[OLD] Macs and PC simulation

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From: KV Ragnarsdottir

Subject: Macs and PC simulation

Can you please tell me whether anyone has been successful in using Workbench on a Mac with a PC simulator. If yes, which Mac operating system and which PC simulator have you used.

From: Alexander Smirnov

Subject: Re: Macs and PC simulation

Unfortunately, I am not a Mac user, but on a "not-so-unrelated" note I have been successfully using GWB (3.x and 4.x) on Linux (Red Hat 9.0 and SuSE 9.0) using a virtual Windows simulator (VMware 3.x, 4.x). Other choices to run GWB from Linux include "Wine" or SuSE's "Wine Rack". Also - you can find some answers on the GWB users' website (http://gwb.geo.stonybrook.edu). Just search the site for "Mac" and the first two hits will directly address your problem.

 

From: Daniel Layton-Matthews UTD

Subject: Re: Macs and PC simulation

I use GWB on a Mac using OS X, but I use the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) that is free to download from Microsoft. The problem with using Virtual PC with GWB is the HASP (dongle) does not communicate with Virtual PC (or at least I couldn't get it to work). The software installs perfectly on Virtual PC, but it will not run the HASP license software. As with any program in Virtual PC, it runs very slow. So, I switched to RDC. You need to have access to a PC box that is running XP pro or Windows NT server and has GWB installed with the dongle. By using RDC, Windows appears in a terminal window and you run GWB as if you were at the PC box. Most Macs have dual monitor support by default and you can setup RDC to use the second monitor. GWB runs as quick as the PC box will allow. In fact, it is much quicker than the any version of Virtual PC that I have used. At times I have three operating systems running at the same time without any problem (OS X, XP and OS 9). People might ask "why not use the PC box itself?". By using RDC I can store any data or scripts that I use directly on my Mac, which is handy for plotting and writing. Also, RDC works from other PC's, so you can have one dedicated machine for GWB, but anyone with a user account on the XP machine can use the program, albeit one at a time. For those labs that have a tight budget and cannot afford the multi-user license, this is a nice alternative. RDC also works for any PC program. We have our Elan 6100 ICP-DRC-MS running XP and I can operate it via RDC from my office or from home. I can watch sample progress and even shut the machine down.

From: Don L. Shettel

Subject: Re: Macs and PC simulation

For several years I ran GWB 3.x on a Mac PowerBook G3, 500mHz, Mac OS 8.6 through 9.2, with Virtual PC 5.x. Instead of the dongle, you need to obtain the software Flex-M license. It may be a bit slower than running directly on a PC, but it still seemed fairly fast for what I was doing. I am currently working on upgrading to virtual PC 6.1, GWB 4.1, and the PowerBook is already running Mac OS X. The reason for some problems here is that I swapped out the PowerBook internal HD for a larger one, and put the old internal HD in an external enclosure. The Flex-M license is tied to the hard drive, and perhaps computer as well, which may be causing me some problems. However, in your case, with a fresh software license on a Mac OS X computer, and a fresh version of Virtual PC 6.x, you should have no problems. I am not implying that software upgrades cause problems, but changes in hardware configuration might with the Flex-M license.