do not have to go through as many of these silly extra steps to accomplish things. Windows is still not an OS that is written with music and video and graphics in mind the way OSX is - Windows audio and video drivers work by tricks and workarounds, as the OS itself was never written from the ground up to support audio in anything other than the most basic (and basically useless) way.

When you plug in a USB device in OSX, it knows it's there, it has the drivers 99% of the time, you don't have to reboot, there's no "found new hardware" message, no problems with some device not releasing a port so you can plug a different device into it.

I don't know anyone who I've personally recommended a switch to Macs who has regretted it.

I still think Windows sucks, by the way. Even if that's politically incorrect to say.

arth · Post by **arth** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:20 pm

David Polich wrote:I guess "arth" is a PC enthusiast who didn't like what I had to say. Ah well -

You guess wrong. I dislike Windows quite strongly -- it sucks. But guess what? So does MacOS and other operating systems too. Different operating systems suck in different ways, and Windows perhaps more than most.

Bashing Windows because of things that aren't Windows problems isn't the right way to go. There's so many things to bash Windows for that really are Windows problems, but not these.

Also, "PC" and "Windows" aren't synonyms. A modern PC can run quite a few different operating systems, not only Windows, and if there's a PC problem, that's not Microsoft's fault. And in your case, you appear to mostly have virtual PC problems, which you really should blame the maker of your virtualisation software for.
I have a Mac emulator that sucks too, but I don't claim that MacOS sucks because of that!

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:30 am

So yeahhh - ummm - whatever.

You know, I should know better than to get into these useless arguments about which is better, Mac or PC. It's the same as whether digital is better than analog.

I don't understand why people get so worked up about a subject that they attack the personal character of someone else who they've never met and don't know. It's a weird world.

Arth, I didn't call you a troll. And I still won't stoop to some kind of character bashing. It's fine if we disagree. And it actually doesn't make any difference. But all this negativity - it's just not constructive.

If you search all of my posts, you will not find a single personal attack in any of them. I don't believe in that. And I don't believe I have to be right all the time or have the last word.

So, I'm going to let my participation in this thread end here.

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:08 am

I do not know how many times this argument has come up, I will give you one good reason to stay with Mac. Right now I have my Mac. On and just had to shut down my PC next to it as it is running all F••™d up, must have got the flu on line again.

monkey man · Post by **monkey man** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:55 am

Way to go, David.

I'm a "foundations" guy.
You know; people act according to their foundations, especially when pressed.
I smell 'em a mile off, and David has 'em in spades (foundations, that is!).

A little vindication goes a long way too, I suppose, as the monkey means well.
Always. Must be some sort of... foundations!
Cheers, 'Corners
MM