2 person using Mac Pro at the same time?

[CanadaRAM]

You can run dumb terminals off Mac OS X Server using Net Boot, which is just Apples name for the PXE protocol.

Not correct - you can boot Macintoshes from a central machine using NetBoot -- not dumb terminals. There still would have to be Macs on each desk. And they wouldn't be using the CPU processing and graphics of the server.

 

[Cromulent]

Not correct - you can boot Macintoshes from a central machine using NetBoot -- not dumb terminals. There still would have to be Macs on each desk. And they wouldn't be using the CPU processing and graphics of the server.

Ah, sorry I meant diskless Mac terminals. Thanks for the correction.

 

[330toSRT8]

Wow, so many people thinking this is mission impossible!
I found a solution with VMWare Fusion:

"Two" computers in one
By now you know that Fusion lets you run multiple OSes at once, but it's limited because only one person can be using them at a time. What if you could separate them even more so that the host and the guest could be used by different people simultaneously? You can combine the USB HID setting with software cursor rendering to do this! While you could achieve a similar effect by combining VNC/headless mode, this method does not require additional physical computers as clients. Major caveats include:

* The host is still in control (so if OS X goes to sleep, the virtual computer will not be usable, Exposé will affect the guest window, etc.)
* You will need enough hardware resources to handle both host and guest
* The guest cursor isn't quite as smooth as normal (but is still quite usable)


To use this tip, you'll need a second keyboard/mouse for the guest and preferably have a second monitor. I would recommend disabling Virtual Machine > Settings > USB > Automatically Connect USB Devices so that you have some way to get a mis-connected device back (unplug and replug). Start by adding the following lines to the guest:

svga.noHWCursor = "TRUE"
usb.generic.allowHID = "TRUE"


Connect the second keyboard/mouse to the guest, and optionally move the guest to the secondary monitor and go fullscreen. Since the host mouse can still wander over to the guest (get back out with ctrl-cmd on the host keyboard), if you use a second monitor, I suggest telling OS X that the monitors are offset so it's harder to do, e.g. go to System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement and drag the displays so they are arranged as follows:
monitors.png
You can extend this for even more virtual computers, though your hardware requirements will go up too.

That was taken from this webpage:
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-1201

 

[saltyzoo]

Wow, so many people thinking this is mission impossible!
I found a solution with VMWare Fusion:

That was taken from this webpage:
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-1201

Yes that would work. No it wouldn't work well. No it wouldn't be efficient (You'd need the OS and all the applications installed twice). It would probably be unusable for photo editing. It would certainly be unusable for video editing.

 

[coderebel]

not only 2, how about 20 ?

So I just followed this thread and had to giggle all the way:

If you need a solution, download iRAPP

We have been around since September 2007

Check out our videos, you will be able to see - that what you are asking for works just fine

Example, I can work on my MacBook Pro at the same time as somebody else ( or even more ) is using my system in the background session. There is a 30 Day trial of the iRAPP Terminal Server - that is probably a better solution for you if you need more than 1 person to connect to your machine.

I also saw that somebody metioned RedStone Software / now Test Plant in an earlier post.

They use our solution to deliver OS X Applications to Windows Enterprises!

Via: iRAPP Glove

Here is their Example usage: RiTA

Or view it here in action: Video

 

[monokakata]

Yeah, I'm giggling too. Not many posters seem to know much about computing history.

In 1981 I was running a DEC VT103 terminal with a PDP-11 built right into it (but the 8" floppies were external) and I was running 2 users routinely. And carrying it around to do onsite work.

Then came my VAX, then my Alphaserver -- the most recent Alphaserver I ran my business on was desktop-sized and I ran multiple X-terminal clients, many peripherals (like 8 barcode readers, 5 real-time multiple-input timers, 3 printers, etc. etc. all under field conditions...no problem...this was on OpenVMS.

I laughed when Apple claimed to have the first 64 bits on a desktop. BS! I had 64 bits on my desktop (with a completely 64 bit OS, and a 64-bit programming environment) as early as 1997 (and as a small tower, a couple of years before that).

I'm writing this on a Mac Pro, and I'm glad I am. I like it fine; the Alphaserver isn't booted very often because I'm not in that line of work any more.

So don't read this as anti-Apple (except for the ludicrous "we're first with 64 bits stuff").

But do read it as encouraging those among you who think computing is either all about X86 on Windows, or about the Apple machines, to lift your gazes from your navels. There is -- and was -- a whole lot more out there, and some of it was pretty damn interesting stuff.

 

[xraydoc]

So I just followed this thread and had to giggle all the way:

If you need a solution, download iRAPP

We have been around since September 2007

Check out our videos, you will be able to see - that what you are asking for works just fine

Example, I can work on my MacBook Pro at the same time as somebody else ( or even more ) is using my system in the background session. There is a 30 Day trial of the iRAPP Terminal Server - that is probably a better solution for you if you need more than 1 person to connect to your machine.

I also saw that somebody metioned RedStone Software / now Test Plant in an earlier post.

They use our solution to deliver OS X Applications to Windows Enterprises!

Via: iRAPP Glove

Here is their Example usage: RiTA

Or view it here in action: Video

This is not what the OP wanted.

He wanted to be able to connect two monitors, two keyboards and two mice to one Mac and have two independent user sessions simultaneously, both with access to the Mac's full resources. No extra hardware beyond that (no Mac mini, no Windows PC, etc).

This cannot be done with the MacOS (or consumer versions of Windows for that matter) presently.

I've seen posts of this being done with custom distros of Linux, so I'm not stating that it can't be done, but that it can't be done easily by Joe Six-Pack.