Why Bootcamp?

[McLover]

one question that confuses me about people who use Macs.
why do you use Bootcamp? i dont mean dual booting in general, i mean the program Bootcamp.
the Grub bootloader seems a lot smaller, and have support for nearly everything.
whereas Bootcamp can only install the newer versions of windows, and even with that, you have to install drivers everywhere.

can you explain why you guys are using bootcamp? or is it simply because its apple?

 

[Intell]

Boot Camp is Apple's name for booting Windows on Mac nothing more really. It's also the name of the package that installs the Mac drivers on Windows. The EFI bootloader/firmware/BIOS emulator that all Intel Macs use is only about 200Mb. Even with Grub on a Mac with Windows, you still need drivers and only newer versions of Windows supports the stuff that makes Intel Macs work. (Yes, I know Win 2000 can be wedged on, but its 10 years old now.)

 

[McLover]

{...} Even with Grub on a Mac with Windows, you still need drivers and only newer versions of Windows supports the stuff that makes Intel Macs work. (Yes, I know Win 2000 can be wedged on, but its 10 years old now.)

it being ten years old is besides the point.

of course you would need the drivers, but the drivers wouldn't be anything different than what's on the manufacturer's site. also what do you mean "supports the stuff that makes Intel Macs work."?

also, im not only talking about Windows, but Linux/BSD/any other OS/kernel in general.

 

[NT1440]

Because it's easy, it works, and there are no drawbacks that an average joe (who wouldn't use bootcamp anyway...) would run into in normal use.

 

[Intell]

"supports the stuff that makes Intel Macs work."?

Also, I'm not only talking about Windows, but Linux/BSD/any other OS/kernel in general.

I'm talking about not having A20 support. Windows 9x/ME needs this but it's disabled on Intel Macs. Xp/Vista/7 all run fine without this.

You can run any other OS you want on an Intel Mac. Boot Camp is just for Windows. It does nothing else for any other OS. After partitioning the drive using Disk Utility you can install Ubuntu (example), you can either use EFI as the bootloader or Grub. I don't know how well Grub and EFI work together but I'd assume it's possible. As for using Grub with Windows; Windows needs the BIOS emulation part of EFI.

 

[McLover]

Because it's easy, it works, and there are no drawbacks that an average joe (who wouldn't use bootcamp anyway...) would run into in normal use.

wow, sounds like nothing.
Grub is the exact same.

I'm talking about not having A20 support. Windows 9x/ME needs this but it's disabled on Intel Macs. Xp/Vista/7 all run fine without this.

touch'e, but thats not a reason to use Bootcamp, thats a reason why the older versions of windows wont work.

but still: taken from apple support.
"Boot Camp supports only Microsoft Windows Home Edition and Professional with SP2 or later" why not the other editions?

Boot Camp is just for Windows. It does nothing else for any other OS. After partitioning the drive using Disk Utility you can install Ubuntu (example), you can either use EFI as the bootloader or Grub.

so really, all bootcamp is, is a bootloader for windows, if you want something else, use Grub...
why not use Grub for windows aswel? instead of having different bootloaders, just use one.

 

[NT1440]

wow, sounds like nothing.
Grub is the exact same.

Except that Bootcamp is touted and supported by apple, and therefore ready to go for joe computer-know-nothing.

You could call it convenience basically.

 

[smartalic34]

As a Boot Camper myself, I can say it's because it's extremely easy to use. I don't know anything about Grub, but I don't see how Grub could be any more convenient. As others have said, Boot Camp isn't that big, and is built into the OS. If I ever want to delete the Windows partition, Boot Camp makes it ridiculously easy. Plus, all the driver are automatically installed by Boot Camp, again, with minimal user input.

why not use Grub for windows aswel? instead of having different bootloaders, just use one.

most people using Macs just want Mac OS X, and if they want something else, it's likely a new-ish version of Windows to either a) game or b) run a specific Windows program that isn't Mac supported

very few people want to run another OS that isn't a late Windows version. hence why few use Grub. Boot Camp is extremely easy to use, and supported by Apple. If I want to run Mac OS X and Windows XP (which I do), what advantages does Grub have, besides perhaps being a little smaller?

 

[NT1440]

As a Boot Camper myself, I can say it's because it's extremely easy to use. I don't know anything about Grub, but I don't see how Grub could be any more convenient. As others have said, Boot Camp isn't that big, and is built into the OS. If I ever want to delete the Windows partition, Boot Camp makes it ridiculously easy. Plus, all the driver installations are automatically installed by Boot Camp, again, with minimal user input.

THIS is "why bootcamp."

 

[flopticalcube]

It works for the majority of needs and it comes with OSX. It requires no extra downloading or learning.

 

[Intell]

Boot Camp isn't a boot loader. EFI is the bootloader. As stated before Boot Camp is a set of drivers for Window on a Mac and is Apple's name for Windows on a Mac in the marketing world.

Here's a neat article that'll help you understand what is what: http://refit.sourceforge.net/myths/

 

[maflynn]

The biggest difference is because apple chose to develop bootcamp as opposed to use grub.

I don't think there's too much to read into this.

 

[Grannyville7989]

I use Boot Camp to install Windows on my laptop because it's there already. It's the same reason why I use Internet Explorer 8 on Windows and Safari on Mac, because they're already there.

If Apple said one day that they're removing Boot Camp from OS X, then I would find another way of getting compatible drivers for Windows to work with Apple hardware. If Apple say that they're removing the dual boot capability from the EFI bootloader, then I would use GRUB.

Why does Jame T. Kirk climb mountains? Because they're there.