Would it be possible...

macintosh_nextmacintosh_next
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
...to have a multi-boot? Imagine booting your computer into Mac OS X, and then you select the Boot Camp and it will re-boot your computer in a window, where it would be Windows Vista/Linux/Whatever. It doesn't work like virtualization, where iut just creates a Windows environment...but it is Windows, booting...just that you are able to boot both Mac OS X and Windows Vista, at the same time, on the same computer.



(or even cooler, booting Mac OS X, Linux, Vista, and you switch via Spaces -- you can tab back and forth between each OS, like you can tab back and forth between virtual desktops.)



But is this possible with current hardware?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    This has been done by many people.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    macintosh_nextmacintosh_next Posts: 224member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    This has been done by many people.



    So I can do this on my iMac Intel with Windows Vista/Mac OS X?
  • Reply 3 of 5
    smaxsmax Posts: 361member
    This would need a vitrual machine... Use Parallels.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    chirhochirho Posts: 50member
    odd question. what do you think parallels/vmware is for? on an intel processor its not virtualisation. they dont create a windows environment. the intel chip IS a windows environment!
  • Reply 5 of 5
    smaxsmax Posts: 361member
    OK, here's the deal. Sure you can run the two on the same computer, at the same time if you have a program to help you do it... here's why.



    Both OSes are designed to use all of the resources on any giver computer alone. When you throw 2 on the same computer and expect them to play nice, they won't because there is no way to specify what OS gets what resources. This is where the virtualization software that allows OSX (or Windows) to allocate certain resources for Windows (or something else) to run on a virtual machine comes in. It pretty much allows what you describe, but cuts back on processing power somewhat because a fraction of the memory and clock cycles are going toward two completely separate OSes on one computer, and some functionality is lost because Parallels doesn't support graphics hardware acceleration (in its current form at least).



    Also: Being in Intel chip doesn't make it a Windows environment. Having Windows in a computer makes it have a Windows environment. An Intel chip is just that... an Intel chip. Sure it is what Windows uses (which allows Windows to run natively through BootCamp), but who is to say that it isn't a Linux or BSD environment? They all can use the same chip so really your reasoning is flawed.



    Also, I think you're using the word "virtualization" wrong, chirho. Virtualization software allows a virtual machine, which is what I explained above (allocating resources to what amounts to a fake computer within your computer), it doesn't necessarily translate software written for one processor to another, but this is usually incorporated in, like VMWare allowed Windows to run on PPC chips.
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