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Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Colin North
Do any of our members have experience of running Leopard and Windows XP on the same machine? I work with Windows XP for my working day and want to use (my new purchase, yet to arrive) iMac with Windows XP during the day and switch over to Leopard for evenings/leisure and learning how Macs work.

I suppose my questions will be:

1 How easy is it to load XP using Leopard's built-in Bootcamp
2 Any problems experienced during the load of XP - odd drivers required? Where to get them from?
3 Speed issues after load. Does it run as well as the Apple blurb says it does.
4 Networking issues, presumably there are none. Both the Mac Leopard & XP will have to work happily with Windows Server 2003 etc., as all my data is stored thereon.

I will be starting from a new, clean Mac so keeping existing data (on the Mac) is not an issue.

I do not want to hear any replies that 'knock' Windows XP or PCs in general. I work with Windows PCs and Macs all day and consider Windows XP to be as reliable and solid as Macs when correctly set up and used. Similarly I do not intend this post to be a Windows-vs-Mac discussion. I would rather keep that for another post when I have more experience with Mac platform.
Many thanks,
Colin North (Salisbury)

Re: Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Stuart Affleck
1. You must, repeat must, have a copy of XP with Service Pack 2, whether OEM or retail (you can't install an earlier version of XP then update). Assuming you have that, as easy/infuriating to install on a Mac as on a regular Windows box. The Boot Camp Assistant talks you right through it. No need to partition your drive first.
2. You have Leopard, all the drivers are on the DVD, none of them are 'odd', except for Apple-specific hardware like the keyboard and iSight. I have a Radeon X1900XT on my Mac Pro, regular ATI Catalyst drivers & control panel work just fine.
3. Yes, just as well. It's an Intel-native OS running on Intel-native hardware. So your iMac is as capable as equivalent spec machines from anywhere else.
4. No more than any other XP install.

And if you get VMWare Fusion (which is excellent, I have it) or Parallels Desktop, you can run Windows, Linux, and multiple combinations/versions thereof, on top of OS X as well.
I use OS X primarily because I prefer it, not 'cause I hate Windows, but it's still handy to have a nice fast Windows machine as well (not least in my case for all the games that don't get ported over...or badly...or late!). So you won't get any Windows bashing from me.
Now if they can sort Vista out....;)

Re: Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Colin North
Stuart,
Thank you for your information, you have been most helpful. I run a computer company selling PC based kit to SMEs and we won't touch Vista yet, not until it gets past SP1. Colin

Re: Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Chris Hands
Just reiterating and emphasising one of Stuart's points:
When using XP in Boot Camp, the Windows installer MUST be XP service pack 2. Using an earlier install of XP will stop your mac from booting at all (mac or windows) and you will probably have to reformat your HD if you lucky and are able to.

If you have nothing but a pre-SP2 installer for XP, it is possible to slipstream a WindowsXP Install CD with Service Pack 2 using the method described at http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1626
Be aware that you need a PC to do it and it's far less hassle to get hold of a genuine SP2 installer!

Re: Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Eleanor Spenceley
Also, a copy of Windows SP2 will not install if it is an 'upgrade' version since it tries to ask you for the earlier install disk, which there appears to be an issue ejecting the install disk! :-(


Re: Mac & Windows XP

Avatar Colin North
Thanks to you all. Mac arrived this afternoon. XP install went like a dream. I wish it was as easy to install XP on a PC!
Colin
 
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