I recently bought myself a 2nd-hand Mac Pro (2006, twin dual-core @ 2.66) to use as my main computer. It's wonderful, apart from a single problem that I can't resolve.
A piece of software I use regularly (to control my vinyl cutter) is Windows only, and I can't find an OS X alternative at a reasonable price. I've tried Fusion, but the software doesn't run properly.
So... I installed XP, via Bootcamp, which is where the problems start. Something to do with USB seems to be misbehaving. When I install the cutter's drivers, the computer fails to recognise my cutter altogether, and the USB 'ports' section in Device Manager disappears completely. For comparison, I also tried the same process on my Mac Mini and the same thing happened.
Trouble is, it's still fine on my old Windows PC. The Pro and Mini were installed with exactly the same version of XP as the PC, are equally up to date, and are using exactly the same drivers for the cutter. Keyboard, mouse, and iPod are fine via USB. I did install the Apple drivers for Windows
I'm wondering: is there any fundamental reason why, despite being ostensibly compatible, Macs handle USB differently, so as to make some, but not all, drivers and/or hardware incompatible? I'm very grateful for any insights offered; I realise that this isn't a pure Mac/OS X problem, but if I can't rectify this, the Pro's going to have to go...
A piece of software I use regularly (to control my vinyl cutter) is Windows only, and I can't find an OS X alternative at a reasonable price. I've tried Fusion, but the software doesn't run properly.
So... I installed XP, via Bootcamp, which is where the problems start. Something to do with USB seems to be misbehaving. When I install the cutter's drivers, the computer fails to recognise my cutter altogether, and the USB 'ports' section in Device Manager disappears completely. For comparison, I also tried the same process on my Mac Mini and the same thing happened.
Trouble is, it's still fine on my old Windows PC. The Pro and Mini were installed with exactly the same version of XP as the PC, are equally up to date, and are using exactly the same drivers for the cutter. Keyboard, mouse, and iPod are fine via USB. I did install the Apple drivers for Windows
I'm wondering: is there any fundamental reason why, despite being ostensibly compatible, Macs handle USB differently, so as to make some, but not all, drivers and/or hardware incompatible? I'm very grateful for any insights offered; I realise that this isn't a pure Mac/OS X problem, but if I can't rectify this, the Pro's going to have to go...