CrossOver for Mac with BW6 on Intel Based Macs

[clent12]

I was just playing with the new CrossOver for Mac Beta (from CodeWeavers) and trying to get BW6 to run. I'm guessing there aren't many out there who have tried this yet, but would be interested in your experience. So far, I haven't been able to get it to work, but perhaps someone more experienced with Wine could offer some suggestions. The beta trial runs for 60 days and is free. I thought I would go this route first before trying Parallels or BootCamp, esp. because you don't have to pay for Windows!

Any comments?

Chris Lent

[MarkAllison]

Chris,

I haven't tried CrossOver, but I use Parallels every day with BibleWorks and Logos, and it works great. It's amazingly fast. I'll be bringing my MacBook Pro to the seminar in Atlanta if anyone wants to check it out.

Mark Allison

[clent12]

Thanks Mark. A few people have commented on how well Parallels has worked, so I may go that route fairly soon. Was setup and install easy?

Chris

[MarkAllison]

Parallels was a breeze to set up. Everything just works. There are a couple other Windows apps that I like to use, and this allows me to run them at full speed, alongside my Mac apps.

[clent12]

OK, I got BW6 to install on CrossOver Mac 6.0 Beta. I don't know how smooth it is to use yet, but I'll report back so we can compare to Parallels and BootCamp. If you want to try, here you go.

IMPORTANT: Right now I have everything running in a Windows 98 bottle. It is important that EVERYTHING goes into this bottle. Don't create a new bottle for BW.

DIRECTORY: CrossOver's systems files for a Windows 98 bottle are found here: "user"/library/application support/crossover/bottles/win98/drive_c

1) When you first install CrossOver, you will need to insert you OSX install CD for an important file. Do not skip this step.

2) Use the CrossOver menu to install these "Supported Applications." (A) Windows OLE Components 98, (B) Internet Explorer 6 [choose "typcial" install option], (C) CrossOver HTML Engine, (D) MS Word 97 [optional]

3) Download and install (within CrossOver's menu) these "Unsupported Software" files. (A) Microsoft Data Access Components [from http://www.microsoft.com/data/download_260rtm.htm], (B) Windows Installer 1.1 Redistributable for Win 95 and 98 [from Microsoft site].

4) Find a copy of mfc42.dll online, download it, and move it into your system32 folder following the directory map above.

5) Copy any desired fonts into ~ bottles/win98/drive_c/windows/fonts

6) Finally, insert BW6 CD, and make sure (again using the CrossOver Menu) that you install it into the same Win98 bottle. Choose a full install if you can, and include modules like BDAG, HALOT, etc., when given the option.

Like I said, I have it up and running, though I am still trying to work with some of the fonts and pop-ups.

Chris

[deut3221]

I spent all of one Friday evening trying to install BW7 on the latest CrossOver beta.

I followed all of Chris's steps in the previous post (you can find a similar explanation in the CrossOver for Mac FAQ).

I got BS7 installed, BUT whenever I tried the initial start-up, the registration dialogue box would pop up; then, regardless of which option that I selected, the program would crash, boom, end of story.

I should note the following:
1) no toolbar showed up
2) the fonts were not as pleasing as a Windows install
3) the colors were gone (brownish grey)

So, it's back to BW7 on Parallels.

Cheers,
-steve

[clent12]

Steve,
Thanks for the post. I've read about others having problems with the toolbar in other versions of CrossOver with BW7. And, after playing with it for the afternoon, I agree. The fonts look kind of strange and colors don't show up that well. Also, CrossOver seems to have some issues with ctrl-click for right mouse options. I'll probably go out and get Parallels next week. Have you been happy with it?

Chris

[MarkAllison]

I just wanted to add that I not only use BibleWorks with Parallels, but Logos, WordSearch, PC Study Bible, Office 2003, InDesign, Dreamweaver and use Active Sync to sync my Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 5. They all work flawlessly and even more quickly than a couple of Pentium 4's I use at work. If you've ever used Virtual PC, you're probably worried about speed issues. Don't be. Speed is absolutely not a problem with Parallels, unless you want to run games with 3D graphics. If that's the case, you probably want to use Boot Camp.

Mark Allison

[deut3221]

Steve,
I'll probably go out and get Parallels next week. Have you been happy with it?

Parallels works great; the latest release seems to overcome most issues.

The only drawback that I've seen is that you have to run Windows in order to install BW. But, if you can put up with Windows, everything else is as expected.

cheers,
-steve.

[clent12]

Great, thanks. About how much disk space does Parallels with Windows take? I'm happy to see that Parallels offers the compression software as well.

Chris