Flip Flopping between macOS and Windows

[PeterJP]

I need to find an overview of the pieces. I would generally prefer to run it on the system that I'm using as I think that performance would be better. I have noticed that the developers working on OSX/KVM have been putting more effort into proxmox lately and that one guy has Monterey beta running on it.

Out of curiosity, why not just use VMware or KVM/QEMU instead of proxmox? I have the feeling that there are significant benefits to using proxmox (which is why people are moving to it) but I need to figure out the benefits. One thing that I've noticed in the VM world is that things move pretty fast.

Because I can put it on a machine that I can dump headless into my basement. It's connected straight to my modem and with DDNS and a VPN, I can access it from anywhere. So when I'm at work, I can access my Windows VM and my files, which are on a separate NAS VM. It's a bit like a local cloud. I don't need to worry anymore about having stuff locally. And it makes great use of an old desktop I had laying around, which is a situation I know many people are in.

Edit: to be a bit more complete, I also played around with VirtualBox a lot on my previous 13" late 2013 MBP. I actually bought Parallels for my current 16" MBP. I use macs as my main machines. Having a "personal cloud Windows VM" frees me from Intel, so I can actually do Windows stuff straight from my M1 mini at work.

 

[pshufd]

Because I can put it on a machine that I can dump headless into my basement. It's connected straight to my modem and with DDNS and a VPN, I can access it from anywhere. So when I'm at work, I can access my Windows VM and my files, which are on a separate NAS VM. It's a bit like a local cloud. I don't need to worry anymore about having stuff locally. And it makes great use of an old desktop I had laying around, which is a situation I know many people are in.

Edit: to be a bit more complete, I also played around with VirtualBox a lot on my previous 13" late 2013 MBP. I actually bought Parallels for my current 16" MBP. I use macs as my main machines. Having a "personal cloud Windows VM" frees me from Intel, so I can actually do Windows stuff straight from my M1 mini at work.

That's a lot more of a benefit then.

I think that bandwidth would be a problem for my applications (2x4k) but it may be useful for some other applications. I always have spare hardware. I would like to build a Ryzen 5950X system but I'm waiting for 1) GPUs to get back to MSRP, and 2) if Apple comes out with a beast mini and MacBook Pro. It's been a strange year waiting for CPUs, GPUs and Apple's M1X. If Apple announces an M2 15/16 Air, then that's another monkey wrench. But I can put my old Dell Studio XPS back together again and try Proxmox for now.

I added it to my IT todo list (nothing IT-related gets done without being on that list). I probably won't be able to do Windows 11 on the system but you never know. If proxmox solves the graphical performance issue, then it may be useful. I ultimately would need another desktop to maintain it as I run Windows on my big system for my trading programs.

It would be nice to have my NAS outside of home but I'm a bit paranoid about security.

 

[PeterJP]

I added it to my IT todo list (nothing IT-related gets done without being on that list). I probably won't be able to do Windows 11 on the system but you never know. If proxmox solves the graphical performance issue, then it may be useful. I ultimately would need another desktop to maintain it as I run Windows on my big system for my trading programs.

If you have 2 GPUs (a basic one + the real one) and you can pass the real GPU straight to the Windows VM, then that one will get to use it straight like a regular PC with a GPU. But that solution doesn't scale, of course. If you want the same GPU speed for a macos VM as well, you also need to pass it a GPU and there's only so many PCIe slots in your PC I've done hardware pass-through with RAID cards and it works just fine.

I don't have an IT todo list because I have too many projects. It's actually a benefit when I forget a few 😄

 

[pshufd]

If you have 2 GPUs (a basic one + the real one) and you can pass the real GPU straight to the Windows VM, then that one will get to use it straight like a regular PC with a GPU. But that solution doesn't scale, of course. If you want the same GPU speed for a macos VM as well, you also need to pass it a GPU and there's only so many PCIe slots in your PC I've done hardware pass-through with RAID cards and it works just fine.

I don't have an IT todo list because I have too many projects. It's actually a benefit when I forget a few 😄

I know about passthrough but GPU prices have been insane for a while. I borrowed one from my old desktop to put in the new one and I moved it back to the old one. GPUs are just starting to come back down. I will buy one when prices get back down to MSRP. I actually don't need macOS VMs anymore - but I like having them around. At least until we get M1X systems with more than 16 GB of RAM. I hate seeing my systems SWAP.

 

[LiE_]

Just to update, I’m still on my 24” iMac, it’s been really good. I did move my iPad Pro 12.9 on which I found myself not using, lovely device though.

I no longer have a dedicated camera, just using my iPhone 12 mini. I much prefer the ease of use, I didn’t enjoy taking a dedicated camera out with me. So I may upgrade to a 13 pro if there’s some nice improvements in the camera.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Just to update, I’m still on my 24” iMac, it’s been really good. I did move my iPad Pro 12.9 on which I found myself not using, lovely device though.

I no longer have a dedicated camera, just using my iPhone 12 mini. I much prefer the ease of use, I didn’t enjoy taking a dedicated camera out with me. So I may upgrade to a 13 pro if there’s some nice improvements in the camera.

I want to get a mini so bad but I feel like I would miss the telephoto lens that I have on my 12 Pro Max.

 

[maflynn]

I no longer have a dedicated camera, just using my iPhone 12 mini.

I have two cameras a M43 Olympus that I love and a Canon P&S that's awesome - they're both collecting dust as I find that I'm able to do nearly everything with my iPhone - I'll be putting them up for sale, since my phone works and is much better then lugging around another piece of technology

 

[BigMcGuire]

I have two cameras a M43 Olympus that I love and a Canon P&S that's awesome - they're both collecting dust as I find that I'm able to do nearly everything with my iPhone - I'll be putting them up for sale, since my phone works and is much better then lugging around another piece of technology

Sold my DSLR and cameras on Ebay this year. Hadn't used them for many years. (Canon 40D with a Tamron 18-250mm) Yep, all my photography for the last 5+ years has been iPhone only, and I'm loving it.

 

[kamikazeeMC]

I no longer have a dedicated camera

I wanted a new system mostly for still life, but outside of that I'm far too lazy bringing it around. Next holiday (when ever that is), I'm going to try with just my phone. As a not so good amateur, during my last holiday which was solo, I found my self trying to look for photos, rather than enjoying the moment and taking a photo when it presents it self. For me, I think leaving the dedicated camera and just having my phone would help. Outside of still life where I can make a little studio setup and control everything, I wouldn't care about the quality drop going to a phone. I could just focus on composing better.

This also let's my put money into other stuff! Recently added a second monitor feeling the single ultrawide wasn't enough.

 

[LiE_]

I found my self trying to look for photos, rather than enjoying the moment

This was the main reason for me. Don’t get me wrong, the results are great but my phone captures those memories just not as high quality.

 

[memo90061]

I have two cameras a M43 Olympus that I love and a Canon P&S that's awesome - they're both collecting dust as I find that I'm able to do nearly everything with my iPhone - I'll be putting them up for sale, since my phone works and is much better then lugging around another piece of technology

What Olympus cameras? I love Olympus! I recently bought a Panasonic S5 because of the size.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I had lots of DSLR's in the past, including some professional Canon and Nikon bodies. I still have my Nikon D4 which I use 2-3 times a year for wildlife along with my 600/4 VR.
These days I simplified a lot, started using the Fuji X100 and afterwards the Leica Q. These are very portable cameras which are a joy to use. Having one of it always with me I never seriously considered any smartphone for photography.

 

[maflynn]

What Olympus cameras? I love Olympus! I recently bought a Panasonic S5 because of the size.

Sorry for the late response, I didn't see this. i have the OMD EM5 MKII, its a really nice m43, its not that small, but given that it has some nice lens selections, I like it - smaller then a DSLR, but big enough to have a good selection. I then moved on to a Canon G5X and its a small great little camera. its one of those powerful P&S, but given the advancements of cameras on our phones, its not really been used that much.

As for flip-flopping between macOS and windows, I've not really looked back after switching to windows. I've been impressed by its stability, and for me, it just works. Its funny, but the time leading up to my switch, I was making sacrifices, and compromises due to the macOS platform. Everyone's needs are met, and I'm not down on the apple products, though at times, apple appears to do things that I disagree with

 

[pshufd]

Sorry for the late response, I didn't see this. i have the OMD EM5 MKII, its a really nice m43, its not that small, but given that it has some nice lens selections, I like it - smaller then a DSLR, but big enough to have a good selection. I then moved on to a Canon G5X and its a small great little camera. its one of those powerful P&S, but given the advancements of cameras on our phones, its not really been used that much.

As for flip-flopping between macOS and windows, I've not really looked back after switching to windows. I've been impressed by its stability, and for me, it just works. Its funny, but the time leading up to my switch, I was making sacrifices, and compromises due to the macOS platform. Everyone's needs are met, and I'm not down on the apple products, though at times, apple appears to do things that I disagree with

The stuff that bugs me about Windows is the Windows 11 requirements in their dropping support of old equipment. The other big thing is knowing that they are going to go the ARM route and that will provide a moderate amount of instability, similar to what we've seen with macOS. I can see the writing on the wall for my use of Windows - the advantages of Apple Silicon, for me, will overcome any operating system and hardware negatives.

 

[maflynn]

Windows 11 requirements in their dropping support of old equipment.

MS does seem a bit more aggressive and I can point out that Apple is generally worse with its aggressiveness, I do find it disappointing. As someone with new-ish hardware, its not really a concern for me.

The other big thing is knowing that they are going to go the ARM route

Are you saying they're dropping x86? I can't see that happening and if you remain with the x86 platform, there is no introduction of instability as you mentioned.

the advantages of Apple Silicon, for me, will overcome any operating system and hardware negatives.

While I am impressed with the what the silicon can do, I find that I'll have to compromise and alter how i want to do things with apple, where as with windows, I can work (and play) the way I want and need

 

[pshufd]

MS does seem a bit more aggressive and I can point out that Apple is generally worse with its aggressiveness, I do find it disappointing. As someone with new-ish hardware, its not really a concern for me.

Are you saying they're dropping x86? I can't see that happening and if you remain with the x86 platform, there is no introduction of instability as you mentioned.

While I am impressed with the what the silicon can do, I find that I'll have to compromise and alter how i want to do things with apple, where as with windows, I can work (and play) the way I want and need

I built my system last year and tried running the checks for W11 and I hosed my setup but was able to get it back up and running. Then Microsoft backtracked and then un-backtracked. I would be able to run it on this system but will lose it on my 2008 system. My guess is that part of the reason for the new release is to support big-little.

They will eventually drop x86. The inherent decoder advantage of ARM/RISC is too big. Apple will enjoy the PPW advantage until Microsoft makes the transition. Interestingly, I saw a video last night showing that Apple planned the transition to ARM a decade ago and a lot of the instability that we went through was due to this transition.

I've spent many months working on transitioning to Apple Silicon and there's only one program remaining that runs poorly on Apple Silicon and I may leave that running on Windows until the producer ports to Apple Silicon. It runs under Rosetta 2 which will eventually go away but I've already moved most of what I use it for to a different program which runs natively on Apple Silicon.

 

[maflynn]

built my system last year and tried running the checks for W11 and I hosed my setup

I didn't try loading w11 on my desktop, but it ran flawlessly on my Razer up to one of the later updates. As noted in the W11 thread, I reinstalled win10 though I come to find there was an easy solution to resolve the bug. It is a beta, and these things do crop up, but it does suck when it does. I may choose to load w11 on my desktop now that its getting close to release

They will eventually drop x86.

I don't see that, not now, 2 years from now, or 5 years. X86 does have too many advantages, and little disadvantageous, even going head to head with the M1 on real world usages, the advantages are not as great as Apple portrayed. There are more powerful computers then the M1 and you can find laptops that offer similar battery performance to the M1.

I do see MS trying to get windows on the ARM and running well, but I don't see X86 being dropped

I've spent many months working on transitioning to Apple Silicon

For me, the software I need and want, is better off with windows, regardless of the M1, which that would only complicate matters further.

 

[pshufd]

I didn't try loading w11 on my desktop, but it ran flawlessly on my Razer up to one of the later updates. As noted in the W11 thread, I reinstalled win10 though I come to find there was an easy solution to resolve the bug. It is a beta, and these things do crop up, but it does suck when it does. I may choose to load w11 on my desktop now that its getting close to release

I don't see that, not now, 2 years from now, or 5 years. X86 does have too many advantages, and little disadvantageous, even going head to head with the M1 on real world usages, the advantages are not as great as Apple portrayed. There are more powerful computers then the M1 and you can find laptops that offer similar battery performance to the M1.

I do see MS trying to get windows on the ARM and running well, but I don't see X86 being dropped

For me, the software I need and want, is better off with windows, regardless of the M1, which that would only complicate matters further.

The advantages are in the PPW VLIW problem and it's something that x86 can't overcome.

 

[maflynn]

The advantages are in the PPW VLIW problem and it's something that x86 can't overcome.

Please provide details at how this impacts real world usages - What software runs on ARM that cannot run on X86?

Also one other thought ARM could introduce fragmentation, think about it, Can you imagine, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Asus all developing their own special ARM processor, with their own wrinkles? It would be nightmare where windows runs a certain way on a Lenovo computer but fails to run a program or boot up cleanly on an HP?

Do you have any links stating that MS is looking to drop X86 and go completely over to ARM?

 

[pshufd]

Please provide details at how this impacts real world usages - What software runs on ARM that cannot run on X86?

Also one other thought ARM could introduce fragmentation, think about it, Can you imagine, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Asus all developing their own special ARM processor, with their own wrinkles? It would be nightmare where windows runs a certain way on a Lenovo computer but fails to run a program or boot up cleanly on an HP?

Do you have any links stating that MS is looking to drop X86 and go completely over to ARM?

x86 uses variable-length instructions. ARM/RISC use fixed-length instructions. Modern CPUs don't run machine-code instructions; they break them down into micro-ops and the micro-ops are what the CPU actually runs. Breaking down machine-code to micro-ops is called decoding. You want to do the decoding phase in parallel so CPUs have parallel decoders. The problem with variable-length decoders is that they have to be incredibly complex because you don't know where the next instruction starts. Intel and AMD examine every possible location for instructions potentially starting there.

This is not a problem for fixed-length ISAs because the decoder knows exactly where the start of every instruction is. So Apple is using 8 decoders instead of 4 for Intel and AMD. AMD basically stated that 4 is a hard limit for x86. There's nothing stopping Apple from going higher. The evidence for the greater performance is that the decoder buffer for Apple Silicon is three times as large as for Intel and AMD. So Apple discovered something that nobody else could come up with. I've read papers comparing performance between ISAs and the general conclusion is that there's no advantage to ARM. Until Apple found it and others figured out what Apple did.

And this is why AMD just announced that they are going to be building ARM chips and you have Intel's announcement on RISC-V.

I do not have any links that MS is going to drop x86 - it is my opinion.

People have been saying that Apple will drop Intel and make their own macOS CPUs since 2008. Every year I heard it and just said, yeah, sure. Why would they do that. Well, it turns out that they had really good technical reasons for going that route.

 

[maflynn]

x86 uses variable-length instructions. ARM/RISC use fixed-length instructions

I understand the technical differences of ARM vs. X86, but that's not what I asked for. You stated that the "advantages are in the PPW VLIW problem and it's something that x86 can't overcome." Discussing the technical merits of both is all well and good, but really the bottom line is what can run on the ARM that cannot be done on x86?

People have been saying that Apple will drop Intel and make their own macOS CPUs since 2008

Apple's and oranges, and for the most part the chatter about Apple wanting its own thing really didn't start in 2008. i could be wrong, but it didn't gain traction until late twenty-teens. Regardless its one thing to use that there were rumors of apple dropping intel and use that same logic that MS is dropping intel. Two totally different companies, with different market strategies and different priorities.

do not have any links that MS is going to drop x86 - it is my opinion.

And that's the bottom line, and I mean no disrespect, but there's really been no chatter, no leaks, no rumors that Microsoft is choosing to abandon the X86 market and deciding to fully embrace ARM much like Apple.

 

[pshufd]

I understand the technical differences of ARM vs. X86, but that's not what I asked for. You stated that the "advantages are in the PPW VLIW problem and it's something that x86 can't overcome." Discussing the technical merits of both is all well and good, but really the bottom line is what can run on the ARM that cannot be done on x86?

Apple's and oranges, and for the most part the chatter about Apple wanting its own thing really didn't start in 2008. i could be wrong, but it didn't gain traction until late twenty-teens. Regardless its one thing to use that there were rumors of apple dropping intel and use that same logic that MS is dropping intel. Two totally different companies, with different market strategies and different priorities.

And that's the bottom line, and I mean no disrespect, but there's really been no chatter, no leaks, no rumors that Microsoft is choosing to abandon the X86 market and deciding to fully embrace ARM much like Apple.

Things can run on both platforms.

I guess a way to explain it is in comparing incandescent light bulbs to LEDs. Incandescent bulbs generate a lot of heat, last about 5% as long and consume far more energy. Businesses started replacing incandescent bulbs moreso because they won't have to replace them for twenty years. Having to put someone on a ladder or forklift to replace bulbs frequently carries expense and risk.

But both bulbs illuminate.

Similar with CPUs.

I didn't say that MS is dropping Intel. Just that they will drop x86. Intel and AMD are working on RISC and ARM architectures now.

As I said, that's my opinion.

There's a discussion on this in the Apple Silicon forum with chip designers discussing the problems with x86.

I'm forward looking, both as an investor and as someone that likes to plan my equipment far in advance.

 

[maflynn]

Things can run on both platforms.

So basically there is no realized advantage to your statement of the PPW VLIW problem. I'm not trying to bust your chops, but if you're going to say that MS is dropping x86 because Intel cannot overcome certain limitations, then I'd like to know what that means in real world usages.

Arm does have advantages and disadvantages, to be sure, and Intel has their own advantages and disadvantages.

I didn't say that MS is dropping Intel.

actually you did

They will eventually drop x86.

 

[ratspg]

What PDF application do you recommend for signing documents short and long on Windows? I’ve just never had a seamless experience even on a well-equipped PC with 32gb+ RAM. Always stuttering when signing multiple PDF pages. Haven’t found anything as smooth and effective as Preview, PDF Expert, or my iPad Pro.

 

[maflynn]

What PDF application do you recommend for signing documents short and long on Windows?

Depends on your budget, there's products like Adobe, but that can be pricey, I've heard good things about Nitro

I'd check out Ashampoo's PDF Pro 2 I'll probably be checking that out myself. I had used Ashampoo's software in the past, and if memory serves me they can have ads in them which may be annoying - even for paid apps. I'll give them the benefit of doubt however.

There's some online and free PDF editing/signing apps, but truth be told, I really don't trust any of them personally.