Post by Tim MurrayI'll be getting a MacBook Pro soon, and I need to run FrameMaker in Windows.
FrameMaker has historically been rather quick at its operation, so speed is
not an issue.
I'm using Frame for main book work, and using Mac apps for everything else.
The two things that are an issue are fonts and shared folders.
By fonts, this refers to a need to disable and enable fonts inside the
Windows operating system. Presently I use Virtual PC and Windows XP with
Adobe Type Manager, and I can turn fonts on and off as needed. I need to
disable and enable at will, but the method is not particularly important. In
other words, I could use a font manager or just drag them around as needed.
If you could find a used version of the FontReserve X Server 1.6.x +
Fontreserve X 2.x for Mac and Fontreserve 2.x for Windows, you can
manage everything font in both Windows and mac oS X - even in Leopard,
but the Win version isnot Vista kompatible - only XP/XPPro. I've been
using the Fontreserve applications on all my Macs - both classic
machines and OS X up to 10.5.3, but have now switched to Linotype
Fontexplorer X instead, since that one also can recognize both Windows
font folders and classic Mac OS folders with both auto and manual
ON/OFF. I haven't that much need to use as many fonts on my XPPro, so it
isn't necessary for me to have a Windows management system.
An alternative for you could be to have a look at Extensis Font Fusion -
the successor of SuitCase, but I don't know how good Fusion is....
Post by Tim MurrayThe other necessary condition is that I need Frame to share a folder with the
Mac OS. For example, both Frame in Windows and Illustrator in Mac might use
the same folder at the same time. This is a non-issue if my files were on a
server, but I usually work on my local hard disk.
If I remember right, you an just select a personal defined folder for
saving the Framemaker works. In Windows you then have to make this
folder 'shared' so you can access it from the Mac side. To access it
directly you can also drag the folder icon to the Apple dock just to the
left of the trash, and it will be visible there, when Windows is running
virtually. and a click on that icon will open the folder in the Mac Finder.
Post by Tim MurrayKnowing these issues, what virtualization solution would you recommend?
Well, I like Parallels Desktop 3.x + WinXP Pro the best, because
Parallels supports fully internal sharing of any type. That means when
XPPro is running it just occours in the left sidebar in an open OS X
Finder window as a 'local computer' on a network, and a click on the
virtual disk icon in the dock switches XPPro to be the frontmost system,
and a click on the Finder icon in the dock, brings OS X back to the
front. There is a ver. 4 of Parallels out, but I don't know how good it
is now... It was very bad in the beginning with lots of problems like
unexpected quits and 'network' dropouts... - Just remember if using
Parallels to set Mac OS X as the 'host' of the keyboard and also to
install the Parallels Tools from the tools menu, else you won't be able
to use neither the Mac keyboard or the Apple mouse/trackpad.
Alternatively you could try the new version of VirtualBox (freeware!).
It has got rather good reviews, but if I remember right, it has some
limitations in sharing - especially with external Firewire and USB disks.
On the Windows side, I'll only recommend using Windows XP Pro SP3 along
with one of these. XPPro is screamingly fast on my MacPro QuadCore -
both as a bootable XPPro and virtual system through Parallels Desktop
3.x. Avoid the Vista, - it is simply too slow and unstable - bootable or
not - doesn't matter. Alternatively you might wait until the new Windows
7 is out. If it keeps what it is promising, Win7 will be just as fast as
xPPro, but with the functionality of Vista + more. But I'm afraid Win7
won't be what it promises. - Vista also was really fast in the betas -
right until MS overvelmed it with everything more or less usable junk or
what one will call it.
Cheers, Erik Richard
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Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-***@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com
OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org
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