CodeWeaver - CrossOver?!?!

[thegreatest21]

I am still at the stage of deciding whether to get a MacBook or a MacBook Pro, playing the waiting game with Apple to see what will be around in October. Anyway, I found this link to a program in the trail stages called CrossOver and just wondered how this compares to BootCamp and Parallels attemtps to run Windows?

P.S. Does anyone reckon there will be any updates to the MacBook range at all?

Thanks

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I am still at the stage of deciding whether to get a MacBook or a MacBook Pro, playing the waiting game with Apple to see what will be around in October. Anyway, I found this link to a program in the trail stages called CrossOver and just wondered how this compares to BootCamp and Parallels attemtps to run Windows?

P.S. Does anyone reckon there will be any updates to the MacBook range at all?

Thanks

CrossOver is the most seamless of the Windows-on-the-Mac solutions, but it is also the least compatible. Many Windows programs outright fail to install and run under CrossOver. I use CrossOver for one purpose only - running Winamp 2.95 on my Mac. It works almost flawlessly for that.

As for MacBook updates, don't expect any soon. Intel tends to update their chipsets every 3 months or so, and Apple is trying their best to follow this cycle, though sometimes products don't get updated for 6 months or more (look at the iMac for an example). Also, MacBooks were speedbumped fairly recently - just look at the Buyer's Guide here.

 

[thegreatest21]

CrossOver is the most seamless of the Windows-on-the-Mac solutions, but it is also the least compatible. Many Windows programs outright fail to install and run under CrossOver. I use CrossOver for one purpose only - running Winamp 2.95 on my Mac. It works almost flawlessly for that.

As for MacBook updates, don't expect any soon. Intel tends to update their chipsets every 3 months or so, and Apple is trying their best to follow this cycle, though sometimes products don't get updated for 6 months or more (look at the iMac for an example). Also, MacBooks were speedbumped fairly recently - just look at the Buyer's Guide here.

That's cool. But I'll be purchasing a BlackBook sometime in October anyway so waiting isn't a problemo. AS for the CrossOver program...which is better between BootCamp and Parallel?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

That's cool. But I'll be purchasing a BlackBook sometime in October anyway so waiting isn't a problemo. AS for the CrossOver program...which is better between BootCamp and Parallel?

Depends on your needs. If you're going to do anything under Windows that benefits from hardware 3D acceleration, such as gaming, Boot Camp is by far the better choice. If you aren't, and would rather not reboot to switch operating systems, and/or want to run an older version of Windows (like Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, or even DOS), Parallels is the clear winner. If your needs fall in between (for example, a casual gamer who has some Windows-only games they play every once in a while but also uses some Windows productivity apps extensively), use both - set up Boot Camp first, then tell Parallels to use your Boot Camp partition for its Windows environment.

 

[katorga]

It works....

I've run Crossover Office and Wine (which is what Crossover is based on) on Linux for years with no issues. The Crossover product is basically pre-configured and tested Wine. It takes a lot of the headache out. It is designed to run MS Office, Outlook, iTunes and EI6 on Linux as seamlessly and trouble free as possible. It will work on other apps that are not on their tested list, but it is not 100% guaranteed like the tested apps are.

Eventually, I stopped using Crossover and just used the built in Wine. Setup is my responsibility, so it takes longer, but works just as well.

FWIW, I play WoW, Everquest, and several other games on Linux using Wine.

I have not tried it on Mac, but don't see why it should not work.

 

[thegreatest21]

Depends on your needs. If you're going to do anything under Windows that benefits from hardware 3D acceleration, such as gaming, Boot Camp is by far the better choice. If you aren't, and would rather not reboot to switch operating systems, and/or want to run an older version of Windows (like Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, or even DOS), Parallels is the clear winner. If your needs fall in between (for example, a casual gamer who has some Windows-only games they play every once in a while but also uses some Windows productivity apps extensively), use both - set up Boot Camp first, then tell Parallels to use your Boot Camp partition for its Windows environment.

That's wicked. I cannot wait for a MAC!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[xpovos]

CrossOver has a long, LONG way to go in terms of app compatibility before it's ready to compete with the likes of Parallels. In my opinion, CrossOver doesn't currently merit its price (or anywhere close)---and it probably never will, because of the technology it's based on.

Boot Camp will outperform Parallels, but you have to reboot to use Windows. I don't like that, and Parallels runs great on my 4GB MBP, so I use Parallels.

 

[TSE]

I've run Crossover Office and Wine (which is what Crossover is based on) on Linux for years with no issues. The Crossover product is basically pre-configured and tested Wine. It takes a lot of the headache out. It is designed to run MS Office, Outlook, iTunes and EI6 on Linux as seamlessly and trouble free as possible. It will work on other apps that are not on their tested list, but it is not 100% guaranteed like the tested apps are.

Eventually, I stopped using Crossover and just used the built in Wine. Setup is my responsibility, so it takes longer, but works just as well.

FWIW, I play WoW, Everquest, and several other games on Linux using Wine.

I have not tried it on Mac, but don't see why it should not work.

How do you get EverQuest to work over crossover?!?! I have everquest with the 30 day free trial of crossover and it wont work.

 

[myke323]

Crossover is not a good solution to any thing heavy duty. I use it only to test in IE6 and it runs very cludgy... Although for that specific purpose it has really suited me well.

 

[user13]

Crossover is not a good solution to any thing heavy duty. I use it only to test in IE6 and it runs very cludgy... Although for that specific purpose it has really suited me well.

I didn't like Crossover, it supports little apps... Get Parallels instead - it's much better if you need running windows programs right from Mac OS.

 

[katorga]

How do you get EverQuest to work over crossover?!?! I have everquest with the 30 day free trial of crossover and it wont work.

EQ1 running on Wine on Linux. Worked OK. WoW worked perfectly on Linux.

Crossover makes a customized/tuned commercial linux release of Wine to run office Apps.

Cedega/Transgaming made a version of wine tuned and tested for windows game. The Cider game library used to port windows games to Mac is based on this.

I've never used either on Mac.

 

[mkozlow111]

question

i am thinking about getting a macbook pro and am trying to answer the question between getting parallel bootcamp crossover or whatever...i basically in the end want to be able to play windows games like empire earth and warcraft 3 and all that as well as use word excel etc...im also trying to avoid having to pay the 150 dollar mac office fee...i originally thought just get the parallel then i can play windows games and install my own version of microsoft office...turns out parallel is just an emulator and cant do that? advice?

 

[katorga]

The Mac is a PC. You could load windows on it as your only OS if you wanted and use it just like any other windows box. Options break down like this....

- Bootcamp: Partitions the drive creates a drivers disk. It allows you to install a copy of windows and dual boot between OSX and Windows. It is full native windows and will run anything windows will run. You can also dual boot Linux if you want to.

- Parallels: Virtual Machine software. This is NOT an emulator. It runs a complete virtual session of your hardware allowing you to run any x86 operating system concurrently with OS X. Latest versions support DirectX in the virtual machine allowing some gaming.

- VMware Fusion: Virtual Machine software. This is NOT an emulator. It runs a complete virtual session of your hardware allowing you to run any x86 operating system concurrently with OS X. Latest version support DirectX in the virtual machine allowing some gaming.

- Crossover: Windows abstraction layer. This is a commercial release of Wine the open source package (Wine Is Not an Emulator). This tricks windows software into thinking windows is installed. From a command prompt your can type "wine setup.exe" and literally install MS Office 2003 for windows on OS X and run it. I use this all the time on Linux.

- Sheepshaver: Finally an Emulator. This emulates a PPC cpu on X86 macs allowing you to install and run OS9 or other legacy PowerPC Mac software. You need a ROM image for this to work.

Basically I have the best of all worlds. I can run OS X, Windows XP, Vista and Ubuntu all at the SAME TIME on my mac. Works like a champ.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

i am thinking about getting a macbook pro and am trying to answer the question between getting parallel bootcamp crossover or whatever...i basically in the end want to be able to play windows games like empire earth and warcraft 3 and all that as well as use word excel etc...im also trying to avoid having to pay the 150 dollar mac office fee...i originally thought just get the parallel then i can play windows games and install my own version of microsoft office...turns out parallel is just an emulator and cant do that? advice?

Parallels is not "just an emulator". It's actually just a virtual machine, since it doesn't have to emulate the processor. Terminology aside, Parallels, like Boot Camp, requires a real Windows installation to run - but it's FAR more compatible than CrossOver Office. Boot Camp is 100% compatible with Windows apps, even 3D ones, but it requires a restart to use. If I were you I'd definitely look into Boot Camp, at least for your games.