BW + Mac - using Bootcamp?

[mireckca]

I am a new member but a long-time BW user. I came to the forum because I recently switched to a Mac (MBP) and would like to install my BW program, and so eliminate the need to deal with a second laptop just for BW (my old Dell). I found another active thread that talks about doing so but with the Parallels program. I am a grad student and my tech folks advised me to use Bootcamp (and Windows 7) on my Mac in order to use PC-based programs. Anyone here using Bootcamp? Or should I avoid it and use Parallels? This is new to me so I have no preference (and really am just learning as I go along).

Another question - using either Bootcamp (or Parallels) and Windows 7 - what are my chances of getting my version of BW (#5) to run successfully? Like I said, I am a grad student (this degree is taking me ages) and so would like to use my old version for now since it suits my needs (dissertation) well. Thanks for any help / suggestions.

[vr8ce]

I would strongly recommend a VM, not Bootcamp. Using Bootcamp means you have to reboot your machine every time you want to get into BW and again to get back to the Mac. That's two reboots every time you want to use BW — uggh! A VM lets you run BW side by side with your other Mac programs — MUCH preferable.

Given that you're a poor grad student , you should try VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) — it's free, and works great.

If you don't want to do that, then I would suggest VMWare Fusion over Parallels. Parallels has a long-standing bug (three plus years and counting) that prevents the shift-key hold from working on BW's detail section.

I've run BW7 on Fusion w/ XP, Fusion w/ Win7, and VirtualBox w/ Win7, all with no issues whatsoever.

I would suspect (but don't know) that you might have issues with BW5 on Win7; you might want to run XP instead. Win7 is certainly the choice if you're going to run anything other recent Win apps, but if BW5 is your only Win app, you will probably be better off with XP.

And, in any of these cases, you'll need a licensed version of whichever Windows OS you choose to use.

[MGVH]

We are starting to recommend to our students that they use Crossover.
Cost is about $40, and you don't need a Windows license.
There are apparently some issues running with BW8 or early, but BW9 now has "Gold Medal" status.

[Nick Laurence]

We are starting to recommend to our students that they use Crossover.
Cost is about $40, and you don't need a Windows license.
There are apparently some issues running with BW8 or early, but BW9 now has "Gold Medal" status.

I clicked on the link and it says "Silver" status. Worse, when you break it down on the site it says this is made up of "Silver" for Linux and only "Bronze" for Mac. I know the BW people are working on making it compatible with Crossover, so hopefully this will improve.

[MGVH]

Honest! It was Gold yesterday! I see it is Silver again. I'm wondering if there are still issues with the Windows Help windows...

[mireckca]

Well, this is all more complicated than I thought. It seems like just running the two laptops (my old Dell laptop with Vista and BW5 + my "new" MBP) is no more complicated than any of the other options available right now. I'll just use my MBP for my writing and crank up the old Dell whenever I need something from BW. Thanks for your replies; I appreciate the feedback.

[vr8ce]

It's not that complicated. Especially since VirtualBox is free and you already have Windows. Download and install VB. Install Windows (don't panic, you're only going to end up running one copy). Install BW5. If it works, great; trash the Dell (if you sell it, you'll have to sell it without OS because you just used its Windows license). If it doesn't, delete VB and the VM you created when you installed Windows and you're done.

For me, it's way worth it to have BW a click away and not across the room and ten minutes of reboot and seventy-five clicks away. (A slight exaggeration. )

[MortenJensen]

I have just migrated to mac (mostly due to speed when editing high res photos) and am running a trial of crossover and fusion. I by far prefer fusion. It is works like a charm - you assign it to its own desktop and with a swipe you go back and forth. It only uses a small amount of RAM and works much faster than my old PC. So far I haven't found anything in BW that does not work.

The only thing that irritates me is that there is a problem with some refreshing of the screen - it blinks black where the cursor stands. This has nothing to do with BW, though.

It costs 50 usd - and to my mind you get a much more robust solution than with crossover.

Morten

[dribex]

I could never get BW9 to install on Crossover 10. I saw this week that it is now compatible with the new Crossover 11, so I
downloaded the trial and, same problem, it won't complete the install of BW 9. I have wasted money on Crossover and can only install
e-Sword!