Tiger + Virtual PC + iMac G5
I bought my iBook (first Mac) at the end of 2003 and I have moved all my personal computer use to the Mac. I want to get rid of the x86 hardware, but I am a Windows (VB, Access, SQL Server) programmer so eliminating Windows completely is not an option. The only way I can get rid of the x86 hardware and still program for Windows is to use Virtual PC.
I will be using an iMac G5 which will have 2GB RAM and a 400GB hard drive. I recall reading/hearing that running Virtual PC with Windows can open the Mac to vulnerabilties that usually plague Windows. I am not sure how true that is, but just to be on the safe side I will create two partitions so my Mac system will be isolated from my Windows system. Before I buy the iMac and Virtual PC I have some questions I would like answered before I put out the money.
1) Does Virtual PC 2004 work with Tiger, or should I wait for Virtual PC 2005?
2) Can I run Windows 2000 Professional in Virtual PC or does it require Windows XP? When I bought my iBook I remember seeing VPC for Win98 and VPC for Windows2000, but that was before VPC was made to run on a G5.
3) Would a 75GB partition be good enough if the partition will only have Tiger, Windows, Virtual PC, Office (Access, Word, Excel, Outlook), Visual Studio.NET, and Norton Internet Security?
4) Any other issues I might have missed?
I will be using an iMac G5 which will have 2GB RAM and a 400GB hard drive. I recall reading/hearing that running Virtual PC with Windows can open the Mac to vulnerabilties that usually plague Windows. I am not sure how true that is, but just to be on the safe side I will create two partitions so my Mac system will be isolated from my Windows system. Before I buy the iMac and Virtual PC I have some questions I would like answered before I put out the money.
1) Does Virtual PC 2004 work with Tiger, or should I wait for Virtual PC 2005?
2) Can I run Windows 2000 Professional in Virtual PC or does it require Windows XP? When I bought my iBook I remember seeing VPC for Win98 and VPC for Windows2000, but that was before VPC was made to run on a G5.
3) Would a 75GB partition be good enough if the partition will only have Tiger, Windows, Virtual PC, Office (Access, Word, Excel, Outlook), Visual Studio.NET, and Norton Internet Security?
4) Any other issues I might have missed?
Comments
Originally posted by troberts
I will be using an iMac G5 which will have 2GB RAM and a 400GB hard drive. I recall reading/hearing that running Virtual PC with Windows can open the Mac to vulnerabilties that usually plague Windows. I am not sure how true that is, but just to be on the safe side I will create two partitions so my Mac system will be isolated from my Windows system. Before I buy the iMac and Virtual PC I have some questions I would like answered before I put out the money.
1) Does Virtual PC 2004 work with Tiger, or should I wait for Virtual PC 2005?
2) Can I run Windows 2000 Professional in Virtual PC or does it require Windows XP? When I bought my iBook I remember seeing VPC for Win98 and VPC for Windows2000, but that was before VPC was made to run on a G5.
3) Would a 75GB partition be good enough if the partition will only have Tiger, Windows, Virtual PC, Office (Access, Word, Excel, Outlook), Visual Studio.NET, and Norton Internet Security?
4) Any other issues I might have missed?
I have an iBook (1.25 gig ram) and G5 iMac (1.5 gig ram) I am jealous of your big hdd. I only have a 160. I may have to swap that out one day.
1. Runs on tiger for me. But I use VPC for emergency purposes. i.e. I have to do a quick AutoCad drawing (very small changes) while I am on vacation.
2. Some say Win 2000 runs faster and better than XP. I wouldn't doubt this claim. I have seen a pirated version of XP SP2 run on VPC just fine. (Just want to add I have a legal VPC copy with XP bundle) purchased from the Apple Store.
3. I didn't partition my drive so I can't speak to this.
4. Assuming you enable the desktop to desktop drag and drop feature, be aware that if you copy over folders with files in them in folders in folders with long file names that eventually the length for windows is too great and it starts renaming files. I found this out the hard way on my companys website. Links started going bad and that is when I noticed file name changes. You know how windows shortens a name in the dos window i.e. window~1.htm. yeah, I almost didn't recover from that mishap. Fortunately, I had a back up that was only a day old. I now do my website (Front Page) stuff on a windows machine. In fact, if it wasn't for FP, AutoCad 2006LT, and two survey programs, I wouldn't need a PC but there are some things that are not worth the hassle. Keep a small notebook or pc box for work.