more on Initial experience with Win XP VM with Parallels Desktop for [Intel] Mac

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
Date: July 11, 2006 10:34:09 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Cc: "'Steve Goldstein'" <steve.goldstein () cox net>
Subject: RE: [IP] Initial experience with Win XP VM with Parallels  
Desktop for [Intel] Mac

One more reminder of why we need to get rid of USB (http:// 
www.frankston.com/?Name=SATNUSBNO) – it’s not an end-to-end  
architecture – the drivers need to be too smart. If the devices were  
simply network devices it be easy to connect with (not just to) them  
whether in a VM or an RM. You could even choose to make the devices  
available to others’ on your network such as sharing printers and  
scanners.

For that matter, why are phones connected via wires and/or IR?  
There’s something strange about using IR to beam a message form one  
from one phone to another when they both have radios and can simply  
send a message to each other via the network. It shouldn’t take too  
much software to use SMS as a messaging transport in place of IR. But  
once we start simplifying things by taking advantage of IP networks  
it becomes too easy to do things on your own and that threatens those  
who seek control be it a carrier, Microsoft or that company that  
wants to lock you into iPods.



-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 18:15
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: [IP] Initial experience with Win XP VM with Parallels  
Desktop for [Intel] Mac







Begin forwarded message:

From:   Steve Goldstein <steve.goldstein () cox net>

Date:    July 10, 2006 11:59:01 AM EDT

To:       dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks), David Farber

            <dave () farber net>

Cc:       Joe Kissel <jwk () mac com>, info () parallels com

Subject:            Initial experience with Win XP VM with Parallels  
Desktop for

            [Intel] Mac



I have been running Windows XP as a virtual machine (VM) using  
Parallels Desktop for Mac on my new Intel Core Duo iMac for about two  
weeks, and I offer some early observations.

INSTALLATION: First of all, installation was a breeze. Basically, you  
just move the Parallels icon to your Application Folder, open it,  
register it, and set up the parameters of your VM (identity, e.g.,  
Win XP; RAM size, hard drive size). Then, you install Windows XP,  
just as if you were installing on a real PC.

SLICK ‘N SPEEDY: What can I say? I did not attempt any quantitative  
testing. But, the speed and responsiveness inside the VM seems almost  
as fast as within the Mac OS itself. Certainly as fast if not faster,  
than with my old 1.3 GHz PC. The only exception was yesterday when I  
was installing HP printers. The Color Laser 2500n was quick and easy,  
but the All-in-One Officejet 6310 installation was like watching  
paint dry. I cannot recall if it was any faster on my old PC.

PRINTER SUPPORT: Not seamless, as had been described, but pretty much  
like a real PC, so not at all that hard to set up if you are used to  
running a PC.

NETWORKING: Seamlessly got its DHCP network connection through my  
Mac. Including the networked printers mentioned above, once the  
printer software had been installed in the VM. And, the network  
connection seemed significantly slower than on the Mac side,  
especially for the HP site, and that was probably an end-to-end  
phenomenon. Also, “publishing” (updating) a remote web site with  
FrontPage (the main reason that I have to maintain a PC capability— 
and FrontPage was not my choice, but dictated by the folks that set  
up the web site) seemed to go much more slowly than with the real PC.  
The underlying transport for that is FTP. But, we’re talking watching  
“eggs fry,” rather than “paint dry.”

CURSOR CAPTURE: Your cursor is either on the Mac desktop or on the  
Windows desktop, and you can make the transition between each desktop  
seamless by adjusting parameters in Parallels—really easy to do once  
you know that you can do it. Otherwise, you have to hit the CTRL and  
OPT keys to “liberate” the cursor from the VM window.

DISC CAPTURE: Similarly, a CD or DVD disc can be “captured” by either  
Windows or Mac, but not both. That took a bit if sleuthing at first.  
There is a frame around the VM window, with icons of peripherals at  
the bottom. If you click on the disc icon and select “disconnect,”  
the disc is recognized by the Mac OS; conversely, if you choose  
“connect,” the disc is captured by the VM. Simple, once you know  
about it.

USB IMPLEMENTATION (MY ONLY DISAPPOINTMENT): I am not sure about the  
USB implementation. I read and re-read the documentation, and it just  
doesn’t seem to jibe with my experience using the Parallels VM. There  
is a restriction, one that I hope will be removed in forthcoming  
versions of Parallels, of only two USB devices that can be “attached”  
at any one time. Well, gee, the keyboard and the mouse are numbers 1  
and 2, so that leaves nothing more available. Aside from FrontPage,  
the only other real need I had of the PC was to update the contacts  
list on my Sanyo MM8300 mobile phone. There is a Mac application,  
BitPim, that **just** included support for Sanyo, but I keep getting  
error messages that I cannot seem to get past with BitPim. On the PC,  
I use the FutureDial software suite, and it works well, but I cannot  
connect with my mobile phone through the USB cable because of the  
limit of two USB devices. Yet . . . I can see external USB 2.0 hard  
drives that are connected to the Macintosh—although Windows warns me  
that they are getting only USB 1.x support. These are drives that I  
had formatted and used with my PC. And, I cannot for the life of me,  
understand why these are not limited by the two- device rule, whereas  
my mobile phone connection is. I do so hope that the folks at  
Parallels will expand USB support to include more than two devices  
and USB 2.0.

BOTTOM LINE: I am delighted that I can get rid of two major heat  
generators and a lot of wiring and the electronic KVM box that I  
needed with the two machines (the G4 Mac and the HP PC). Now, I just  
have one computer running in my office, the 20” iMac Intel CoreDuo,  
and it doesn’t generate all that much heat. Also, I do not have to  
run two separate e-mail clients (I get update into for the web site  
by e-mail). So, it has greatly simplified my need for a PC supporting  
role. Parallels works inside the Mac OS, so it is not an either-or  
proposition like Boot Camp that makes you choose which OS to use at  
boot time. If only there were more expansive USB support, it would be  
the ideal replacement for an external PC, at least for me.

For those who might like a hand-holding “how-to” e-book, I recommend  
Joe Kissel’s TidBITS book, “Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac” :

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/windows-on-mac.html?

14@185.VUabbgezlGK@!pt=TB-HOME-SKY

It includes a $10 savings code for Parallels Desktop for Mac if you  
redeem it before the end of July.




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