Compatibility issues with using this Mac for pure Windows XP development???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Olcott
  • Start date Start date
Peter said:
http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/WebObjects/BizCustom?qprm=78313&node=home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro

The only physical difference that I have heard so far is
that the Mac has a different BIOS bootstrap loader. I need
to know of any possible compatibility issues for any MS
Windows based use, especially Visual Studio C++ / C#
development.
Click to expand...
man, I have to tell you, the difference between MAC and PC are night and
day. The boot loader is just where it starts (other than the price). I
would search to see if you can get MAC versions of the software you use,
however, I doubt it.
Now, you can run MS programs (now that Intel is part of the family)on a
MAC.However, you still have the get the MS programs that are 'for MAC.'
The only way to run pure MS is to partition the drive in the NTFS format
so you can install Windows XP/Vista. That way you will be good to go and
you can rest assure that you have just defeated the point of getting a
MAC in the first place and waisted all that money for a (now) PC at a
MAC price.

Recommendation: get a souped up PC with high specs and STILL bank the
extra cash or put it toward the software you want.


Good luck,

www.bytemecomputers.net
 
Yoma said:
man, I have to tell you, the difference between MAC and PC are night and
day. The boot loader is just where it starts (other than the price). I
would search to see if you can get MAC versions of the software you use,
however, I doubt it.
Now, you can run MS programs (now that Intel is part of the family)on a
MAC.However, you still have the get the MS programs that are 'for MAC.'
The only way to run pure MS is to partition the drive in the NTFS format
so you can install Windows XP/Vista. That way you will be good to go and
you can rest assure that you have just defeated the point of getting a
MAC in the first place and waisted all that money for a (now) PC at a
MAC price.

Recommendation: get a souped up PC with high specs and STILL bank the
extra cash or put it toward the software you want.


Good luck,

Yoma
Click to expand...

Yoma, the latest Macintosh computers, use Intel processors and an
Intel chipset. The BIOS is EFI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface

Apple has "Boot Camp" and "Parallels" as tools for operating
with Microsoft Windows. Boot Camp allows the Apple computer to boot
into Windows (WinXP SP2 for example).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Boot_Camp

And that is the question Peter is asking. Once booted into Windows,
how similar is the environment to an ordinary PC ?

The answer should be, that it is very close. But I'm not in a
position to say how close. The best place to get the information,
might be on a Macintosh forum, where users have tested it.

In addition to that closeness, people are also taking PC motherboards
(like a motherboard based on Intel 945 chipset, with Intel processor),
and loading MacOSX on it. So a transition in the other direction is
possible as well (run Apple OS on non-Apple equipment).

Paul
 
Yoma said:
man, I have to tell you, the difference between MAC and PC
are night and day. The boot loader is just where it starts
(other than the price). I would search to see if you can
get MAC versions of the software you use, however, I doubt
it.
Now, you can run MS programs (now that Intel is part of
the family)on a MAC.However, you still have the get the MS
programs that are 'for MAC.' The only way to run pure MS
is to partition the drive in the NTFS format so you can
install Windows XP/Vista. That way you will be good to go
and you can rest assure that you have just defeated the
point of getting a MAC in the first place and waisted all
that money for a (now) PC at a MAC price.

Recommendation: get a souped up PC with high specs and
STILL bank the extra cash or put it toward the software
you want.


Good luck,

www.bytemecomputers.net
Click to expand...

This is for commercial software development that has several
hundred thousand hours invested in the MS Windows
architecture. They are looking at dual boot so that they
could run at some Mac software along side the Windows XP
compilers.
 
Paul said:
Yoma, the latest Macintosh computers, use Intel processors
and an
Intel chipset. The BIOS is EFI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Firmware_Interface

Apple has "Boot Camp" and "Parallels" as tools for
operating
with Microsoft Windows. Boot Camp allows the Apple
computer to boot
into Windows (WinXP SP2 for example).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Boot_Camp

And that is the question Peter is asking. Once booted into
Windows,
how similar is the environment to an ordinary PC ?

The answer should be, that it is very close. But I'm not
in a
position to say how close. The best place to get the
information,
might be on a Macintosh forum, where users have tested it.

In addition to that closeness, people are also taking PC
motherboards
(like a motherboard based on Intel 945 chipset, with Intel
processor),
and loading MacOSX on it. So a transition in the other
direction is
possible as well (run Apple OS on non-Apple equipment).

Paul
Click to expand...

The biggest potential issue that I foresee would be making
image backups of both the XP and the Mac OS X partitions.
Although there are some other compatibility issues, such as
limited choice of hardware and operating systems, these
should not be prohibitive.
 
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