I upgraded my copy of Parallels to the RC3 version released today. I did this to take advantage of the Coherence mode which allows you to run Windows and Mac apps on the one screen transparently (see above).
The upgrade wasn’t without its scary moments. At one point the upgrade of drivers caused XP to BSOD (bluescreen) and restart! After that I lost all video in Parallels. I had to boot into Safe Mode in Windows, re-install the drivers and re-start Windows to get it to work once more.
I still seem to have intermittant issues with Expose and my cmd-tab for switching between applications but other than that, this seems like a cool update.
With Apple now getting into the sub-notebook market, a Mac with Parallels loaded on it is an attractive and supremely versatile machine.
UPDATE: I found the solution to the intermittant Expose and keyboard issue here.
That’s rather nice! It might persuade me to try Parallels again.
Why would you buy it again Donncha? If you still have the details from your previous purchase, you should be able to just download the new version and install.
I bought my copy last September.
Excellent, thanks for the heads up Tom. I just installed RC3 (I bought Parallels a few months ago) and it works great. No installation issues thankfully. Seeing the Start button in the bottom left of my Mac OS X desktop is pretty weird. Being able to run IE6 and IE7 alongside Safari is very, very nice though.
the perfect way to show your nice desktop layout/programme preferences.
Parallels may have jumped the gun and brought out a decent effort in the 3D virtualization field however I think they are going to get blown away by VMWare’s latest offering. In my honest opinion VMWare are leaps and bounds ahead of Parallel…
Thanks Valehru, I hadn’t heard that VMWare had released a product for Mac OS X.
One thing though. VMWare on Windows is OK but I found it slow while Parallels on Mac OS X is fast enough to make using it full-time and in the background an option.
I’ll give VMWare for Mac a try and see if it is better than Parallels.
No probs Paul.
I’m a Debian user myself so I don’t get much of a chance to fiddle around with OSX. Think that the software for the Mac has been out for about 7 or 8 months now. Anyhow, with VM workstation 6 beta just out on the market now I’d recommend looking into it. I’m currently playing Tony Hawk on my server right now in the background with full 3D support. 🙂
I hate it. It crashes my Mac every single time. Not that I really want to use Windows very much anyway.
If I do I use Boot Camp to boot up in XP.
Convert to Linux Twenty, it’s a pile of piss to set up. Plus it’s free and there is a shit load of support for everything imaginable should ya ever need it…
Did I mention that girls will naturally automatically sleep with you once they find out that your running any version of nix? Not sure if that’s mentioned on Debian’s or Ubuntu’s website.
Twenty,
First thing I’d do is use Disk Utility to check permissions and the disk itself. Repair any problems found.
Then I’d do a full uninstall of Parallels, search using Spotlight for any Parallels related files leftover and delete them (except the .pvs), then re-install.
That should sort the problem.
Did I mention that girls will naturally automatically sleep with you once they find out that your running any version of nix?
What have I been missing out on?
Tom – like I said, it’s very rare that I use XP. The only time I ever use Windows is to use the p2p progs for watching football. I don’t use it enough to try and fix Parallels.
Anyway, once a prog crashes my Mac more than once I bear it a grudge that just won’t go away!
How do you reinstall the drivers in safe mode? When I’m in safe mode, my mouse doesn’t work.
Convert to Linux Twenty, it’s a pile of piss to set up. Plus it’s free and there is a shit load of support for everything imaginable should ya ever need it…
It’s been two or three years since I even looked at Linux after being sold this line before. I really should have a look again and see if the hype stacks up. At the moment my preference is Mac OS X for the client, BSD for the server and Linux for other people.
Did I mention that girls will naturally automatically sleep with you once they find out that your running any version of nix?
Notice “nix” not “nux”. Mac OS X is a nix. And I can testify the automatic sleeping thing is absolutely true.
I tried parallels twice now and it is very compilcated. Can’t figure it out. Instructions do not follow screen. Will sell very cheap.
Don