On Jun 22, 2008, at 2:33 PM, Spencer_Lists wrote:
> Greetings Carol,
>
> After writing this I realized that most of this letter is "off
> topic" but I think people should read it for the warnings about
> Vista which is one of my main reasons for renewed interest in the
> Mac. I think that others should be thinking about this too. I am
> very close to the limit of my tolerance for Microsoft garbage and
> their total lack of consideration of the needs of their customers.
>
> I am very interested in getting the best software for running my
> utilities on a Mac. We have a few Macs including a new Intel with
> bootcamp and I will experiment on that one when I am in the same
> state as it. Here in California I just have a first generation G5
> PowerMac or whatever it is (I am a (be default not by design)
> winsdowz programmer) and would like to put whatever third party
> software on it that will allow me to run XP. All of my programs run
> under XP and most actually work (just about as well as anything) on
> Vista.
>
> What I want most is reliability. I would love to be able to run win
> programs without rebooting. I am not concerned with saving a few
> dollars.
>
> On a related thread. Most people probably already know this but
> Vista is an absolute piece of almost total garbage. There are a few
> cute features that almost imitate Mac interface but everything else
> about it is horrible. I will not go into details but I have been on
> the phone with microsoft support for over 24 hours (not just India
> but onshore engineers) just trying to get Vista to network with XP
> and they have no ideas yet. Vista is not compatible with a huge
> number of standard programs, has serious driver issues, is unstable
> in many regards and is so *!!*ing security (un)conscious and so
> "smart" that you can barely get anything done other than answer
> inane questions, changing options that do not stick and searching
> for registry patches to make things vaguely useable. I bought Vista
> pre-installed on a new machine and am not responsible for any of the
> hardware/software issues and the machine barely works. Graphics
> issues, mouse issues in addition to all the incompatibility problems.
>
> In spite of all that, my programs generally work but processing
> large batches seems to exceed some explorer limit and they can crash.
>
> If the choice becomes (due to XP support being turned off) Vista or
> Mac, I will take the months needed to learn to program directly on
> the Mac. I have wasted so much of the last couple of months trying
> to get Vista to work (and I am a rather advanced computer user who
> can figure out almost anything or the person to ask for help or the
> online resources to consult) and I have made almost no progress.
>
> Sunday, June 22, 2008, 10:58:59 AM, you wrote:
> > I am definitely interested in something that doesn't crash as that
> > is why I bought a Mac in the first place! All I want to do in the
> > future is to be able to put a PianoSoft floppy disk into my computer
> > and put the songs on either a playlist (yamplayer) or convert them
> > the MIDI files (dkutil) so I can burn another copy for back-up or
> > turn them down to play more quietly on my DKV. MarkIV owners do not
> > have this problem as their machines store the music on a hard drive
> > and already have playlist capability.
> >
> > That being said, do I still need to install virus software on the
> > Windows VM partition even though that partition will never be
> > online? If Safari is running, can my windows vm partition still be
> > harmed even though it is not active? Do I need to install at least
> > Windows 98SE to be able to use a floppy disk drive?
> >
> > I will definitely check out the Fusion as I know there are minor
> > differences between it and Parallels. I can't begin to thank you
> > guys enough for helping on this one!
> >
> > Carol Beigel
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Gary Connoley
> > To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
> > Cc: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 5:09 AM
> > Subject: Re: [disklavier] Re: Using Disklavier utilities on a Mac
>
> > I use vmware fusion for my macpro and have a number of virtual
> > machines such as win xp, homesever, win 2003 server etc for
> > different things. Within the vm you can set whether the USB devices
> > connected to the host are connected to the guest OS. I have used an
> > xp vm to run a home automation application with a USB to serial
> > adapter and two USB devices flawlessly. I just tested dkutil with
> a USB floppy and it worked fine.
> > Fusion retails for 100bucks and there is a trial from the vmware
> site.
> > Gary
>
> > Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On 22 Jun 2008, at 10:00, "david962548" <magic_midi@...>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Carol
>
> > Just don't throw out the old PC. I have a number of "old" PCs just
> > because the new one will not do what the old one did.
>
> > I have an old laptop because the new one does not have a RS232 com
> > port. An old PC win 98 because I have a number of programs that
> > don't like XP. I know you can get USB drives but they do not alwasy
> > work, my USB com port is com 40 but the software only goes upto com
> > 10.
>
> > Having played a little with Parallels for Mac, I found it to be, not
> > only very slow, but locked up and crashed all the time.
>
> > Good luck
> > Midi Magic
>
> > --- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "Carol Beigel" <thecarolb@...>
> > wrote:
>
> >> My R&D time at the moment is being filled with playing Camp
> > Grandma. working, and setting up the new iMac, so I thought I would
> > throw this out to the list in the event someone else might try this
> > in a more timely fashion than myself.
>
> >> My Windows 98 computer developed a problem with the motherboard
> > and there does not seem to be a compatible replacement on the market
> > today. Bummer! It is just a matter of time before my Windows XP
> > computers suffer the same fate.
>
> >> True, the new version of Mac OS10.5 (Leopard) has an included
> > utility called Bootcamp that will let you install a Windows
> > operating system. However, it is sort of clunky because you need to
> > reboot each time you want to swith operating systems.
>
> >> I believe there is a better alternative called Parallels for Mac
> > Desktop. You can download a free 2-week trial or pay $79 to keep
> > it. This software allows one to run virtual operating systems from
> > the Mac Desktop without rebooting. They talk about Windows XP and
> > Windows Vista, but it will also run Windows 95 down through DOS6.2.
> > Lynux, and some other operating systems. You can install as many
> > virtual operating systems as you want. If you choose setting up a
> > virtual drive to less than 32G it will format it using the FAT32 -
> > which is compatible with those dkvutilities. You can also connect a
> > USB Floppy drive to copy or read Pianosoft disks.
>
> >> It is my thought that this virtual drive will run the Giebler
> > utilities and gnmidi programs. Remember to to also load some virus
> > protection software on your virtual drives if you use Windows!
>
> >> For those still running Windows XP, there is a free (?) program
> > called DOSBOX that will run older DOS utilities - probably the
> > Giebler. Most people use this software to run their favorite older
> > versions of games that are no longer available. I suspect it works
> > on Windows Vista as well.
>
> >> I must admit the new 24-inch iMac is the most elegant computer I
> > have ever owned. I will probably buy a Mac laptop as well next
> > year. By then the MarkIV Disklaviers will be able to record
> > audio. Eventually I will figure out the web software to update my
> > website and would like to include using Macs with Disklaviers.
>
> >> Let me know if anyone gets these things to work!
>
> >> Carol Beigel
>
> > 28c2a; font-size: 100%; line-height: 122%; } #ygrp-sponsor .ad a{
> > text-decoration: none; } #ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{ text-decoration:
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> > blockquote{margin: 0 0 0 4px;} .replbq{margin:4} -->
>
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG.
> > Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1512 - Release Date:
> 6/21/2008 9:27 AM
> >
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Spencer_Lists Chase mailto:lists@...
> 67550 Bell Springs Rd.
> Garberville, CA 95542 Postal service only.
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> (707) 984-8356
>