CROSSOVER, Oh Yeah!

[Rapmastac1]

So, any one extremely excited for Crossover? Sure not EVERY SINGLE WINDOWS APP will work, but still, now I can use my Adobe Photoshop I bought for windows on my Mac, Finally. This is so amazing, now I can truly have the best of both worlds, without emulation, or without having to buy a full copy of windows, again. Anyone know more about this, is there a beta that was out at all, if so, has anyone used it?

[Kingsly]

So, any one extremely excited for Crossover? Sure not EVERY SINGLE WINDOWS APP will work, but still, now I can use my Adobe Photoshop I bought for windows on my Mac, Finally. This is so amazing, now I can truly have the best of both worlds, without emulation, or without having to buy a full copy of windows, again. Anyone know more about this, is there a beta that was out at all, if so, has anyone used it?
I am hoping there not just full of it when they say it will support games.... its the only use I have for windows.

[thewhitehart]

Ooh... tell us more. This is the first I've heard of it. Is it like the often talked of idea of Darwine? Got any links about it?

It would be totally radical (yes, radical) to run windows apps without installing XP.

[Rapmastac1]

Well, I was just informed today about an awesome program for Mac.
See, the reason we want to do a dual boot between OS/X and XP is so we can run our certain programs...
Well, thanks to a company called CodeWeavers, they have created a product that will prove dual booting is too much.

Basically, this program conviently called Crossover will let you use just about any application from windows, on a mac. This is awsesome, so I don't have to go out and buy a full retail copy of windows, and only be able to have it registered on my Mac, when I need it on my home pc too. Saves me a lot of disc space, more than 6gigs worth. Now, I can use this little app, and run my windows programs, without having to have a full windows partition. This is not an emulation, as in it will go as fast, or faster then it will on a Windows Machine, because of the way it handles the DLL's and stuff. You can use this with a wide range of already great apps, or you can test it out to see if it works with ur programs.

Thankfully this works with my Adobe Photoshop Elements, saving me over 100 for a new one, and I can just use it across my Windows and Mac, this is so sweet. This program releases later this month, maybe not til Halloween, but I can wait. It will be 60 bucks when it comes out, but will be well worth it.

My only question about this, what happens if you have an .exe that has a virus, what will it do? It shouldn't effect the mac, but what will it do?

Here is the link, and you can click on Compatiblity at the top for some programs that have been tested, other show up, but they may have not been tested. You can, and should be able to use just about any program, although a lot of freeware programs may not work. Crossover for Mac!!!


http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

There you go,that is an excerpt from an email I am sending to some of my friends.

[scanlanlee]

Hi

just thought that i would chuck in my tuppence worth - have used Crossover (old Linux user) a lot, and found it works very well. If you just need office and a few apps then it works, but make sure that you get a demo and test the app you need it for before buying!:)

I have a windoze partition and do use it, I don't like it, but it is useful to have and my little girl got my old laptop out of it so everyones happyish:confused:

[balamw]

Ooh... tell us more. This is the first I've heard of it. Is it like the often talked of idea of Darwine? Got any links about it?
Crossover Office is a commercially supported distribution of Darwine (or Wine on linux) from the principal Wine developers. Coming soon to a Mac near you.

http://www.codeweavers.com.

B

[iMeowbot]

Sure not EVERY SINGLE WINDOWS APP will work, but still, now I can use my Adobe Photoshop I bought for windows on my Mac, Finally.
Do give their supported apps list (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxoffice/supported_apps/) a good look (and try for yourself) before getting too excited. PS is only supported up to version 7, and it's buggy. In the details for each program is a known issues tab that will tell you exactly what features are known to be broken. If they're features you don't care about, then you're all set.

[KamikazeH20mln]

From a business standpoint, Crossover is still very unstable. Its only at ALPHA 3. MS Office still bombs hardcore with Alpha.

[lizard79]

So, any one extremely excited for Crossover? Sure not EVERY SINGLE WINDOWS APP will work, but still, now I can use my Adobe Photoshop I bought for windows on my Mac, Finally. This is so amazing, now I can truly have the best of both worlds, without emulation, or without having to buy a full copy of windows, again. Anyone know more about this, is there a beta that was out at all, if so, has anyone used it?

lol
maybe in fakestreet where you're living it works but not in real life.. sorry to tell you the truth..

[Rapmastac1]

I love fakestreet, it's the best place to live, maybe you guys should visit sometime, lol ;)

[Rapmastac1]

Well, it has been released for beta viewing, and you know wut, it works! I was able to get the windows version of Dj Traktor Studio working, and I tested it for 3 hours without any bumps, it's awesome! I can even set up a monitor track too, so I can hear the song, and cue the other one and see if it sounds good, I couldn't even set that up on my windows machine very well.

[jupp]

Ive been working with Wine on my linux servers for some time now, and now friends who have been using CodeWeavers version in commercial scenarios. So i was very happy when they released the version for os x.
That was until i put it on my Mac Pro.
I thought, well lets try loading something which apparently has no problems at all, Half Life 2. Ive seen screen shots of this on iMacs, and mac book pros, so hey lets see how damn fast it can go on a mac pro.
Well i can tell you now that its pretty slow, cos it doesnt work. It picks up the installer off the dvd, sits there for a few minutes, fakes a Windows reboot and Desktop Manager refresh, and then tells you that the installation failed.

Ive uninstalled crossover and tried again numerous time, no luck what so ever. I may be going blind as well, as i cannot see any way on the codeweavers website to feedback to them that there is something wrong with the beta version of crossover for os x.

I would recommend not using crossover until they have done some serious internal testing on it, which to be honest, it doesnt look like they have.

My 2 pence

[drummerbooker14]

OMG i saw this earlier today on lifehacker and it sounds amazing. i wish i had my macbook right now.... it says it is supposed to run things at native windows speed!!!

[Virtualball]

Ive been working with Wine on my linux servers for some time now, and now friends who have been using CodeWeavers version in commercial scenarios. So i was very happy when they released the version for os x.
That was until i put it on my Mac Pro.
I thought, well lets try loading something which apparently has no problems at all, Half Life 2. Ive seen screen shots of this on iMacs, and mac book pros, so hey lets see how damn fast it can go on a mac pro.
Well i can tell you now that its pretty slow, cos it doesnt work. It picks up the installer off the dvd, sits there for a few minutes, fakes a Windows reboot and Desktop Manager refresh, and then tells you that the installation failed.

Ive uninstalled crossover and tried again numerous time, no luck what so ever. I may be going blind as well, as i cannot see any way on the codeweavers website to feedback to them that there is something wrong with the beta version of crossover for os x.

I would recommend not using crossover until they have done some serious internal testing on it, which to be honest, it doesnt look like they have.

My 2 pence

Wow a lot of things dont really work with Mac Pro do they? lol

I say that you should use it, I currently love playing Prey on my macbook and it runs GREAT!

[Sayer]

Ive seen screen shots of [Half-Life 2] on iMacs, and mac book pros, so hey lets see how damn fast it can go on a mac pro.
Well i can tell you now that its pretty slow, cos it doesnt work. It picks up the installer off the dvd, sits there for a few minutes, fakes a Windows reboot and Desktop Manager refresh, and then tells you that the installation failed.

I would recommend not using crossover until they have done some serious internal testing on it, which to be honest, it doesnt look like they have.

You mean a Beta release didn't work flawlessly with a massively complex title like Half-Life 2 the first time you tried it???

Actually it does work with some Microsoft Windows software, but it is still a Beta release, which means it is not FINISHED yet and thus has BUGS and is not DONE yet.

Engaget had more luck with some various software, of course you have to make a unique "bottle" install for each app, which can take forever, which makes this whole thing kinda silly when you can just use BootCamp and get the real thing if you really needed to. Of course that would require spending money, which should only be done for serious software like Half-Life 2 and F.E.A.R.

[admanimal]

Wow a lot of things dont really work with Mac Pro do they? lol

I say that you should use it, I currently love playing Prey on my macbook and it runs GREAT!

Half-Life 2 running poorly in Crossover has nothing to do with it being on a Mac Pro. The iMacs and MBPs with Half-Life 2 have been using Boot Camp.

[Caezar]

I tried Crossover this afternoon to work on Word and Excel documents and I have to say I am disappointed by what I saw.

Plus:
- Office performs much faster on Crossover than the Office for Mac version. Office for Mac chokes (i.e. I get the spinball) on even the most simple operations, such as copy/paste. I did not notice any loss of performance under Crossover.

Cons:
- Crossover/Word crashed several times
- I opened two documents in Crossover/Word and I could not switch between the two documents. Therefore, I could only work on one document at a time.
- The Crossover menu bar is superposed to that of Office. I find this confusing as sometimes my shortcuts are interpreted by Crossover instead of by Office.

Verdict: I switched back to Bootcamp.

Caezar

[Macnoviz]

I am hoping there not just full of it when they say it will support games.... its the only use I have for windows.

It still needs work. They will need to have a real disc drive in their bottle. I tried some games, but most of them failed. See this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=230116) for why, and which games did work.

[jupp]

You mean a Beta release didn't work flawlessly with a massively complex title like Half-Life 2 the first time you tried it???

Yeah it is a beta, but it is also near enough a complete port from their Linux product which has been around for years.


As its a beta i appreciate that some things are not going to work. But the fact that CodeWeavers link to their compatability list means that they are either assuming that it all works the same, or they are too lazy to do a list for the mac version.
Combined with the fact that there website sucks, makes codeweavers look like a bit of an immature software company.

Ill put money on their full release of this product being riddled with bugs.

A shame considering how well Wine can work on Linux

[Virtualball]

Yeah it is a beta, but it is also near enough a complete port from their Linux product which has been around for years.


As its a beta i appreciate that some things are not going to work. But the fact that CodeWeavers link to their compatability list means that they are either assuming that it all works the same, or they are too lazy to do a list for the mac version.
Combined with the fact that there website sucks, makes codeweavers look like a bit of an immature software company.

Ill put money on their full release of this product being riddled with bugs.

A shame considering how well Wine can work on Linux


I talked with the developers and they didnt have a plan on when to release it. if they dont even know a date in a ballpark figure there is NO way a "clear port" of the Linux one. IT IS A BETA! GET OVER THE FACT THAT IT DOESNT RUN ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED GAMES OUT THERE! THERE WILL BE BUGS!

That gets me mad, just as mad as the people reviewing the new Leopard OS and saying its buggy...its a DEVELOPER OS PREVIEW it isnt meant to be polished!

[/rant]

lol

[kainjow]

Office performs much faster on Crossover than the Office for Mac version. Office for Mac chokes (i.e. I get the spinball) on even the most simple operations, such as copy/paste. I did not notice any loss of performance under Crossover.
You do realize that Office is not a universal binary yet? So any version of Office being run on an Intel Mac is being run as a PowerPC app under Rosetta which is guaranteed to be slow and plenty of beachballs.

Office under CrossOver is a native x86 application, with only the slight CrossOver overhead (virtually none), so it will definitely be faster than the Rosetta version :rolleyes:

[Rapmastac1]

Well, I tried gettin my Photoshop Elements running, but it keeps telling me my macbook don't meet system requirments, funny!

But as far as the program I initially installed DJ Traktor Studio, it works freaking great, I have done several mixes and they have come out really nicely. This is a great program and definatly worth the projected 60 bucks. I have to try some more apps before I will think about buying it tho, but I still think it's amazing they did this, so you gotta give them props for even getting compatibility for one program, and at the normal speed, not emulated speed!

[Epicurus]

I've played with the beta for a while now and I'm happy with it. Sure there are bugs, and some of the things I tried blew up in my face, but its a BETA. Live with it. CrossOver will get better with time, and I'll be able to buy the full version when and if I need it for the "One Windows App". Until then I'm pleased to see that there are so many options out there so quickly. I've already bought Parallels and I'm loving the two versions of Linux I installed. Not the fastest things in the world, but stable enough for my work.

When developers themselves start building in this sort of virtualization, then we'll be getting somewhere. CIDER should help. Just let one person max out a Mac Pro and run Half-Life 2 native to get the ball rolling. Word of mouth and smooth, stable software can work wonders.

[MisterEd]

Well, I tried gettin my Photoshop Elements running, but it keeps telling me my macbook don't meet system requirments, funny!

But as far as the program I initially installed DJ Traktor Studio, it works freaking great, I have done several mixes and they have come out really nicely. This is a great program and definatly worth the projected 60 bucks. I have to try some more apps before I will think about buying it tho, but I still think it's amazing they did this, so you gotta give them props for even getting compatibility for one program, and at the normal speed, not emulated speed!

Well thats weird, I've tried running Traktor 3 on my iMac with Crossover, and it simply doesn't start. No error message, no nothing...

[tominated]

none of the games i have tried work
-Battlefield 2
-Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
-Trackmania: Sunrise Extreme
-The Movies
:mad:

[Rapmastac1]

Well thats weird, I've tried running Traktor 3 on my iMac with Crossover, and it simply doesn't start. No error message, no nothing...

That is DJ Traktor Studio 2.6 or sumthin, I don't like the 3rd release. It should work flawlessly, it recognizes the sound card and everything.

[Yoursh]

Loaded and worked fine installing IE6. It does have one fatal flaw for me that will keep me from using it, additional language support. I was hoping I could load some Japanese PC games on my Macbbok to play but they are unable to install due to no Japanese language support(wants to save program to a kanji/kana titled folder in default windows in Crossover but unable to display characters) I had the same problem on my PC running ME until I upgraded to XP with additional language support loaded.

I guess I'm stuck with breaking down and loading bootcamp. Oh well. Otherwise Crossover does look promising. Maybe will get some more abilities added on in later versions.

[The Past]

So, when people say they are happy with it, are they talking about anything beyond IE and Office?

I have tried it and found it way too limiting in what you can do with it now. Would be fun to try what others are trying and happy with. Of course, I have only tried the "untested" apps from their list.

[Rapmastac1]

I like it becuase it works, and has a bright future, I mean for a beta, this is great. I couldn't believe when I was using my high end dj program on my mac! When that same program wasn't universal yet, and that is amazing.

[bloodycape]

Anyone know if the new office beta or work their site didn't show indications of it working or not.

[Markleshark]

Just downloaded it, gonna install the only Windows game that really matters... Transport Tycoon Delux *Fingers Crossed*

[Josephkyles]

I hope it runs Ventrillo! Then I won't have to use XP on my new 24 inch iMac!

[Markleshark]

Well TTD doesnt work... only coz of DirectX tho... Bah

[bloodycape]

Well TTD doesnt work... only coz of DirectX tho... Bah
can't you install directx though?


Anyone know how I can get IE 6 to run under xp mode and not under 98?

[Markleshark]

Possibly. The version that comes with TTD wont, but I'll try the newer version when I get home.

[Kartel]

I've only tried it for running Guild Wars. But all it does it make my whole screen go black and I have to kill the process to get my desktop back. So far I'm not impressed.

[Shadowspirit6]

So, any one extremely excited for Crossover? Sure not EVERY SINGLE WINDOWS APP will work, but still, now I can use my Adobe Photoshop I bought for windows on my Mac, Finally. This is so amazing, now I can truly have the best of both worlds, without emulation, or without having to buy a full copy of windows, again. Anyone know more about this, is there a beta that was out at all, if so, has anyone used it?do yout think x fire will work?

[SBT]

Can't wait for Crossover to be released. Installed the beta and have used Adobe Photoshop on my sisters MacBook. Works well but there are a few glitches sutch as, on the canvas when using the brush tool, it appears VERY strange as sections are not coloured and it makes a kind-of chess board look. Does anyone else have this problem?

[tominated]

i also tried steam and counterstrike
steam works fine, but cs doesn't want to join an online game

[Abulia]

Virtualization and emulation will never be as fast as running native in a dual-booting environment.

If performance (ie. games) and stability (ie. work) are requirements for you, then dual-booting is going to be the better solution 9 times out of 10. These products (Parallels/Crossover) are nice "casual" tools that are neat to have and demonstrate, but you can't use them to play games and I wouldn't ever use them to run mission-critical apps for work.

[babyjenniferLB]

Just downloaded it, gonna install the only Windows game that really matters... Transport Tycoon Delux *Fingers Crossed*
Try open transport tycoon delux. thats how i play it on my imac G3 and core duo. it works a treat, is a uni bin and dosnt need windows/wine/cedega/nor crossover.

[bankshot]

Virtualization and emulation will never be as fast as running native in a dual-booting environment.

For the most part, yes, but I've read about obscure cases where it was actually faster in the virtualized environment. Most likely due to something like the host OS caching the virtual hard disk in memory.

If performance (ie. games) and stability (ie. work) are requirements for you, then dual-booting is going to be the better solution 9 times out of 10. These products (Parallels/Crossover) are nice "casual" tools that are neat to have and demonstrate, but you can't use them to play games and I wouldn't ever use them to run mission-critical apps for work.

I would argue that virtualization (but not emulation) wins on stability. Without trying to bash on Windows, virtualization allows you to run it within a clean, sandboxed environment. It does not have direct access to the physical hardware, and therefore can do less damage if something goes wrong. And more importantly for mission-critical apps, you can always backup the exact state of the virtual machine at any point in time where it's known to be configured properly and working. This is huge.

Another thing it's great for is testing applications on multiple configurations. I use Parallels to develop and test an app on Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98, Linux (various distributions), FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. All on the same Mac. Definitely more than a casual tool or demonstration. It takes computing to the next level.

Except for cases where the application needs direct access to hardware (games, demanding 3-d work like CAD, odd external devices, etc), my opinion is that virtualization beats dual boot every time. Better stability, much better ease of use (move data seamlessly between multiple environments simultaneously), faster recovery when things go wrong, etc. And for mission-critical servers, nothing beats running within VMware's industrial-strength virtualization offerings. I'm not terribly familiar with their high end stuff, but things I've read are fantastic. Like if a physical computer in a server farm fails, the virtual machine continues running uninterrupted on another computer, instant failover. Wow. Talk about stability!

Err, wait. I just went off on a complete tangent about virtualization when this thread is about emulation (Crossover). Doh! :o

[bloodycape]

How can I get the new office beta to install? Every time I try it says not running windows Xp. I even tried to install it under windows xp bottle but it also did not work any ideas?

[mac ified]

Half-Life 2 running poorly in Crossover has nothing to do with it being on a Mac Pro. The iMacs and MBPs with Half-Life 2 have been using Boot Camp.

how do you get HL2 to work?
I tried to install it and a error mesage came up. it said: error pre-mature installation problem, or something like that. please help me... :confused:

P.S. steam does work without any problems.