My New Mac is almost where I want it...!

[Hogleg 44]

Well, I almost have it set up to do everything I want.
Virtually all of the software vendors that have cross platform versions of of the major programs I had on the PC have been very helpful in my transition. I have not had to repurchase anything so far. Now I have purchased upgrades to facilitate making the platform switch, (like CS2Win to CS3Mac) but nothing that I would not have bought anyway.
About all I need now is MS Office 2004 for Mac. And a Retail Copy of XP SP2, in order to get that flakey Parallels v.3 program working properly. *
And, Hopefully I might have a connection to get those at a bargain price....(A Retired M$ employee)

* I may have to go Boot Camp or VM Fusion if Parallels won't cooperate any better than it has so far!

[srwatters]

What are you trying to run under Parallels? I've had no issues with mine on the Mac Pro.

You also might want to look at iWork '08 for $79 until Office '08 comes out. I wouldn't waste the money on Office 2004 for just a few months (if you believe the MS schedule).

[mobilezen]

MS Office 2008 for mac comes in January of 2008 according to many sites.

I'm curious what is making parallels run flakey because I've never had that problem on my mac book pro. What kind of hardware are you running?

[Hogleg 44]

Originally Posted by srwatters

(if you believe the MS schedule).

From what I've been seeing in various newsletters...the 'schedule' is way off schedule....!
If the 2004 is cheap enough it will be fine. I really don't use it very often. And too, if the 'source' works out 2008 should be acquirable at a similar savings if I should decide I need it.
If I find I have to pay full price, I'll go for the substitute.

Oh, by the way Scott. I took your advise on the Ram and the Super Duper. Thanks!

[Hogleg 44]

Originally Posted by mobilezen

.I'm curious what is making parallels run flakey because I've never had that problem on my mac book pro. What kind of hardware are you running?

(A brand new Mac Pro with 6 GB Ram.)
Nothing but trouble. Parallels is advertised to take any version of Windows, but in reality, from what I have been finding on the Parallels Support Forum, it seems that version 3 really only likes copies of XP with SP2. Which my copy doesn't have. The First install of my copy of XP Pro SP1 seemed to go ok. Immediately after the install, XP wanted to download and install some updates. The first update install went just fine. Then after a reboot it wanted to download and install more updates. 56 of them to be exact. In hindsight, I should have done a custom install of only part of them, but i went with the 'recommended' to install all of them at once.
At update #35 the install hung! It stopped! Even the file transferring icons in the installer window stopped moving. After waiting for about 25 or so minutes to see if it would restart, I decided that the install was dead! and attempted to terminate it. The installer window indicated "cancelled" but that hung also! After another shorter waiting period, I had to restart windows to get out of it. CAD did nothing.
After that XP was only partially functional. I could not Copy and Paste, or Drag and Drop. And It crashed easily. Auto-run would not work on program CD's and clicking the install file within the CD's brought up an error message that the MS Installer couldn't be found.
I could install programs that were downloaded, but not programs that were on CD's.
Without those abilities XP was really useless.
I deleted the XP Virtual Machine. I tried to reinstall XP, but every attempt failed before completing. Parallels would fail to install 'Tools' giving an error message, and the install would terminate. I tried other methods of the install, but all failed, So, I uninstalled Parallels from the Parallels CD, and restarted the Mac. I reinstalled Parallels, after which Parallels found itself an Update, which it installed.
After that things went from BAD to WORSE! Any XP install attempt would hang about half way through. After about half a dozen other attempts, and several reinstalls of Parallels, trying everything i could find to to try, I gave up in total frustration and uninstalled Parallels. All Parallels Support requests went unanswered......! So! Parallels is 'Flakey' IMHO!!!

[Tim-in-TX]

Originally Posted by Hogleg 44

(A brand new Mac Pro with 6 GB Ram.)
Nothing but trouble. Parallels is advertised to take any version of Windows, but in reality, from what I have been finding on the Parallels Support Forum, it seems that version 3 really only likes copies of XP with SP2. Which my copy doesn't have. The First install of my copy of XP Pro SP1 seemed to go ok. Immediately after the install, XP wanted to download and install some updates. The first update install went just fine. Then after a reboot it wanted to download and install more updates. 56 of them to be exact. In hindsight, I should have done a custom install of only part of them, but i went with the 'recommended' to install all of them at once.
At update #35 the install hung! It stopped! Even the file transferring icons in the installer window stopped moving. After waiting for about 25 or so minutes to see if it would restart, I decided that the install was dead! and attempted to terminate it. The installer window indicated "cancelled" but that hung also! After another shorter waiting period, I had to restart windows to get out of it. CAD did nothing.
After that XP was only partially functional. I could not Copy and Paste, or Drag and Drop. And It crashed easily. Auto-run would not work on program CD's and clicking the install file within the CD's brought up an error message that the MS Installer couldn't be found.
I could install programs that were downloaded, but not programs that were on CD's.
Without those abilities XP was really useless.
I deleted the XP Virtual Machine. I tried to reinstall XP, but every attempt failed before completing. Parallels would fail to install 'Tools' giving an error message, and the install would terminate. I tried other methods of the install, but all failed, So, I uninstalled Parallels from the Parallels CD, and restarted the Mac. I reinstalled Parallels, after which Parallels found itself an Update, which it installed.
After that things went from BAD to WORSE! Any XP install attempt would hang about half way through. After about half a dozen other attempts, and several reinstalls of Parallels, trying everything i could find to to try, I gave up in total frustration and uninstalled Parallels. All Parallels Support requests went unanswered......! So! Parallels is 'Flakey' IMHO!!!

This is good to know. I was contemplating an upgrade from Parallels to Parallels 3.0. I have not been in a hurry to upgrade because, after reading some of the new updates, I did not really see anything that would be of any great help to me. I don't use XP very much so I don't need a lot of bells and whistles, so I think I will just stay with the original Parallels for a while longer. If things change and I want to upgrade to 3.0 later, maybe by that time they will have worked out the bug!
And congratulations on the new Mac! I'm thinking about one of the new iMacs sometime in the near future...I just haven't told the wife yet!

[Hogleg 44]

Originally Posted by Tim-in-TX

This is good to know. I was contemplating an upgrade from Parallels to Parallels 3.0. I have not been in a hurry to upgrade because, after reading some of the new updates, I did not really see anything that would be of any great help to me. I don't use XP very much so I don't need a lot of bells and whistles, so I think I will just stay with the original Parallels for a while longer. If things change and I want to upgrade to 3.0 later, maybe by that time they will have worked out the bug!
And congratulations on the new Mac! I'm thinking about one of the new iMacs sometime in the near future...I just haven't told the wife yet!

Yes. I would advise caution on the upgrade. Research v3 first.
I say that not because I know much about Parallels, cause I sure don't, but because I saw a few posts on the Parallels forum by people who wanted to revert back to v2.5 because of some kind of new problems they were having with v3.

And, lots of gripes about very poor support by the Parallels team.