Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

OSX - BootCamp - Vista - Spaces: Questions

N

ndstrenge

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 29, 2008
146
0
I've been considering a mac since I heard that I can partition my harddrive with OSX & Vista. I need to keep Vista (or XP) for my design software.

I'm wondering if it is possible to use Spaces to access my windows partition. I know I can do it with a virtual machine software, but I'm afraid of losing speed. Somewhere I read that VMware has a trick to accessing your drive and this tool makes Parallels fairly weak. I know I can reboot to enter each OS, but I'm wondering how powerful Spaces actually is.

Can you put your mac to sleep when in spaces? And then return to your multiple desktops?

Can I have one space downloading music/video while I design in another space? Or- does each space only operate when open and merely 'save' where we left off when switching between spaces?

How heavy does Spaces hit your resources?

fwiw, I run Vista on a Dell (that I actually like) with Adobe Web Premium CS3and Trivantis' Lectora (the expensive authoring software for which I need Windows) My Adobe suite is also windows-based but I believe my files will be accessible in OSX... any further comments from Adobe designers switching to OSX from windows-based software? Will my windows-based software qualify me for an OSX upgrade to CS3.3? (I know I should ask Adobe that question)

Obliged...
 
Only part of this I would know about is Spaces.

In Spaces, when you leave a "space for" another the one you left will keep working. For example, it will keep rendering, downloading, or whatever you told it to do.

I hope this answers something. :p
 
Imagine spaces as having multiple monitors, but all using one screen.

Everything happens at the same time, but you can't access bootcamp from spaces, you still have to restart. You can run Fusion or Parallels in one space and OS X in another, though.

You can sleep your Mac with multiple spaces running, but remember, every pauses when you sleep you Mac, so nothing will get accomplished, it will just be waiting when you are done.
 
No. Spaces is exclusive to OSX. You would still have to restart to use bootcamp.
However, you could consider Parallels or Fusion if they can run the software you use, since they run under OS X and can use spaces.
 
You could get VMWare Fusion (or Parallels) and run Windows from within this in one space. This is what I do - so there's no need to relaunch.

When switching between spaces, all apps stay open, they don't close.
 
Okay, let me ask you guys something. (I'm going to hijack my own thread)

I'm new to the concept of Spaces. And... it's amazing to me. It's amazing because I can build so many work environments that keep growing simultaneously.

So...

How many of you actually leave your Spaces open (with various Desktop themes open) and simply tap-into those themes throughout your day? And then... put your system to sleep with those desktops/Spaces saved for tomorrow?

Multi-tasking has taken a new image... and I'm wondering if I've perhaps missed the bus on that one...:)
 
ndstrenge said:
Okay, let me ask you guys something. (I'm going to hijack my own thread)

I'm new to the concept of Spaces. And... it's amazing to me. It's amazing because I can build so many work environments that keep growing simultaneously.

So...

How many of you actually leave your Spaces open (with various Desktop themes open) and simply tap-into those themes throughout your day? And then... put your system to sleep with those desktops/Spaces saved for tomorrow?

Multi-tasking has taken a new image... and I'm wondering if I've perhaps missed the bus on that one...:)
Click to expand...

your question kinda confused me. spaces can be customized for certian applications. so if i want itunes and iphoto to always open in my 4th space, i can do that. but when i use spaces, i dont keep the application open all day. when i need it, i open it, and osx brings me to that space automatically.
and i dont think osx lets you use different backgrounds for different spaces
 
ndstrenge said:
I've been considering a mac since I heard that I can partition my harddrive with OSX & Vista. I need to keep Vista (or XP) for my design software.

I'm wondering if it is possible to use Spaces to access my windows partition. I know I can do it with a virtual machine software, but I'm afraid of losing speed. Somewhere I read that VMware has a trick to accessing your drive and this tool makes Parallels fairly weak. I know I can reboot to enter each OS, but I'm wondering how powerful Spaces actually is.

Can you put your mac to sleep when in spaces? And then return to your multiple desktops?

Can I have one space downloading music/video while I design in another space? Or- does each space only operate when open and merely 'save' where we left off when switching between spaces?

How heavy does Spaces hit your resources?

fwiw, I run Vista on a Dell (that I actually like) with Adobe Web Premium CS3and Trivantis' Lectora (the expensive authoring software for which I need Windows) My Adobe suite is also windows-based but I believe my files will be accessible in OSX... any further comments from Adobe designers switching to OSX from windows-based software? Will my windows-based software qualify me for an OSX upgrade to CS3.3? (I know I should ask Adobe that question)

Obliged...
Click to expand...

You are putting way too much thought into what Spaces really is. Think of spaces as simply a huge desktop. Spaces has nothing to do with what programs are running, it is simply just more "real estate" for your monitor. The X Windowing System on unix and linux has had this functionality for ages.
 
Don't get too Spaces happy in terms of creating a lot desktops as it uses memory. I have 4GB of ram in my iMac and I generally use 4 Spaces but mostly 2 or 3 at a time. It's not recommended to keep applications running live in each Space such as games or DVD authoring as I mentioned earlier, it uses ram.
Running Windows and the VM program use a lot of system resources so again be cool on getting too Spaces happy, your Mac will slow down.

You cannot create multiple themes in Spaces, each space has the same desktop and wallpaper.
 
spaces only allows you to have multiple desktops of OSX. it doesn't hit resources at all.. i haven't noticed it...

what you can d though is use vmware fusion (may lose bit of performance) and have the vmware running in its own space.

alternatively use bootcamp but requires rebooting :)

im kinda in same situation as i need vista for Games i'm going bootcamp route as vmware doesnt support Direct X
 
smogsy said:
spaces only allows you to have multiple desktops of OSX. it doesn't hit resources at all.. i haven't noticed it...
Click to expand...

Its not multiple desktops... the desktop is the same no matter in what space you are. Spaces just change the "Space" where all your windows are floating. Hope this makes sense...

And Spaces doesn't eat resources at all because only the active space is being rendered, while other apps are running as if they were simply "Hidden"
 
eXan said:
Its not multiple desktops... the desktop is the same no matter in what space you are. Spaces just change the "Space" where all your windows are floating. Hope this makes sense...

And Spaces doesn't eat resources at all because only the active space is being rendered, while other apps are running as if they were simply "Hidden"
Click to expand...

I didn't actually mean "Spaces" uses a lot of resources, I said that in reference to the OP mentioning about using several spaces. If he's running Windows and doing tasks such as Windows update and running several other windows in lots of spaces it does eat up resources. How could it not if programs are still running in other spaces?
 
HLdan said:
I didn't actually mean "Spaces" uses a lot of resources, I said that in reference to the OP mentioning about using several spaces. If he's running Windows and doing tasks such as Windows update and running several other windows in lots of spaces it does eat up resources. How could it not if programs are still running in other spaces?
Click to expand...

Then its not Spaces that uses resources - its apps that are running. And they take as much resources when running in different spaces as if they would take when running in one space. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back