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Vista SP1 to support EFI booting standard - what does this mean for Boot Camp?
Rounding up on 9 months of Vista being on the market, Microsoft is of course at work on Service Pack 1 which is slated for an early 2008 release. At the official Windows Vista blog, Brandon LeBlanc has offered extensive details on what the focus of Service Pack 1 is, and while much of it is targeted at businesses and independent software vendors, an interesting section outlining some of the fundamentals mentions that support for the EFI booting standard is on its way (under the Introducing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 section; there aren't any anchors I can link in this extensive post, so you'll have to search for that title or simply 'EFI').In their hype and marketing for Boot Camp, Apple makes a pretty big deal about Intel-based Macs supporting EFI while "Windows XP, and even Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS" (check the sidebar of the Boot Camp page). So what could it mean if Vista catches up to the EFI bandwagon? I'm not quite sure yet. It could likely make the Boot Camp engineers' lives a lot easier, and while I know less about virtualization software like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, they might be able to sleep better at night as well. Ultimately, if EFI support in Vista makes it easier for Apple to support running Windows on a Mac, this could likely yield even more sales from swtichers - especially those who need Vista for things like work or gaming. As to speculation on whether this could bring some of the wilder stuff like running Windows apps in Mac OS X without the need for the Windows OS or virtualization tools, I'll leave that to the tin foil hat enthusiasts in the audience.Thanks Adam
Uncle Walt says the new iMac rocks Vista
Ever since Boot Camp was released it has been no surprise to find out that the Intel Macs also make for some of the best Windows machines too (well, if you can bring yourself to install it, that is). Anyway, Walt Mossberg, dean of tech writers, has gotten one of the new iMacs and for kicks installed Vista via Boot Camp. And sure enough, Uncle Walt says he tested it "using Vista's built-in Windows Experience Index, a rating system that goes from 1 to 5.9, with scores above 3.0 generally required for full, quick performance. My iMac scored a 5.0, the best score of any consumer Vista machine I have tested." This was apparently the 2.8GHz machine as he says it was the top-of-the-line model. I know some folks were disappointed with the new iMacs slightly anemic graphics cards, but it's good to know they can still rock Vista if called upon to do so.[via MacVolPlace]
Ask TUAW: reading Mac files from Windows, printing posters, VNC and more
This week on Ask TUAW we cover questions about reading the Mac partition while running Windows in Boot Camp, remote management, printing posters, AGP video cards for G5s, problems with Flash and more!As always, leave your questions for next week in the comments.
Boot Camp 1.4 beta
Attention folks who like a little Windows with their Macs, Apple has just updated the Boot Camp beta to 1.4. Boot Camp, you will recall, is Apple's utility that allows you to repartition your Mac's hard drive and dual boot Windows and OS X. New in this release (quoting Apple's website here): Support for the MacBook Pro's backlight keyboard Apple Remote Pairing Updated graphics drivers (Windows loves drivers) Improved Boot Camp driver install, improved international keyboard support and more! Boot Camp 1.4 beta requires OS X 10.4.6 or later and the latest firmware for your Mac. It is free, and it is also a beta so be warned.Thanks, Paul.
Much love for Mike Bombich -- Bootpicker 1.3 makes Mac/XP choice easier
Let us count the ways that the Mac sysadmin community hearts Mike B: we relish his reliable and full-featured Carbon Copy Cloner, we depend absolutely upon his fast and simple NetRestore, we puzzle through his instructions for deploying dual-boot machines and for working with Active Directory. Most of all, we love that all this snazzy management goodness is free. Now, for everyone tired of telling dual-boot users "just hold down the option key," Mike has released a Boot Camp OS selector tool called (unsurprisingly) BootPicker. It's open source, free and delightfully slick.What differentiates BootPicker from a simple option-boot, or from more elaborate tools like rEFIt, is its manageability and simplicity. Installed as a preference pane, BootPicker actually boots to Mac OS X every time and lets the user click a button for the OS they want (or, if administratively desired, reboots automatically to Mac OS X or Windows without user input). This gets around a couple of tricky problems; normally, setting a permanent boot OS requires an admin password, and a machine set to always boot in Windows is immune to the management oversight of tools like ARD or Workgroup Manager (you can manage both sides of the fence with LANrev or similar tools, but that can be a pain). By booting into Mac OS X first, there's an opportunity to change the preferences for BootPicker itself and modify the behavior for the next boot cycle.There's a very solid Read Me for BootPicker that (unfortunately) is only included in the install distribution, so you'll have to download it to peruse the details. Mike includes a candid evaluation of the security risks involved with something like BootPicker, which runs as root before the normal login window is presented to the user; please use discretion and care if you decide to deploy it. Check it out, and take a moment to appreciate what Mr. Bombich has done to make our lives a little bit easier.
Parallels virtual disk dance of pain
Sometimes virtualization can be aggravating. If you've found yourself with a Parallels virtual disk that turned out to be uncomfortably small for all your stuff, there's a way to expand your horizons -- increase the virtual drive size with the included Image Tool, then boot the virtual machine from a free GParted LiveCD image to bump up the Windows partition to the full size of the virtual disk. Easy as pie, right? Well, unfortunately not anymore: Parallels has (temporarily, we hope) removed Image Tool from the 3.0 distribution and the older version of the tool will not work with the current disk image format. The resizing procedure has been confusing for users (and possibly eaten the VHDs of a few unlucky souls), so until Parallels comes up with a more integrated resizing solution, it's off the table. You can get around the missing utility by making a new (larger) blank disk image, then using a tool like Acronis MigrateEasy within Parallels to move from old HD to new; still, it's a pain in the keister.Meanwhile, as I discovered when preparing to move my Boot Camp XP setup into a virtual machine, the otherwise excellent Parallels Transporter P2V (physical to virtual) conversion tool has a serious functional gap. Transporter, which is designed to help you create Parallels virtual machines from physical PCs or other virtual disk formats, works on just about any source machine except... you guessed it: a Boot Camp installation of Windows. Argh! I could capture the Boot Camp install as a restorable disk image with NetRestore or WinClone, but I really wanted to go virtual, as I am in the process of moving over to a new MacBook Pro (yay!) with a smaller internal drive (boo!). What to do, what to do?In this case, it was the competition that came to the rescue, in the form of VMware's free Converter tool. VMware Converter, which does the same basic P2V tricks as Parallels Transporter, works just fine with a Boot Camp setup, thank you very much, and neatly whisked my one-third-full 40 GB XP partition into a folderful of virtual disk chunks; with Converter you can also easily expand or contract your target disk size, which is another approach to the resizing problem above. From there I had what we refer to in Brooklyn as "lotsa optsh" -- continue on using the new virtual machine in VMware Fusion, or run back to Parallels Transporter to continue converting into a Parallels VM. In fact, to avoid installing a full VMware setup (I did fire up the new v4.1, just to kick the tires a little), there's a conversion method in Transporter that goes directly from the VMware virtual disk to a Parallels .hdd file, don't pass Go or collect $200. Transporter will even make the needed config changes to the resulting disk, open it up in a fresh virtual machine, and load the Parallels support tools and drivers for you, hands-free. Well, Parallels, I suppose I can forgive the Boot Camp transfer situation, but let's not go down this twisty disk-y road again, mmmkay?
Leopard Boot Camp "fast switching" disappears
Last week we pointed to an interesting addition to Apple's Leopard Boot Camp page: support for faster switching between Windows and OS X using safe sleep in OS X and hibernation in Windows. Well apparently something has changed. As Mac Rumors notes, Apple's page itself has been altered and references to the faster switching have disappeared. Originally it the page included the following: Leopard brings a quicker way to switch between Mac OS X and Windows: Just choose the new Apple menu item "Restart in Windows." Your Mac goes into "safe sleep" so that when you return, you'll be right where you were. It's much faster than restarting the computer each time. Likewise, a "Restart in Mac OS X" menu item in the Boot Camp System Tray in Windows makes for a faster return to Mac OS X. With Windows hibernation enabled, you can pick up where you left off. Mac Rumors has a Google cache of the page that shows the original text. Now Apple's page is simply missing that section. I hope this returns in the final release, because it looked like a great feature.[via The Apple Core]
Leopard's Boot Camp brings 'fast switching' between Mac OS X and Windows
Thanks to you TUAW readers, tips are rolling in on all the tiny and not-so-tiny features that Mac OS X Leopard will be bringing in October. One feature that is definitely not-so-tiny is something I'll dub 'fast switching' between Mac OS X and your Boot Camp Windows installation. While this isn't quite the built-in virtualization that some users were hoping for, it will minimize the startup, shutdown and boot times when switching between the two OSes. Detailed on Boot Camp's new features page, Apple has hooked their safe sleep feature into Boot Camp to allow Mac OS X to save all your open applications and windows, and then boot over into Windows. Once you're done in Windows, you can boot back over to Mac OS X and pick up where you left off - with all your open applications and documents put right back where you left them. This is a great idea and an interesting compromise between making it a little too easy to run Windows on your Mac, and it also keeps Apple from stepping on the toes of virtualization products from companies like Parallels and VMware.Thanks, Daniel
Apple releases Boot Camp 1.3 beta
If you bought one of those brand-new MacBook Pros, you have our envy. You've also got a new version of Boot Camp beta waiting for you. Beta 1.3 adds support for the new MBPs, as well as: Upgraded graphics drivers Improved installer Localization fixes Updated Help section Upgrading from a previous version of Boot Camp is pretty easy, but you should follow Apple's instructions closely. You'll need Mac OS 10.4.6 or later, the latest firmware updates and a spare 10GB (at least). Have fun!Thanks, Patrick!
Use Quicksilver to boot into Windows
It is an interesting time to be a Mac user. More and more folks are seeing the light and picking up a Mac, perhaps to go with their iPods, and now you can even run Windows on a Mac. Boot Camp is great, but Boot Camp plus AppleScript plus Quicksilver is even better! This tutorial over at MacInstruct (love the logo by the way) shows you how to reboot your Mac into Windows using the awesomeness that is Quicksilver.[via the Iconfactory]
Apple's Boot Camp 1.2 supports Windows Vista
Although we were already informed that Leopard wouldn't be postponed for Vista support, it's always comforting to have just a tad more proof, and you really can't ask for much more than the latest iteration of Boot Camp (v1.2) now playing nice with Redmond's newfangled OS. Aside from allowing Intel-based Macs to load up Microsoft's latest operating system, the latest beta also includes updated drivers for the "trackpad, AppleTime, audio, graphics, modem, and iSight," and you can even control the action in Windows Media Player (and iTunes, of course) with the Apple Remote. Additionally, Apple is now invading your Windows system tray by adding an icon "for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions," and finally, you'll find Apple Software Update within both Windows XP and Vista environments. So while we can't exactly announce that Leopard is ready to pounce just yet, it's fair game to say that a new OS is most definitely available for your beloved Mac.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple releases Boot Camp 1.2 with Windows Vista support
Apple has just released Boot Camp version 1.2, ushering in support for the 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows Vista. Plenty of other driver updates and new features are included in this release as well, such as: Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player) A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian Improved Windows driver installation experience Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows Apple Software Update (for Windows XP and Vista) This is great news for anyone who might (unfortunately) want or need to run the latest version of Windows.I want to issue one word of caution, however, as I don't believe the system requirements list on the Boot Camp page have been updated specifically for Vista's hard drive requirements: the last I remember, any version of Vista besides Home Basic wants nearly 15GB just to install everything that is included, so be sure you partition some extra space if you were still working from XP's numbers.With that said, get out a blank CD and head over to the Boot Camp page to download the new version.
Leopard may be delayed
We've seen this before, of course, but today DigiTimes is reporting that Leopard may be as late as October...and it's Vista's fault (kind of).More of those infamous "reliable sources" are saying that Apple is busy adding Vista support to Leopard's integrated implementation of Boot Camp. The idea is that built-in XP support won't be enough to attract new switchers who want to use Vista. Of course, this "reliable source" could be someone's Uncle Frank who never leaves the house, but the delay is being covered by a number of outlets. As usual, we leave you with this: Time will tell.
Get your Ghost images into Boot Camp
Suppose you're in a mixed-platform environment, and you've got a library of Symantec Ghost images happily tweaked and configured for your Windows XP deployments. Wouldn't it be great if you could get those Ghost images into a form where you could use them for your Boot Camp machines? Sure, Ghost images are not really hardware-independent, but why not try?At my office, this was a much-desired outcome; the problem was that the standard DOS disks used in Ghost imaging won't boot EFI-based Intel Macs, and even bootable CDs made with Ghost generally failed to see our multicast image server, if they came up at all. We finally came up with a strategy -- a bit like the Wesleyan University process detailed here, which I wish I'd seen earlier -- for migrating a Ghost image over to a Mac, and thence, via NetRestore or WinClone, into a format easily cloned to other Macs. The key to this Rube Goldberg-like process, first suggested by my colleague Steven, is a free Windows bootable CD maker called BartPE. Read on for more of the conversion process, and note that Your Mileage WILL Vary.
Vista on the Mac
Wired Magazine's blog has a post about why Mac users may want to run Vista. Mac machines, it says, are great for running Vista, particularly with its demanding specifications. The author is a bit Wincentric, so take that into account while reading about how Vista makes OS X look "dated". But think about it. We have Boot Camp and we have Parallels, so why put off upgrading to Vista? Being Mac users, it's far less of a risk because we can always retreat back to OS X to get the real work done if the new OS has problems. Virtual machines make it simple to try out different configurations and compartmentalize your work life--as if you owned many different computers at once. Sure, Apple's commercials may visualize "PC" as going to the hospital for major surgery to get his Vista upgrade, but for Mac users, it's as simple as adding a new virtual machine in Parallels.
Apple to charge for Boot Camp?
Reports today indicate that Apple may be planning to take Boot Camp out of beta and transition it to a full, supported, paid-for offering. InformationWeek puts the final price at $29, similar to the price for QuickTime Pro, and not too much more than the $19 charge for Apple's MPEG-2 playback codec. If this pricing is correct (Apple has not confirmed it), it indicates that Apple sees Boot Camp as similar to these other items--something that some people will need but that most people can live without. I'd be surprised though if Boot Camp were not packaged into Leopard because it seems like such an integral part of what sells Intel Macs.
Parallels to turn it around, help Mac OS onto generic PC boxen
With the popularity of software like Apple's Boot Camp and SWsoft's Parallels, it's no secret that people want to run Windows and Mac OS on the same box, but who says that it has to be an Apple box? Well, Apple does, and the company has staunchly defended itself from the porting of OS X into the mad world of PC generics (not with total success, of course). But with mounting pressure from users and increasing software support from VMware and SWsoft, Steve Jobs might have to let go of his tight grasp on his shiny blue OS -- or at least turn the other way as OS X makes its way onto those vile, inferior, and cheaper x86 machines without his blessing. On that front, there's good news on the horizon: it turns out an upcoming version of Parallels just so happens to "make it easier to run Mac OS on a non-Apple computer," by some unknown but welcome means. VMware's own upcoming virtualization software for the Mac has been hamstrung by the trouble VMware has gone through trying to get Apple's blessing, and SWsoft's Parallels has been "crippled" in particular ways to make it more difficult to get Mac OS onto a non-Apple machine, but it seems like it's only going to get harder for Apple to have it both ways, and Intel's inclusion of virtualization in its own chips just compounds the "problem." Michael Dell has also reconfirmed his desire to pre-load Mac OS onto his own boring boxes "if customers wanted it and Apple would license it on reasonable terms," but that tantalizing offer doesn't seem to have swayed Apple yet.[Via Techmeme]
Apple planning to charge Tiger users for Boot Camp?
It was perhaps one of the most significant events the PC industry has seen in the last decade: Apple opening up its hardware to Windows operating systems through its proprietary Boot Camp software. Not only did it allow Mac owners running Intel-powered machines to dual boot XP at will, it did so completely gratis (well, save for the cost of a Windows license). Unfortunately, the honeymoon may soon be over for Tiger users accustomed to the free boot loader: according to a report on MacScoop, Steve and friends plan to begin charging about $30 for the software once OS X Leopard is released and Boot Camp leaves beta for the greener pastures of commercial. For those Macheads planning to upgrade to Leopard, this wouldn't be an issue, of course -- the new OS will offer Boot Camp as one of its standard features. Still, if you're planning on keeping the old Tiger and your draft-N router around for awhile longer, it sounds like there's a good chance you'll need to squirrel away about $32 for the future: $30 for Boot Camp, and two bucks for the privilege of unlocking your wireless card's dormant 802.11n functionality.[Via Slashdot]
Boot XP from external USB drive without Boot Camp
jarpy has an interesting post up on installing Windows XP to an external USB hard drive without using Boot Camp to repartition his internal drive. This method makes use of the Open Source rEFIt utility which we've mentioned before. The process itself looks somewhat risky (e.g. jarpy disconnected his internal drive to avoid corrupting his OS X install) and playing around with third-party boot loaders is always potentially dangerous in my opinion. However, the payoff of a USB-bootable Windows drive is rather appealing, so it might be worth a look for some of you. Proceed at your own risk. If any of you decide to get this working, please share your experiences in the comments.[Via Digg]
Boot Camp leaves some iMac users in the dark
There are corners of the Apple support discussion forums that make you want to dress in black and sit in your room with all the lights off. The current cry for techno-Zoloft is in some forlorn threads regarding iMac 24" boxes that fail to display anything in Windows, a symptom dubbed the "Black Screen of Death." The internal display stays black after installing the Boot Camp drivers, which is understandably frustrating for the owners of these (otherwise normal, at least in Mac OS X) finely engineered machines. Since Boot Camp is unsupported, from an Apple perspective these machines aren't broken at all. Won't you please help? No operators are standing by...
