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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

CodeWeavers Crossover Come To The Light Sale

Codeweavers offers downloads of its Crossover Games for $39.95 and Crossover Professional for $69.95 If you apply coupon code "ComeToTheLight" this will drop CrossOver Games to $29.96 And Crossover Professional to $52.46 That's 20% off and the lowest total price we've seen since a 1-day sale in October 2009. CrossOver enables you to install Windows applications and games on Intel-based Macs and Linux.

Update 04/06/2023 : The ComeToTheLight dealcode has expired, you can now use "TOM23" as your dealcode and save 20% off CrossOver for Mac and Linux.

The new and improved CodeWeavers CrossOver version 9.2.1 was recently released, So if you need a Windows Application or Games to run on Linux or Mac OS X this is your chance to get it at 25% off the normal selling price.

CrossOver 9.2.1 contains many fixes to existing applications, and just generally makes the product better. As of this writing CrossOver has been merged with Wine 1.2.1 and contains many improvements for Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Quicken, PhotoShop and many other supported and none supported applications.

Second, the folks at CodeWeavers have re-written the entire user interface from scratch, and have created what they feel is a more intuitive installation process and user experience. The new user interface is written in GTK and the look and feel is much more intuitive then the older Tcl/TK UI that was used before this upcoming release.

Third, and perhaps most important, the CrossOver installer will now be directly linked to their online Compatibility database and allow people to install unsupported software via (recipes) contained on the Compatibility Center.

Here is a screenshot of the Crossover Professional 9.0 (UI) user interface.


Keep in mind this sale is for a limited time only, and may be discontinued at any time.

A Guide to Wine on Ubuntu for Beginners

This guide is divided in four parts, so that you can jump to whichever you want using the links below:

What Is Wine?
Installing Wine in Ubuntu (Two Methods)
Starting Up and Configuring Wine
Customizing Wine
What Is Wine?
Wine is a compatibility layer which allows Windows applications to run on Linux by translating Windows system calls into native Linux calls. Wine runs successfully a variety of Windows applications and games on Linux - the official website offers an application database which organizes those depending on how well they perform under Wine, known issues and solutions, screenshots and helpful comments.

You should give Wine a try if you have some Windows-only game or application that you really need and want to be able to use Linux for it.

Installing Wine in Ubuntu (Two Methods)
I will approach two different ways of installing the latest Wine release in Ubuntu: using the Wine PPA and compiling from source.
Using the Wine PPA

This method is pretty straightforward. First, we need to make sure that we uninstall any older version of Wine:
sudo apt-get remove --purge wine
Now, let's add the Wine PPA repository to our sources.list file:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
Finally, update the package lists and install Wine:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine
This should be all.
Compiling Wine from source

This is usually not needed considering there is an updated repository available, but sometimes the PPA repository may have a delay until the packages are built and uploaded. Usually this happens immediately after a new version of Wine is released and there are no updated packages in the PPA. This is where compiling Wine from source could come in handy. Also, Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat comes with the latest stable release of Wine, which is 1.2, so if you want the latest development release you will need to install it from the PPA or compile it from source.

First, make sure you have the sources repositories enabled, meaning a line that starts with deb-src is in your /etc/apt/sources.list file, like the following:
deb-src http://ro.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ maverick universe multiverse
If not, add it and save the file. Also, make sure to replace maverick with your actual Ubuntu version. Sources are enabled by default in Ubuntu, so you will probably need to do nothing at this step, unless you commented or deleted this line yourself.
Next, let's install the compilation tools, the needed development libraries and additional Wine dependencies:

sudo apt-get build-dep wine
sudo apt-get install libgsm1-dev libmpg123-dev
The first command will fetch the needed development libraries needed by Wine, together with the compilation tools like gcc. The second one will install two additional development libraries. Now, download the source tarball from the official website (direct link here), and then uncompress it by typing in a terminal (don't forget to make sure the current working directory is the one where you saved the tarball):
tar -xjf wine-1.3.9.tar.bz2
I used the latest version available at the time of writing, but replace the version number accordingly if it differs.

Next, enter in wine-1.3.9 directory and issue the following commands to compile and install it:
./configure
make
sudo make install
This will take a while, but in the end Wine should be properly installed. Alternately, you can specify a different installation prefix from the default, e.g.:
./configure --prefix=/home/USER/usr
In this case Wine will use /home/USER/usr (replace USER with your actual username) as the installation prefix, and you can issue make install as normal user, without the need of sudo. Notice that in this example Wine would install inside /home/USER/usr/bin/wine, so if you specify a different prefix don't forget to include the path to the Wine binary in your $PATH. Also notice that for older versions of Wine the commands needed to compile it should be ./configure; make depend && make; sudo make install.

If you need to uninstall Wine, issue the following command from within the wine-1.3.9 directory:
sudo make uninstall


Configuring Wine :

Winecfg

winecfg is used to configure Wine and change settings like sound, graphics, Windows version and so on. Wine uses the winecfg utility for configuration, which you can start either by typing winecfg in a terminal or pressing Alt+F2 and typing it there, followed by Enter. Note that the default settings usually will do, so it's not necessary to change the configuration options after installing Wine. When it starts for the first time, winecfg will prompt you to install Gecko, a web rendering engine used to embed HTML in applications (the same engine which is used by Firefox). It is recommended that you install it.

gecko

If you don't install Gecko now, you'll be prompted later when it is needed by some application or you will be able to install it manually using the winetricks script (which is explained below this section). After installing Gecko, let's have a look at the Wine configuration window:

wine_configuration

I'll briefly explain each tab:
  • Applications tab: this is used to set different Windows versions for different applications. The default (Windows XP) should be fine for most of them.
  • Libraries tab: here you can add dynamic link libraries (DLLs) and specify whether they should be a Wine builtin or a native Windows binary; this will be used to copy various libraries needed by certain games or applications to run properly.
  • Graphics tab: in this tab you can specify graphics settings, emulate a virtual desktop and choose its resolution, change Direct3D vertex shader options and set fonts dots per inch (DPI).
  • Desktop Integration tab: in this tab you will be able to change the look of Windows applications that run through Wine, and also to change the theme which it uses (this is explained below in the section Customizing Wine).
  • Drives tab: this tab allows you to set drive mappings, which will give Wine access to certain devices and drives on your system. Default is usually fine, but you may need to add an optical drive here for applications which require the CD or DVD.
  • Audio tab: the first time you click on this tab a message window will appear notifying you that a recommended driver has been selected. Click OK, then in the Audio tab click Apply. You can also test the sound using the Test Sound button. Default settings should be fine.
  • About tab: optionally you can fill in the Owner and Organization text fields (anything will do).
wine configuration

Winetricks

Winetricks is a powerful script which automates installation of various useful packages, offering a friendly interface to do so. Before downloading and using winetricks, first let's install the cabextract package, which is a native Linux application that extracts Microsoft Cabinet files (CAB), and is available in the repositories.

Friday, December 17, 2010

CodeWeavers 30% off Winter Solstice Sales on CrossOver Mac and Linux

While the big box stores and shopping malls run black Friday sales, and in recent years many of the online retailers have began to have black Monday sales. Leave it up to the wacky folks at Codeweavers to have a 30% off Winter Solstice Sales on CrossOver Mac and Linux.

Why a Winter Solstice sale you might ask, well you see CodeWeavers has their headquarters in Minneapolis St. Paul Minnesota and in Minnesota in the winter you measure snow by the feet and temperatures to the negative. So when the Solstice comes on December 21st, the beginning's of longer days and warmth are surly on the way. And this is a time of mass celebration on the magnitude of world cup winners, or your favorite team winning the super bowl. And in all this mass hysteria a thirty percent off sale was devised so everyone around the world can join in this festive time of the year.

This sale runs from now until December 20th 2010 and to take advantage of it just use "TOM23" as your dealcode in CodeWeavers store at checkout.

This is a good time to purchase CrossOver not only because you will save 30 percent off the normal retail selling price. And as a bonus to this discount in the next month or so CrossOver 10.0 will be released with many new and exciting features. And if you purchase now you can upgrade to CrossOver Pro or Games 10.0 when it's released.

This sale is open to anyone who needs to run Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux and FreeBSD. So please help spread the word and post about the "Solstice2010" sale on Facebook, your web site, and don't forget to send a tweet to all your friends and family.

Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Help spread the word about CrossOver for Linux and Mac

The folks over at CodeWeavers are having a get the word out campaign. If your a proud customer of theirs and would like to help them spread the word about the great products that they have, this would be a good time to do it. Ive personally used their products ever since CrossOver Plugin 1.0 first shipped and have always been satisfied with the product and support that I've received over the many years.

Spreading the word about CrossOver

Friends of CodeWeavers, unite! First of all, thank you very much for your support. We greatly appreciate everyone who has purchased a copy of CrossOver, or has worked hard as an Advocate to ensure that CrossOver continues to improve and run the apps that you need. Beyond that, though, we also really value those of you who help spread the word about CrossOver. Your favorable comments, both in person and on the Web, are absolutely some of the most powerful things you can do for us.

Link to CodeWeavers From Your Page

If you have a web page, blog, MySpace page, Facebook page, or whatever, we'd love to have a link from you. Here's are some graphics for your Mac or Linux PC that can show that you're a CodeWeavers customer. Simply copy the image and link to your site. You can link from the image hosted here or right click and save the image to your PC then upload it to your site and use the link provided here.

Also, please add a link to this page from your blog, facebook page, twitter, buzz account etc. etc... and help spread the word about spreading the word. :)

Thanks for your support!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Transgaming Cider Game users can now save 25% off CodeWeavers CrossOver Games for Mac

About Transgaming Cider

"TransGaming's Cider Portability Engine is a proprietary technology that allows PC games to be enabled on Apple's Intel Macs without the traditionally expensive and arduous need to redevelop a game from the ground-up. Cider acts as a "wrapper" around the PC game dynamically translating PC API calls to the Mac OS X operating system. As such, games can be enabled with Cider in a matter of days to weeks as opposed to the typical man years that traditional development takes.

Cider is an extremely powerful technology that allows games to be released day and date with their PC counter-parts giving publishers significant upside revenue potential and leveraging marketing and branding initiatives. Cider also allows publishers to release either dedicated Mac versions of their games or PC/Mac hybrid versions (i.e. both versions of the game in a single box)."

In reality how well do games really run with Transgaming's Cider on Mac? Well with the the help of my friend Google I did some searches for Cider Games and this is what I found. Below is a quote and link to the original article.

GTA2 [Intel][Cider] (Mac Games) :
"Notes: The resolution can't be changed in game - you will have to leave it at the preset value.
Known Issues: If you click on Options in the main menu the game will crash, so don't do it. Controls and other settings have already been configured for you." Full Link

'Cider' could see PC/Linux/Mac game releases :
"Cool, but also a bit frightening, many publishers will rush games and release fairly buggy products as is, I can only imagine the horror unleashed adding all that" Full Link

Sins of a Solar Empire :
"Personally, I would really really hope that if a port ever happened (which it doesn't seem like Stardock has ever had any inclination to do for any of its games - which is a shame) it wouldn't use Cider as Cider games are often very buggy due to not being Mac native. Hell, EVE Online uses Cider and there are still dialogs to pic a DirectX version in the options..." Full Link

Dark messiah with Cider and font issue :
"the fact that the cutscene videos won't show up and had to be deactivated because they use a DirectX 90c shader which Cider can't handle I can hear the sound but the screen is just black with a white quare - too bad since the videos contain major story elements..."

"I am currently fiddling with Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, but the game is extremely buggy and crashes every time I try to load a new game." Full Link

COD5 Cider Port Released :
"I hate cider. Everything about it is just annoying. I would rather have it then no port, but really, for big game companies? Its slow, buggy, and resource intensive. The valve apps that are programmed in OpenGL should run much better." Full Link

Settlers Community Technical Support :
"Cider C Runtime Error Runtime Error!!!!! Program: C:\The Settlers 7\Data\Base\_Dbg\Bin\Release\Settlers7R.exe abnormal program termination" Full Link

And this is just a small sample of the search results regarding Transgaming Cider ported games for the Mac. All I can say is, Wow... it sure seems that Cider is a extremely buggy piece of technology at this time, and therefore you can most likely expect crashes and errors with a Cider ported game on your Mac.

Most people choose a Mac because it is a quality premium product with a elegant OS to go on that hardware. So the last thing your going to want is a buggy Cider based game on your Mac right? Keep in mind extremely buggy software like this also taxes your CPU and GPU and can cause premature hardware failures do to overheating and constant 100% system loads. Not to mention system lock ups and system crashes. I personally would not put my Mac through this torture, because their are alternatives at this time to Ciderized Games.

What are the alternatives to Cider ported games?

At this time there are more and more native Mac ported games coming on the market all the time. With the recent market share increases the Mac has seen more and more game developers are porting to the Mac.

You could also duel boot using bootcamp, but your going to have to pay for the Microsoft Windows licence. And you cant run any of your Mac software while your booted into Windows. You will also loose a large chunk of hard drive space for that Windows install.

You can install vanilla Wine from WineHQ on your Mac and play games, this is a good option for technical minded people. And for people who have hours to spend tweaking Wine and the Game for the best playing experience. But if your not familiar with compiling software and then further configuring Wine once you have Wine installed this option might not be for you.

And then their is CodeWeavers CrossOver Games for Mac. CrossOver Games can run hundreds of Windows Applications and Games on Intel based Mac PCs.

About CodeWeavers CrossOver Games for Mac :

"Now gamers can play the games they want, on whatever platform they want! With CrossOver Games, you can run many popular Windows games on your Intel OS X Mac or Linux PC. Whatever your tastes first-person shooters, fantasy, strategy, MMORPGs CrossOver Games lets you run many popular game titles. CrossOver comes with an easy to use, single click interface, which makes installing your games simple and fast. Once installed, your game integrates seamlessly with your Desktop. Just click and run! It's like running Windows on your Mac or Linux machine, but without Windows. No rebooting, no switching to a virtual machine, and no Windows Operating System license required!."

To see if your favorite game currently runs on CrossOver Games just visit CodeWeavers CrossOver Compatibility Center (C4) and browse through the over 8,000 applications and games in the C4 database.

About CodeWeavers CrossOver Compatibility Center (C4) :

"CodeWeavers goal is to make Linux and Mac OS X fully Windows-compatible operating systems. All Windows applications should be able to be run: cleanly, harmoniously, within the native environment, and without using an emulator. To that end, we maintain this Compatibility Center."

If your favorite games currently runs via CrossOver Games Mac you can join the C4 forums and share your experience with other CrossOver Gamers. You can also become a advocate for your favorite games and vote on your games support level, give feedback, and much more. If by chance your game doesn't currently run with CrossOver Games you can vote for your game and let the people at CodeWeavers know the game is important to you and you would like to see it supported in a future CrossOver Games release. Their is also a tips and tricks section in the C4 forums where you can use or add to known tips for getting a unsupported game up and running.

If by some chance your game isn't currently listed in the database you can still install the game as a unsupported application and see for yourself if it runs. And then submit the game for inclusion in the database and once its accepted submit your ranking. You will also want to keep in mind that just because a game isn't officially supported by CodeWeavers doesn't mean it isn't playable. As of today their is currently well over 1,000 Gold ranked applications and games in the C4 database.

So how do you save 20% off CrossOver Games for Mac? Just use "TOM23" in the CodeWeavers store at checkout time as your coupon / dealcode and you will get a instant 20% discount off the full retail selling price. Anyone who has ever had any problems running a Cider based Game can use this dealcode and give CrossOver Games a try.

Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

CodeWeavers Releases CrossOver Games 9.2.1

CODEWEAVERS SUPPORTS WORLD OF WARCRAFT CATACLYSM:
CodeWeavers Releases CrossOver Games 9.2.1; Vows Extensive Personal Testing for Quality Assurance Purposes

 
SAINT PAUL, Minn. (December 7, 2010) Twelve million addicts, err, players cant be wrong. Theres no doubting the draw of World of Warcraft. And today, as Blizzard rolls out its third, much-anticipated expansion to the game Cataclysm, CodeWeavers ensures that Linux gamers can play right along with their PC and Mac brethren. CodeWeavers Linux customers will be able to run Cataclysm as if they were running on Windows with today’s immediate shipment of CrossOver Games 9.2.1.
CodeWeavers Chief Operating Officer Jon Parshall vowed that testing of the new CrossOver build would be ongoing. All day at his office. All night at his home. Probably until I hit level 85, Parshall stated. Well, to be honest, probably for a while past that. I actually have six level 80s to get to 85, and Im thinking about leveling up a worgen, too, he continued, referring to the new Alliance race of fearsome werewolves. That’s gonna take quite a while, but its all in the name quality assurance.
With the release of Cataclysm, the dreaded dragon Deathwing has returned to Azeroth, ripping asunder and utterly transforming the game world that players have lived in for the past six years, and leaving chaos and destruction in his infernal wake.

Im thinking chaos and destruction is what my wife may visit on me as well for sequestering myself in my mancave for hours at a time, but that’s a price I’m going to have to pay, Parshall added as he grabbed three cans of Red Bull and a bag of All Nighter Cheeseburger Doritos® before disappearing into his basement.

For footage of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm running under Linux


 
CrossOver Games 9.2 replaces all previous versions of CrossOver. The software is immediately available at www.CodeWeavers.com.

About CodeWeavers
Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The companys goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.CodeWeavers.com.
 
Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bordeaux 50% off recession busting sale

The Bordeaux Technology Group is proud to announce a 50% off recession busting sale on Bordeaux for Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, PCBSD and OpenIndiana. With the current US unemployment rate hovering near 10% and rumors of the possibility of a double dip recession. We want to do our part to help save individuals and small business as much money as we can on their Wine related software needs. With Bordeaux you can run many of todays most popular Windows based office applications and games on your operating system of choice.

Over the past two years their has been a large multitude of changes that have taken place in Wine. And with Wine 1.2.1 being recently released users can run more of their favorite Applications and Games on their unix operating system of choice.

Bordeaux for Linux and BSD will be marked down to only $10.00 and Bordeaux for Mac and OpenIndiana will cost only $12.50 during this sale.

This sale will last until the US unemployment rate falls below 7% or as long as we can feasibly run this half off sale. So, If you have ever wanted to try Wine or Bordeaux and have put off your purchase in the past this is the perfect time to try Bordeaux and save 50% off the normal selling price.

Supported Applications/Games:
  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Microsoft Office 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2000
  • Microsoft Office 97
  • Microsoft Office Visio 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project 2003
  • Adobe Photoshop 6
  • Adobe Image Ready 3
  • Adobe Photoshop 7
  • Adobe Image Ready 7
  • Adobe Photoshop CS
  • Adobe Photoshop CS2
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
  • FireFox 3.6.8 and multimedia plug ins
  • Apple Safari 5.0 Web Browser
  • Steam and Steam based Games
  • Google SketchUp 7.1
  • VLC 1.1.0
  • Apple QuickTime 6.5.2 Player
  • IrfanView 4.27 (Image files only)
  • Winetricks support

Bordeaux 2.2.0 will be our next release and will have a large number of new features and bug fixes over our previous release. Anyone who purchases Bordeaux during this sale can freely upgrade to our next release and any further updates for the next six months.

New Features Planned for Bordeaux 2.2.0:
  • Sync to Wine 1.2.1
  • Sync to the latest WineTricks Release
  • More fixes to the Bordeaux UI and Cellar Manager
  • The 2.2.0 release will have a new GTK based backend

New Features Planned for Bordeaux 3.0.0:
  • Sync to Wine 1.2.x or 1.3.x if all supported programs run stable.
  • Sync to the latest WineTricks Release
  • More fixes to the Bordeaux UI and Cellar Manager
  • The 3.0.0 release will have a new and improved UI
  • A new Bordeaux Application Database

About BordeauxGroup, Inc.:
Founded in 2008, The Bordeaux Group focuses on the development of Free Software solutions enabling legacy Windows applications to run on Unix systems and other non-Windows operating systems. Bordeaux is designed to aide in the transition and migration to non-Windows platforms by bringing Windows software to Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, PCBSD and OpenSolaris. The company is privately held. For more information about the Bordeaux Group please visit http://www.bordeauxgroup.com

Bordeaux for Linux is a trademark of the Bordeaux Group, Incorporated. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is a registered trademark, and Office is a trademark, of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Photoshop is a trademark of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by their respective companies.



Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac


Mac OSX running Counter Strike 1.6 and Call of Duty 4 Natively

Thanks to Cider, Mac users can run windows applications/games WITHOUT running a virtual OS. Now that I think about it… I'm not sure if this COD4 was actually made for mac or if it was a port running through cider. This works for many other things as well. The Codeweavers CrossOver also does the same type of thing using wine instead of cider. Somewhere on their site they have a compatibility list. I successfully use CrossOver to run Steam games like DOD:S and other stuff. With virtualization through Parallels or VMWare Fusion, you still need a copy of the windows OS. With cider/wine, you dont. Long Live Mac! The ONLY reason I ever used windows was because I wanted to play games.


Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

CrossOver Linux Review

by Mike Mansell

For about four months now, I have been using the Ubuntu Linux operating system full-time on both my desktop and notebook computer. A few weeks into this experience, I wrote an article sharing some of my findings about the Windows to Linux migration process. One of the main concepts that I addressed in this article was the concept of finding Linux-based alternatives to one’s current Windows software. However, I also covered the fact that there are some software applications that simply do not have worthy alternatives, and for this reason suggested that Linux newcomers look into the WINE package to run Windows software on Linux. However, there is no denying that WINE is “at best a bit sketchy” (as said by a commentator).

When I first started using Linux, I had heard about the CodeWeavers CrossOver software package that worked to run Windows applications in a Linux environment. However, I could not justify purchasing it (retail pricing starting at $40) because in my eyes, it did not offer any value. After all, it was based on the WINE project, and I saw it pointless to purchase something that was simply a re-branded version of something that was freely available. More recently, though, a few people have been telling me about the wonders of CrossOver and how it was so much more than the branded WINE package that I thought it was. For this reason, I decided to take the plunge and purchase CrossOver Linux Standard in order to run a few Windows applications in Linux.

Upon installing the pre-compiled package, I was intrigued by the “bottle” concept that was employed in CrossOver. You see, in order to maximize comparability and isolate instabilities, CrossOver allows you to create separate ”bottles” that have individualized WINE settings. For example, I currently have a “bottle” that contains the mIRC IRC client. When I install additional software packages down the road, I will install them in separate bottles. Then, if any Windows-based software opts to go haywire down the road, any errors or damage will be isolated to that bottle and will not effect other software. Simply put, this leads to optimum stability. Additionally, by allowing individual applications to reside within their own bottles, CrossOver allows for the best possible comparability by eliminating any software conflicts and allowing for optimal operating system environments to be used.

More importantly, however, is the level of control that the end-user has over the bottles. I say this because the bottle manager allows for bottles to be forced to shut-down in the event of error, and allows for applications and runtime to be installed and uninstalled. Moreover, the implementation of a task manager extends the end-users level of control.

In retrospect to installing software in WINE, installing Windows-based applications in CrossOver is amazingly simple. The easy-to-use installation wizard allows you to create a new bottle with the recommended settings for your applications and to go about the installation process. These pre-configured settings for supported (and non-officially community-supported) software reduces the need for “trial and error” when installing software.

One of the best things about CrossOver is the fact that it instantaneously updates the “Applications” menu under Gnome, giving the end-user easy access to their applications. While this seems somewhat basic of a feature, it is definitely something that I have yet to see implemented in WINE.

Run Microsoft Windows Applications and Games on Mac, Linux or ChromeOS save up to 20% off  CodeWeavers CrossOver+ today.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Test-driving Bordeaux 2.0.8

We, as computer users, run applications -- all sorts of them. We browse the web with an program, send e-mail via another, write up reports, crunch numbers, listen to music, transfer files and store contacts using a long list of different applications. There are thousands upon thousands of programs floating around the digital world and there's one problem: they don't all run on your operating system. Almost all of us, at one time or another, will come to a point where we have an operating system and matching programs that do almost everything we want and, on the other hand, a program which doesn't run natively on our OS of choice. Fortunately there are ways of dealing with this. Some people dual-boot their systems and deal with the awkward transition between platforms. Others use virtual machines and work with the overhead involved with running two systems at the same time. A third option is to build compatibility into one OS so that it can run programs designed for a different OS and that's where Bordeaux comes in.

The Bordeaux Technology Group is a company specializing in compatibility software. Specifically, they work at making it as easy as possible to run Windows programs on the UNIX family of operating systems. Their Bordeaux tool is built to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, OpenIndiana and Mac OS X. Bordeaux is, at its heart, a customized build of Wine. They take a recent version of Wine, add some special tools and test their build for compatibility against a group of popular Windows software. They then sell this bundle (along with support) for about US$20 - 25, much less than the typical cost of a Windows license. A few weeks ago I had a chance to chat with Tom, a member of the Bordeaux Technology Group, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of Bordeaux (PC-BSD edition) to test-drive.

The provided PBI package was about 44 MB and it installed without any problems. With the install completed, two icons were added to my desktop and application menu. These new icons were labelled "Bordeaux" and "Cellar Manager". I launched Bordeaux first and was presented with a new window featuring three tabs along the top. These three tabs are called "Install Applications", "Manage Wine" and "Unsupported Packages". At the bottom of the window, regardless of which tab is selected, are two buttons called "Help" and "Install". Clicking the Help button always opens a browser window to the Bordeaux documentation website. The Install button actually performs different functions depending on which tab is selected.

Let's start with the Manage Wine tab. It provides us with a list of basic Windows software, such as Notepad, Minesweeper and the Registry Editor. Clicking on one of these items and clicking the Install button launches the program. It's pretty straightforward and I didn't have any problem using these built-in items.

The Install Applications tab is a bit more interesting. This tab provides us with a list of Windows software which is supported by Bordeaux. Highlighting one of the items and clicking the Install button will perform one of two actions. In cases where the highlighted software is freely available online, Bordeaux will download and install the application. I tried this with Internet Explorer 7, Safari, QuickTime Player and Google's SketchUp. Each of them downloaded and installed without and problems and the first three ran smoothly. The SketchUp program installed on my machine, but I ran into problems running it and experienced frequent crashes. I haven't used SketchUp before, so I'm uncertain as to how much of this is a problem with the application itself, with Bordeaux, or with my hardware. There are several other programs available in the support list, many of them Microsoft Office products. Picking one of these options and clicking the Install button would kick off work in the background and install some components. Bordeaux didn't provide much information as to what was going on, but I suspect it was configuring my environment to work with the highlighted software.



Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

CodeWeavers Releases CrossOver and CrossOver Games 9.2

CodeWeavers Releases CrossOver 9.2
to Support Civilization 5 on Linux and Mac

 
SAINT PAUL, Minn. (October 19, 2010) Less than a month after Firaxis released its highly anticipated and acclaimed Civilization 5, CodeWeavers, Inc. today announced the release of CrossOver Games 9.2, enabling gamers to play the game on Linux and Mac operating systems.
Based in Saint Paul, Minn., CodeWeavers is a leading developer of software products that turn Mac OS X and Linux into Windows-compatible operating systems. Its CrossOver software allows Windows software to be used on Mac and Linux PCs without the need for a Windows operating system license.

“Civilization 5 is pure turn-based pleasure, and I personally couldnt wait for it to arrive,” said Jon Parshall, chief operating officer at CodeWeavers. “As soon as we opened it up, we unleashed our programming ninjas to upgrade CrossOver so Linux loyalists and Mac lovers can join in on the good times.

“Current CrossOver subscribers can hit our site for a free 9.2 upgrade. New customers? Welcome aboard!” Parshall added. “Now, if youll excuse me, King Bernie Smedley is busily leading the virtuous Smedleyites to a glorious victory over the hated Carthaginians. Its all part of our ongoing commitment to testing and quality assurance…
CrossOver Games 9.2 replaces all previous versions of CrossOver. The software is immediately available at www.CodeWeavers.com.

About CodeWeavers
Founded in 1996 as a general software consultancy, CodeWeavers focuses on the development of Wine – the core technology found in all of its CrossOver products. The company's goal is to bring expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster and more painless to port Windows software to Linux. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains development offices in Minnesota, the United Kingdom and elsewhere around the world. The company is privately held. For more information about CodeWeavers, log on to www.CodeWeavers.com.

Change Log For CrossOver Games

 

9.2.0 CrossOver Games - October 19, 2010
  • Merged with Wine release 1.2.1. This includes bug fixes for several unsupported games, as well as fixing a crash in the launcher for Street Fighter IV and a lag in Team Fortress 2.
  • Fixed a bug that causes DRM problems on Ubuntu 10.10.
  • Fixed patching of StarCraft II (via an updated Gecko engine).
  • Fixed a problem that prevented StarCraft II from launching properly during the first run.
  • Fixed the sending of text in Worms Armageddon WormNET.
  • Improved behavior with built-in msvcr71. Should simplify the installation of several unsupported games, including Lord of the Rings Online.
  • Fixed a double mouse-pointer bug that appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on some Linux distributions.
  • Improved font rendering for Trainz 2004 and others.
  • Got Tomb Raider: Chronicles working again.
  • Fixed a serious rendering problem for Civilization V.

Change Log For CrossOver Linux

9.2.0 CrossOver Linux - October 19, 2010
  • Merged with Wine release 1.2.1 which includes bug fixes for many applications. It also includes adjustments to cope with a change of security policy on Ubuntu 10.10.

Change Log For CrossOver Mac

9.2.0 CrossOver Mac - October 19, 2010
  • Merged with Wine release 1.2.1 which includes bug fixes for many applications.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Bordeaux 2.0.10 for OpenIndiana Released

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 2.0.10 for OpenIndiana today. Bordeaux 2.0.10 is a maintenance release that fixes a number of small bugs. With this release we have bundled Wine 1.2.1, updated firefox to 3.6.8, Added support for Apples Safari 5.0 Web Browser, Updated to the latest winetricks release and fixed desktop shortcuts.

Bordeaux 2.0.10 was built on OpenIndiana build 147, you will need to have OpenIndiana build 147 or higher installed before Bordeaux will work properly. This build will most likely not work properly on the now defunct OpenSolaris. If you still have OpenSolaris installed you should look into upgrading to OpenIndiana ASAP.

For screenshots and more information please take a look at this previous post.
We bundle our own Wine build and many tools and libraries that Wine depends upon. With this release we bundle Wine 1.2.1, Cabextract, DIB Engine, Mozilla Gecko, Unzip, Wget and other support libraries and tools.

The cost of Bordeaux 2.0.10 is $25.00. Anyone who has purchased Bordeaux in the past six months is entitled to a free upgrade. Bordeaux comes with six months of upgrades and support and of course a 30-day money back guarantee.

Supported Applications/Games:

  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • Microsoft Office 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2000
  • Microsoft Office 97
  • Microsoft Office Visio 2003
  • Microsoft Office Project 2003
  • Adobe Photoshop 6
  • Adobe Image Ready 3
  • Adobe Photoshop 7
  • Adobe Image Ready 7
  • Adobe Photoshop CS
  • Adobe Photoshop CS2
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
  • FireFox 3.6.8 and multimedia plug ins
  • Apple Safari 5.0 Web Browser
  • Steam and Steam based Games
  • Google SketchUp 7.1
  • VLC 1.1.0
  • Apple QuickTime 6.5.2 Player
  • IrfanView 4.27 (Image files only)
  • Winetricks support

About Bordeaux:

The Bordeaux Technology Group is a software services and development company specializing in Windows compatibility software. Users of Linux, BSD, OpenIndiana and Mac systems from time to time find themselves in the need to run specialized Windows software. The Bordeaux suite enables access to these programs and data in a seamless and low cost manner without requiring licensing of Microsoft Technology. The Bordeaux Group also provides migration services and support for alternative operating systems specializing in Windows compatibility.
There is a multitude of software developed only for the Windows operating system and even when software vendors port their applications to another platform, generally it lacks features that the Windows version contains. The only solution these developers face is to have access to both systems for testing which leads to increased infrastructure demands, and wasted project resources. If you are vendor interested in supporting your application on Linux, BSD, OpenIndiana or Mac OS X or a software user that needs to run a Windows application on Linux, BSD, OpenIndiana or Mac OS X we can help.

Version 2.0.10 New Features:

  • First build on OpenIndiana
  • Bundle Wine 1.2.1
  • Updated FireFox to 3.6.8
  • Fixed Desktop shortcuts
  • Added support for Safari 5.0
  • Updated to the latest winetricks release



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Monday, October 11, 2010

Wine 1.2.1 Released

The Wine maintenance release 1.2.1 is now available.
Whats new in this release:
  • Translation updates.
  • Various bug fixes.
The source is available now. Binary packages are in the process of being built, and will appear soon at their respective download locations.
Bugs fixed in 1.2.1:

3975 FILE: printing does not work as expected
13344 DPP 3.4.1.1 - Images with "Fit to window" corrupted
16047 Garena client crashes in WSASendTo
16998 WISO Sparbuch crashes at startup
18864 IW2: Edge of Chaos launcher pagefaults on startup
19070 hh.exe should exit immediately if not given a file to open (appinstall)
19560 Street Fighter IV : launcher crashes
21295 Painkiller and Painkiller Black Edition cannot accept CD Key submission preventing installation
22021 Switching pages in ElsterFormular 2009/2010 needs much time
22536 Office 2010 installation crashed
22881 Custom-decorated windows not movable with Openbox (affects steam, wow...)
22994 Far Cry installer quits
23085 Printing in notepad displays "Page &p" instead of actual page number.
23340 Winscard : test program : unimplemented function winscard.dll.SCardIsValidContext and winscard.dll.SCardReleaseContext
23453 Worms Armageddon cannot send text in WormNET
23477 WoW Cataclysm Beta needs KERNEL32.SetFileValidData
23578 Team Fortress 2: Significant lag disrupts gameplay...
23678 Crystal Cubes: fonts not drawn correctly
23704 winhelp failed to load any help file
23707 stack overflow when destroying a window whose owner is itself
23762 wineboot aborts if "Terminate Process" is clicked
23772 The bug in NtQueryInformationProcess with ProcessInformationClass = ProcessDebugObjectHandle
23810 16-bit setup program can't find its files
23907 Winecfg should not allow resolutions lower than 640x480 amount
23936 pressing enter in passpack's search box has no effect
23940 SetWindowPos does not work for other process windows
23953 qemu.exe exhausts file descriptors
24046 Keypressing in listview can result in infinite hang
24068 Crash in dbghelp (WoW)
24072 winepath: Add -0 option
24161 Anzio version 16.2 fails with ntdll exception
24180 crash in dnsbench.exe
24193 ptrace protection in Ubuntu 10.10 breaks debuggers (affects winedbg, wow, ...)
24226 Broken Sword II gives fatal error on startup
24425 err:module:find_forwarded_export function not found for forward 'krnl386.exe16.GetProcessDword'
24441 Fix the detection of the number of CPUs for OpenBSD.

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Friday, October 1, 2010

Bordeaux running on OpenIndiana

About OpenIndiana :

OpenIndiana is a continuation of the OpenSolaris operating system. It was conceived during the period of uncertainty following the Oracle takeover of Sun Microsystems, after several months passed with no binary updates made available to the public. The formation proved timely, as Oracle discontinued OpenSolaris soon after in favour of Solaris 11 Express, a binary distribution with a more closed development model to debut later this year.

OpenIndiana is part of the Illumos Foundation, and provides a true open source community alternative to Solaris 11 and Solaris 11 Express, with an open development model and full community participation.

Bordeaux now runs on OpenIndiana :

The Bordeaux Technology Group will in the near future have a stable 2.0.8 release of Bordeaux for OpenIndiana. With the pending release users of OpenIndiana will have the ability to easily install and run many of today's popular Windows based applications and games on their operating system of choice.

At this time their is still a OpenSolaris 2.0.2 build at the Bordeaux Store, if you would like to help support Bordeaux on OpenIndiana you can purchase the OpenSolaris release at this time and get the OpenIndiana release once all testing is complete. You will also be entitled to receive future updates for the next six months.

If over the next month we sell 50 or more licences for the future OpenIndiana release we will give OpenIndiana priority and release Bordeaux 3.0 for OpenIndiana first in our next release schedule.

Screen shots : (click on a image for a large view)

Bordeaux and Wine 1.2 compiled on OpenIndiana and then run wine winecfg.

Bordeaux 2.0.8 GUI running on OpenIndiana.

Wine version (1.2) in a terminal.

Bordeaux Menu's in OpenIndiana.

UTorrent 2.0.4 running on OpenIndiana with Bordeaux. (Ran as a test application)



If you need to run Windows Applications or Games on OpenIndiana we invite you to purchase a pre release licence at this time. The cost of Bordeaux for OpenIndiana is only $25.00 and it comes with six months of support and upgrades. At this time you will have to purchase a OpenSolaris licence, If you have OpenSolaris 2009.06 you can use Bordeaux on it and then when the OpenIndiana release ships you can then download the newest release.

We hope to have our first Bordeaux for OpenIndiana release within the next month. Your support is welcome and needed to make this happen...



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Last weekend to help support Wineconf 2010 and FreeBSD

This is the last week end before our 50% donation promotion ends. If you purchase Bordeaux for Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, PC-BSD or OpenSolaris. ( We will soon have a OpenIndiana release ) we will in return donate half of all sales back to the community.

With your help we would like to help support three very important projects.
  • The first project is the Wine Development Fund. Proceeds from the WDF go toward supporting the annual Wine Conference. This year the Wine Conference will be held in Paris, France.
  • The second project is freebsdnews.net. freebsdnews is a site about the current happenings in the FreeBSD community.
  • The third project is the FreeBSD Foundation. The FreeBSD Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the FreeBSD Project.
We will donate 50% of all sales to each of the three projects listed above. Below is how we plan to distribute the funds to each project :

For each Linux and OpenSolaris sale we will donate 50% of sales to the WDF to help fund this years Wine Conference.

For each Mac, FreeBSD and PC-BSD sale we will donate 50% of sales to freebsdnews and then in return Gerard from freebsdnews will donate 10% of the funds he receives to the FreeBSD Foundation.

The 50% donation ends on Sunday October 3rd 2010. So you would like to try Bordeaux and help some very important projects please make your purchse before time runs out.



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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

How I converted my Office to Linux

How I converted my Office to Linux by MLUG This is a recording OSGUI Tim filmed of Mick & the Melbourne Linux Users Group (MLUG) guys on the 25th Aug 2010 in North Melbourne Computer Bank Office. More info about MLUG and this Workshop Meeting Session can be found at: www.mlug.org.au Background For a long time I’ve been using Linux at home and work. I use Linux for my TV, notebook, development (work & hobbies), electronics and thin clients. I first worked with thin clients about 4 years ago, starting from scratch using FreeBSD.

Im a programmer at heart and although I do a lot of administration at work I try my best to minimise this with the use of technology be it hardware, software or scripts. What we had to start with Mixture of large noisy desktops Running Windows XP 100Mbps 24port switch 6 Staff, with requirements for 10 desktops (display screens, boardroom, casual employee and test computers) Safety net I had many safety nets as I was migrating...

Backups Switch between old HD & PXE boot Virtualisation of old system Slow step by step migration Clone drive before upgrades Technology which helped me SSDs Ruby Atom motherboards LTSP project CrossOver Linux VirtualBox OSE (Open Source Edition) How I started Installed Open Source apps under Windows XP (OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird) Centralised services for Data using Samba on a server Centralised printer server using CUPs CrossOver Linux Isolate applications which cannot be replaced by open

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Quicken can run on Macs

QUICKEN 2010 is shown running under CrossOver. Both CrossOver Mac and CrossOver Linux can run the latest version of Quicken with few problems. 
QUICKEN 2010 is shown running under CrossOver. Both CrossOver Mac and CrossOver Linux can run the latest version of Quicken with few problems.
Intuits Quicken financial software is highly regarded and widely used by the Windows crowd. Unfortunately, Intuit botched the Mac version of Quicken by taking away some of the most important features of the Windows program.

0905fmnstech.JPG
 
This is a serious problem for former Windows users who switched recently to the Mac. Sales to "switchers" are a significant percentage of Mac sales, and nothing is as likely to disappoint a new Mac user than finding out your favorite program just isn't the same on your new computer.
But this doesn't have to be. Anyone using a modern Mac can run the latest version of Quicken -- the Windows version, with all its bells and whistles -- by investing $40 in software that gives Macs a way to run Windows programs.

The software is called CrossOver Mac, from www.codeweavers.com. You can download a trial version at no cost. CrossOver Mac and its companion product, CrossOverLinux, are based on a long-standing project called WINE.

The WINE project is a volunteer effort that creates a Microsoft-like underpinning that runs Windows software without the need for Windows itself.
Many Mac and Linux users -- my guess would be a couple of million -- run Microsoft Outlook, the powerful mail-and-calendaring software used in offices worldwide, under WINE itself or under CrossOver. (The advantage CrossOver has over WINE is easier installation and, in many cases, better support.)
Not all Windows programs cooperate with WINE and CrossOver. Codeweavers, which runs the CrossOver project, keeps a list of popular Windows software that runs under CrossOver at www.codeweavers.com/compatibility.

Windows programs are ranked in categories of Gold Medal (programs that run just as well as they do in Windows), Silver Medal (programs that Codeweavers is working on to eliminate a few bugs) and Bronze Medal (programs with partial usability).

Quicken 2010 for Windows is considered a Silver Medal program. Codeweavers describes the status of Quicken 2010 for Windows this way:
"Silver is awarded to applications that install and run well enough to be usable. However, in our testing, we find that these applications have bugs that prevent them from running flawlessly. The most important aspect of a supported Silver application is that CodeWeavers makes a firm commitment to bring all Silver applications to the Gold level in future releases of CrossOver. Likewise, CodeWeavers will respond to and address all bugs reported in these applications."
If you're a Quicken 2010 user and recently switched to the Mac, you can install your present copy of Quicken 2010 on your new Mac after you install CrossOver Mac. You may need to contact Intuit if the software complains that it has been installed on more than one computer. Intuit will arrange for reinstallation permission.





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How to Run Windows on a Mac

You just bought your shiny new Mac. You're mesmerized by the user-friendliness of its operating system and applications. After playing for a while, you want to get back to work on your Microsoft Access database and..

…you find out that theirs no equivalent of this useful database program on the Mac world!
Dont worry! I’m going to tell you about 3 different ways that you can run the Windows operating system on your Intel Mac so that you can run any unique programs such as Microsoft Access.

Booting into Windows: Using Apple Boot Camp


Any Intel based Mac is capable of starting up from either the Mac OS X or from the Windows OS (after doing the appropriate set-up).
You will need to first install Apple’s Boot Camp on your Mac so that this useful application creates a Windows partition on your Mac’s hard drive. Boot Camp version 3 comes with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Boot Camp 2.0 came with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Boot Camp allocates one portion of the hard drive to Mac and the other portion to Windows so that both operating systems can co-exist in your machine.
Important: Boot Camp does not come with a free license of Windows. You will need to still purchase your own license of Windows.
After a successful installation of Boot Camp, you can boot your Mac into Windows by holding the Option key down while rebooting your system. This option does not allow you to run both operating systems at the same time. If you want to have access to your Mac documents while running Windows, you must reboot back to Mac OS.
If you would prefer an option that allows you to run both operating systems simultaneously, then you would be better off with running Windows on a Virtual Machine.

Running Windows on a Virtual Machine


When you use a virtual machine on your Intel-powered Mac, you will run Windows and Mac operating systems at the same time. Furthermore, you can also run different windows of Windows XP, Windows 7 and Linux all at the same time.
Also, you will be able to move files from any operating system to the other without the need of rebooting your machine.
There are 3 recommended virtualization applications:
  • Parallels Desktop
  • VMware Fusion
  • VirtualBox
Be aware that when you use a virtual machine, you will not be running Windows at native speeds as in Boot Camp. From my personal experience, I prefer VMware Fusion because of their user-friendly setup and intuitive controls.
If you would like to run Windows on your Mac using option 2, then you will need to first purchase a license of one of the 3 recommended virtualization applications and secure a license of your desired version of Windows (or Linux).

Running Windows Programs without the Windows OS


Last but not least, you can use CodeWeavers CrossOver to run Windows XP applications right on your Mac OS X without the need of installing the Windows OS. CrossOver is neither a virtualization application (option 2) nor a dual-boot system (option 1). CrossOver stores files by Windows applications in Mac folders and adds to them necessary code to run on Mac OS X systems.
Unlike options 1 and 2, you will skip the cost of a Windows license. This makes option 3 a very attractive option as the cost of a Windows license may be the most expensive component of your budget when trying to run Windows on your Mac.
However, the trade-off of using CodeWeavers CrossOver is that it only supports a few Windows applications such as Outlook.

Conclusion

There are 3 options to consider when looking to run Windows on your Intel-based Mac.
The 4 key questions that you need to ask yourself are:
  1. Do I want run Windows and Mac simultaneously?
  2. Do I want run Windows apps at native speeds?
  3. Do I want to be able to run all Windows apps?
  4. What is my budget?
Given these 4 questions and the information above you can decide which one is the best option for you.


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MN Company Lets You Run Windows Apps on a Mac the Easy Way

They say the best blogging is about story-telling. So, let me tell you one of mine how I came to write this post. First, some background: I run a Windows-free environment, and have for a long time. I put in my time with “Windoz” many years ago, and quickly left it behind. I cant even remember what version of the Mac OS I was using when that happened, but it was several iterations ago, and I upgraded through all those OS upgrades, loving the enhancements every step of the way. There are many reasons I became an Apple fanboy, and have happily stayed that way but the biggest of them all was simply ease of use, across the whole Mac experience, and the much lower hassle factor all around. I value my time. I don’t want to be a computer geek. I just want to get stuff done. Mac fits the bill.

Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I dont have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just dont (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. Ive been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I cant say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there’s another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We’re not talking a work reason here (I don’t think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new “GameCenter” in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I dont have a need myself, and I’m certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about “CrossOver Mac,” here’s why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter. Shes also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I’d help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called “Parallels” and “VMware Fusion,” either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think). And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn’t like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month plus a friend, Steve Borsch, told me Windows doesn’t really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another local friend, Gary Doan, said, “Wait, what about Boot Camp? That wont cost you anything.” Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry’s here in MN). You can’t even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter’s Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1G to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2G. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didnt want to do. I thought, wait a minute, were getting close to $200 here for something we really don’t want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend’s tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her Id gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldnt have to invest any time at all if we went with this option. Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, were both happy.

Which brings me to the subject of my post: theres a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac and it might just work for you. I wish Id have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money). Its a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

Running Windows Applications on Linux

The perceived inability to run windows applications on Linux is what keeps many individuals from trying Linux. It turns out that it is possible to run many popular Windows applications on Linux PCs using one of several software technologies. Products that will allow Windows applications to run on Linux include:

Cedega from TransGaming Technologies Inc. CrossOver Office for Linux from CodeWeavers Inc. QEMU from Fabrice Bellard VMware from VMware, an EMC companyWin4Lin from Win4Lin Inc. Wine from the Wine Project

Cedega
TransGaming Technologies bills themselves as “the global leader in the development of software portability products for cross-platform gaming”. Their flagship product, Cedega, allows games originally created for Windows to run on Linux, “out-of-the-box”.
Cedega runs on Linux Kernel 2.4 or higher.
Cedega is available on a subscription basis from the TransGaming web site (). TransGaming also offers a 14-day trial of Cedega on their web site.

CrossOver Office
CrossOver Office from CodeWeavers allows many popular Windows applications to run on Linux. The list of applications that CrossOver Office allows to run on Linux is quite extensive and includes applications such as: Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Project and Visio, and graphics applications such as Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, and Adobe Photoshop, and much more. CrossOver Office also allows individuals to use many Windows Web browser plugins, such as QuickTime and Shockwave. CodeWeavers uses Wine technology in its CrossOver Office Products (see the Wine description later in this article).

CodeWeavers maintains an extensive list of applications that can run on Linux using CrossOver Office with a ranking of how well they run. The list can be accessed on their web site ().
CrossOver Office has been tested on many Linux distributions. The complete list may be found on the CodeWeavers web site.

CrossOver Office is available in two versions, Standard and Professional. The Standard version is intended for home users and Linux enthusiasts, while Professional is more for commercial users and builds on the functionality of Standard by adding enhanced deployability features, as well as the ability to run CrossOver Office in shared mode from a single machine.
A 30-day trial of CrossOver Office is available from CodeWeavers and may be obtained from their web site ().


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Running Recettear on an Intel Mac

Lolieconomics on the Mac. 

So, you have a Mac, but you want to play this game called Recettear. However, you do not want to reboot into Windows or use virtualization software. Crossover/Crossover Games can pretty much do the trick, but you need to reconfigure some settings before you can play the game.

Obtain the game

It won’t do much if you don’t have the game. Purchase a Copy from Impulse or GamerGate. Do not buy from Steam since the game will require you to run Steam and might not work properly within Crossover/Crossover Games. The copies from Impulse and GamerGate are DRM free.
Note that the Impuse client is buggy, so you need to download in Windows.

Obtain a copy of Crossover/Crossover Games

Crossover is a native emulation layer that allows one to install and run windows programs natively without installing Windows or using virtualization software. Any version will work with Recettear. Once Crossover is installed, run it and go to Configure > Install Software. After its installed, install the full version of Recettear. If you download using Windows, copy the Recettear game files to the c_drive folder in your Crossover Bottle. This can be accessed by going to Configure > Manage Bottles, Select the DirectX Bottle > Advanced > Open C: Drive in Finder.

Configure the Bottle

If you ran the program for the first time, you noticed that there is no sound. To fix this, we need to override some DLL files. To do this, go to Configure > Manage Bottles. Select the DirectX Bottle and go to Control Panel Tab. Then launch “Wine Config”

Go to the Libraries tab and add the following:
dmband dmcompos dmime dmloader dmscript dmstyle dmsynth dmusic dmusic32 dswave streamci dsound

Apply these settings and exit out Wine Config. Then, relaunch Wine Config and go to the library tab. Verify if these libraries are in the list. If not, readd them and try again until they are finally on the list.
Lastly, go to the Audio tab. Ignore the alert message about missing registry entries. Then, set the Hardware Acceleration to Emulation and then press OK.
Close the Manage Bottles window.

Run the Game

Finally, go to Programs > Run Command. Then, locate the program file called “recettear.exe” in the folder where you put the game files in the bottle. Click Save Commands to Program Menu so you can access it later. After you saved the command, press “Run” to run the game. Then, you have successfully installed Recettear on your Mac.

Since I have the game up and running, I will start covering it tomorrow. Remember, support the indie developers and buy a copy… don’t pirate!

(Same instructions should work for Crossover under Linux)


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