Run medical Windows XP Hardware with iMac

[TrackTT]

I run a health business and the office LAN has 3 workstations running on Windows OS. Recently 2 PC's burned their motherboards and I am considering replacing them with 2 iMac's because of their image quality and also I want to use some apps for photo and video.

The medical workflow runs mainly with two softwares:
- the medical image sw connected to hardware medical device that runs only with windows XP because of the usb drivers;
- the managing sw running on a JAVA platform that I think may run flawless in Mac OS.

I need some detailed information regarding the Mac OS and business environments because I only have experience with iPad. Having said this, my questions are:

1- Can emulating OS applications like Parallels properly manage usb hardware in windows xp considering that this OS is being emulated in a machine ( actual iMac ) with hardware not built to be used with windows xp?

2- Is it possible to run with boot camp simultaneous both windows XP and apple OS with the latest iMac? If yes how fast it is to switch betweem OS?

3- If using windows XP emulated in Mac OS with Parallels app can I expect it to run flawless, considering the use of not only windows xp software but also hardware with USB connection only compatible with windows xp?

4- What is the Apple equivalent to Windows Server?

Thanks in advance for all your help and congrats on you great forum!

 

[thejadedmonkey]

3 things

1) apple doesn't support do anymore, so you'd have to run XP in a virtual machine, or not at all.
2) VMS should work fine with the USB device, but that's only a guess. I wouldn't want to base my business off of a guess.
3) its a business, do you really need to spend $3000 on computers when dell can offer the same for $1000, and provide better support too? In all honesty, I would stay as far away from a mixed mac/pc networked business environment as possible. Its just asking for trouble.

P.s. The apple equiv of windows server is os x server. it isn't bad, but it's definitely a 2nd rate citizen compared to where windows server sits in the Microsoft lineup. Its a... I believe $15 addon for os x and you can download it from the app store

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I'm back home and not on a mobile device, so I'm going to take another stab at this, in more detail hopefully.

- the medical image sw connected to hardware medical device that runs only with windows XP because of the usb drivers;

You might be able to use Windows XP mode in Windows 7 to run the hardware, even if it is XP only. You might also want to update the hardware if possible, or see if it has any Windows 7 native drivers.

- the managing sw running on a JAVA platform that I think may run flawless in Mac OS.

Java is usually OS independent, although some programs are only certified with certain OS's. You might want to update the software after 10 years.

1- Can emulating OS applications like Parallels properly manage usb hardware in windows xp considering that this OS is being emulated in a machine ( actual iMac ) with hardware not built to be used with windows xp?

Yes, you can do this. You can choose what USB devices to connect to the VM, and which ones to connect to OS X. Like I said earlier though, depending on how robust the driver is, it may or may not work. I wouldn't base a $3000 purchase on a guess.

2- Is it possible to run with boot camp simultaneous both windows XP and apple OS with the latest iMac? If yes how fast it is to switch betweem OS?

If you use bootcamp, you can either run Windows natively or run it through a VM, just using a real partition on the HDD instead of a virtual one.

3- If using windows XP emulated in Mac OS with Parallels app can I expect it to run flawless, considering the use of not only windows xp software but also hardware with USB connection only compatible with windows xp?

No. It'll run "very well", but it's not a Windows environment, it's a virtual machine. This means added complexity and occasionally you'll get a hiccup. Not often, and probably nothing that would stop you from using it... but it's not 100% perfect, and bugs do exist.

 

[vistadude]

You're going to need a workstation class computer, which apple does not really offer. You're better off going with something like a Dell precision or another business class PC. Windows XP is not supported by Apple, and won't install on any of their newer computers. USB support through parallels won't work with your medical hardware. Plus it will be clunky to switch between 2 OS's on one computer for your purpose.

You can get an apple display if you like the image quality though.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

You're going to need a workstation class computer

Why? How do you know how much computing power the OP needs?

USB support through parallels won't work with your medical hardware.

Again, without knowing what it is, how do you know?

You've made an awful lot of baseless assumptions in your reply.

 

[Ccrew]

You're going to need a workstation class computer, which apple does not really offer.

Ummmm, Mac Pro or iMac will fill the bill pretty well there. If the OP is running on old workstations running XP a Mac Mini will outrun them, the high end Mac Mini outbenches a 2010 entry Mac Pro.

I'm with SICKBOY, there's not enough info to base your assumptions.

 

[vistadude]

Because you're talking about a computer that's running in a business and likely running 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You'll want enterprise class hard drives, which have a much longer mean time to failure.

Buying a cheap PC probably led to the motherboards burning up as the OP mentioned.

Why? How do you know how much computing power the OP needs?



Again, without knowing what it is, how do you know?

You've made an awful lot of baseless assumptions in your reply.

----------

OP said medical imaging device is connected with the computer. You really don't want emulation slowing you down. Parallels is not good with usb expect for a few devices such as flash drives. I run medical imaging hardware on a PC at work, it definitely won't work on a mac, I've tried, because even though it's using a usb port, it's emulating a legacy port in the software, such as SCSI, serial, or parallel (I don't know exactly since there's nothing in the manuals). Sometimes it has to be the first legacy port, and when you don't have legacy ports, it will default up an error.

Ummmm, Mac Pro or iMac will fill the bill pretty well there. If the OP is running on old workstations running XP a Mac Mini will outrun them, the high end Mac Mini outbenches a 2010 entry Mac Pro.

I'm with SICKBOY, there's not enough info to base your assumptions.

 

[blackhand1001]

Your sure it won't work on windows 7. I have found the vast majority of windows xp drivers to function totally fine in vista and windows 7. Disabling UAC seems to help some older programs as well although most work fine without doing that. I have ran some programs from the mid to early nineties without any issue on windows 7. I would give it a try. VM's and usb devices is just asking for a disaster, it never works 100% right.