MikeyD Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 For you mac gamers planning a significant upgrade in order to play the game. I've finally taken the plunge. I just ordered a 2.33Ghz dual core Intel imac (20" monitor! Woo Hoo!) with a 256mb ATI card. AND I'm looking into installing Windows on a partitioned HD ('Boot Camp' beta, anyone?). Consider this a field test. I'm the chimp they stuff into the Gemini capsule to see if humans can survive the flight. Truth-be-told, my PC knowledge really is pretty chimp-like. This is going to be an adventure. I've been threatening to do this for better part of a year. A dual boot to Windows will mean (I hope) also getting to enjoy PC-only ToW and Grognards when they're released. I suppose when everything's set up I'll have to grab a copy of HALO to see if it'll run PC on my mac. Updates (and complaints) to follow. Comments and suggestion from anyone who's more PC literate than me (most-everyone) will be appreciated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Will your voyage of discovery be like Ham's as he was constantly electocuted by mistake on the soles of his feet throughout his flight. Or will your experience mimic Enos, who, like all the other space chimps, was eagerly trotted out by NASA for lots of photo ops and publicity. Alas, Enos seemed to have a super-duper drive to . . well . . you know, and after his flight, as the cameras were rolling, he interrupted his scheduled activities to drop his diaper and … well … you know. The horrified NASA exec’s banished the poor chimp from the press, and he was known ever after as “Enos the Penis”. True story. PS Enos also was mistakenly electocuted during his flight Will you be using photoshop on the new machine? as to get the best performance you'll need the CS3 version not yet released. If you get CMAK /BB for PC and install it I'd like to know if it's possible to transfer your old Mac CM data folders and transplant them into the PC version . Let us know how things work out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted March 1, 2007 Author Share Posted March 1, 2007 Looks like my journey is most closely going to resemble Enos, including the part about being mistakenly electrocuted. Photoshop on the new machine? Maybe - most probably. I'm not exactly throwing my old machine out the window – for playing CMx1, y'know. But you've got a point about a PC install CMBB/AK. I've been soldiering on with a piece-of-crap video card for close to 7 years now. It might be worth the extra bucks to upload. Maybe. Or I'll buy ToW to play instead. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 I took the same Dual Boot plunge (24inch iMac) in December so you may be a chimp but you are a chimp AFTER me Bootcamp installed WinXP wery easily and everything works as advertised CMAK works well & my customized BMP/WAV folders transferred with no issues Welcome to the "Tree" 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan/california Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 My computer is very similar, and in windows it runs games flawlessly with bootcamp. I just wish I could swing a 30 inch screen and the horsepower to run it. Unfortunately divorce would be unpleasant so this is my rig for a couple of years probably. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzman Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Originally posted by MikeyD: For you mac gamers planning a significant upgrade in order to play the game. I've finally taken the plunge. I just ordered a 2.33Ghz dual core Intel imac (20" monitor! Woo Hoo!) with a 256mb ATI card. AND I'm looking into installing Windows on a partitioned HD ('Boot Camp' beta, anyone?). Consider this a field test. I'm the chimp they stuff into the Gemini capsule to see if humans can survive the flight. Truth-be-told, my PC knowledge really is pretty chimp-like. This is going to be an adventure. I've been threatening to do this for better part of a year. A dual boot to Windows will mean (I hope) also getting to enjoy PC-only ToW and Grognards when they're released. I suppose when everything's set up I'll have to grab a copy of HALO to see if it'll run PC on my mac. Updates (and complaints) to follow. Comments and suggestion from anyone who's more PC literate than me (most-everyone) will be appreciated. Good choice. Boot camp runs many PC games just fine. I'm enjoying RTW, CMx1 games, SIMs (time waster) and a few others on my Macbook Pro. Once you get to know the start menu and control panels you'll be fine in Windows. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Geepers, I didn't know Boot Camp PC partions were so widespread! Its a big relief to see phrases like "works as advertised" and "just fine' in the conversation. At the moment my new mac is (according to UPS tracking) on a truck in Colorado ...being shipped to the wrong address! Hmmm... maybe I'll give 'em a call on that bit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 The big problem, thus far, is the ATI drivers. ATI has a boneheaded approach to distribution of the drivers and that is causing us Boot Camp guys fits. The ones that come with Boot Camp are quite outdated. Catalyst 7.2 is the latest, but I can't find any place to download set that will work with a "non supported" ATI Radeon Mobility based laptop. Catalyst 7.1 doesn't have the same sort of idiotic "if it is not on our list, we won't install" ATI checks so that works fine (after downaloding and installing MS .NET framework). CM seems to work fine with 7.1, but not with the default Boot Camp version. Anybody know of a link to get a set of 7.2 drivers that works on a non supported system? Omega drivers (an alternative to ATI's drivers) are still based on 7.1 as far as I know. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 The space monkey needs an opinion needed on setting up a Boot Camp partition. The default partition is 32 GB which is FAT file system. Anthing bigger will be NTFS file system. Which would you chose? All I know is what the Boot Camp manual tells me. FAT provides better compatability and some file swapping from the mac partition. NTFS is more reliable and secure but no saving files from mac to windows. If FAT file sharing is of little use (is it?) I wouldn't mind having a bigger partition and more security. Comments? Suggestions? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Steve - There is a method to get the Catalyst 7.2 drivers working with your laptop, though it is more complex than downloading and installing something like the Omega Catalysts. I haven't tried this process myself, so I can't vouch for it completely. Download and install ModTool (an utility specifically for mod'ing Catalyst drivers). Follow the directions on that webpage. Hopefully the new 7.2 Catalysts fully unpack and remain that way in order to be modified by the ModTool. Now follow the directions of this user's experience installing the Catalyst 7.2 drivers. The part that may be pertinent for you starts after "Then save your file." While this person has a different laptop with a different Radeon Mobility model, the process should still work for you. It may become necessary to follow some of the other instructions earlier on in order to modify the specific .INF text files that list your particular Radeon Mobility model and copy and paste those lines into the .INF specifically mentioned here. I'm not absolutely sure all of this may be worth it (upgrading to 7.2 from an Omega 7.1 driver). However I wouldn't be surprised if this is the route that AMD/ATI continues on with future Radeon Mobility support in their Catalysts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 Originally posted by MikeyD: The space monkey needs an opinion needed on setting up a Boot Camp partition. The default partition is 32 GB which is FAT file system. Anthing bigger will be NTFS file system. Which would you chose? All I know is what the Boot Camp manual tells me. FAT provides better compatability and some file swapping from the mac partition. NTFS is more reliable and secure but no saving files from mac to windows. If FAT file sharing is of little use (is it?) I wouldn't mind having a bigger partition and more security. Comments? Suggestions? I went with the FAT32 its nice to be able to see the XP volume from the Mac side (dumping PBEM files into the appropriate folder from the Mac e-mail is very useful) otherwise you cant see anything about the XP volume without booting into it (I am pretty sure) I dont want to have to reboot to work with the XP side Should Windoze get corrupted or you find you need something you saved in XP you can just grab it in the finder window EDIT: you cannot however see your Mac Drive on the XP side [ March 05, 2007, 07:49 PM: Message edited by: jeffsmith ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 I dont want to have to reboot to work with the XP side Should Windoze get corrupted or you find you need something you saved in XP you can just grab it in the finder window yes I would have to agree that makes the FAT choice the easy and obvious one to go with. (BTW I don't have my intel Mac yet) (but then, I don't need it yet do I, because the game has not been released yet so I can wait it out.) -tom w 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzman Posted March 6, 2007 Share Posted March 6, 2007 I went with NTFS simply because I wanted a larger partition than 32GBs. Since the smallest drive that comes with a 20" iMac is 160GBs, space shouldn't be too big of an issue. I have a 160GB drive in my MBP, and simply use 100GBs for OSX and the last 50GBs for XP. I use a FAT formated USB device to move files back and forth. BTW a NTFS drive still shows up on your Mac desktop (OSX can read NTFS, it just cannot wite to it). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Having the ability to easily move files back and forth between the Mac side and PC side is a HUGE plus for me. It allows me to use all my Mac apps to do things like edit images, email files, download PC files while I'm working on the Mac, etc. Of course a 1GB USB flashcard is almost as good and they are damned cheap now a days. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Schrully, thanks as always for the technical pointers. I think I'll skip the hack attack for now. 7.1 is working fine for me as is. Don't want to jinx it by trying to beat 7.2 into submission. Hopefully Apple can convince ATI that they should include Mac hardware in their bigot installer. That would be the easiest fix. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 My progress to date: The new mac finally arrived. Just plug & run, with its 2.33 Ghz upgrade chip installed (Woo Hoo!). Boot Camp partitioning was so easy I did it and undid it twice over just for fun. I EXPECT to have this thing running like a freight train long before ToW gets released. Unfortunately my copy of Windows XP (with service pack 2) is STILL sitting on a UPS truck somewhere. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 A partial Woohoo Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Even though it lets me play CM I STILL feel like I am toying with the Dark Side 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzman Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Dark side? I'm not so sure of that. XP isn't the best, but it does what it was made for; playing games. Think of it as a PS, Game Cube, Xbox etc, and leave the real work for OSX. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 When your 1st Computer was an Apple II and you have tried for years to avoid INTEL & MS (Ultimately Unsuccessfully) its hard NOT to think of it as the Dark Side [ March 07, 2007, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: jeffsmith ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzman Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 My first computer was a Mac Classic, although the first I used was also an Apple II, but I don't hate Windows. That being said, I don't like MS, don't get me wrong. As for Intel, they are just another CPU maker. Each brand of CPU has its ups and downs (Intel CPUs suck for ripping music, my 1.2Ghz G4 rips music files from CDs just as fast if not faster than the 2.16Ghz C2D). Keep in mind, PPC was not the only CPU ever used in Macs, and also, the fact that the G5 was made by, GASP... IBM, a mortal enemy of Apple in the 1980's. [ March 07, 2007, 03:43 PM: Message edited by: Pzman ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Originally posted by Pzman: My first computer was a Mac Classic, although the first I used was also an Apple II, but I don't hate Windows. That being said, I don't like MS, don't get me wrong. As for Intel, they are just another CPU maker. Each brand of CPU has its ups and downs (Intel CPUs suck for ripping music, my 1.2Ghz G4 rips music files from CDs just as fast if not faster than the 2.16Ghz C2D). Keep in mind, PPC was not the only CPU ever used in Macs, and also, the fact that the G5 was made by, GASP... IBM, a mortal enemy of Apple in the 1980's. Preachin' to the Choir me lad 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Other Means Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Why not create an NTFS partition for your XP partition proper, then a small FAT32 one for transferring files to? Both XP and OSX can read the FAT32. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PawBroon Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Mikey you can try to go through MacFUSE and have the 3GNTFS installed to have a native read/write OsX side. Now if you're not too tech savvy, having Parallels Desktop linked to your Bootcamp drive allows you to do seamless drag & drop between OSes windows. It does away with even Steve's cheap 1Gb key. Hi Steve BTW, 2 more games from you I'm eagerly waiting as usual (CMSF/ToW). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzman Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 The problem with Parallel's IMO is the extra cost... its another $100 down the drain. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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