Macintosh success with Encore Pro 1.8i

linrey · Post by **linrey** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:43 pm

I've installed and used the latest version of Respironic's Encore Pro software (v 1.8i) with the Infineer USB card reader on two of my Apple Mac systems. On my old iMac G4, using Virtual PC, it installed and ran just fine. On my Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo it installed fine in the Parallels virtualization program, but had trouble keeping a connection alive with the card reader. If I plugged in the reader AND inserted my smartcard BEFORE starting the WinXP virtual machine, all worked well.

The very useful Encore Pro Analyzer software (and the .NET framework it pulls down from the internet) installed in an instant on the Intel machine, but took around 45 minutes on the iMac G4, using the same broadband connection. Ran just fine on both machines.

I imagine that anyone with an Intel Mac could also have great success using BootCamp, which is a beta from Apple, and can be downloaded for free from their site. And VMWare has a new virtualization software called Fusion which also might work. That too is for Intel Macs.

Hang in their Mac lovers!

telly · Post by **telly** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:08 pm

Thanks for the report. Being from Cupertino, and having actually worked at the big A I only use Mac. I have a PC just so I can run a single accounting program. But now with Parallels....SEE YA! Good to see it will work with Encore.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:17 pm

Funny thing, I installed Parallels in Linux this morning, but did not have much success with it running Windows XP. Screen resolution was poor, only 4 bits of color, and it ran painfully slow.

Parallels didn't seem too useful. I tried loading in the TaxCut program, but that refused to load. I played around with it a little but couldn't fix anything, so I then installed VMWare in Linux. VMWare provides excellent resolution, great color, and seems to run a great deal faster. TaxCut runs just fine under VMWare too. Parallels seemed more refined during the installation than VMWare did, but not when I got around to running it.

Wondering if something went wrong during the Parallels installation, and if I should continue playing with it in hopes of getting noticeable improvements. From a cost perspective Parallels is preferable to VMWare since it is only $40 vs nearly $200 for VMWare. But, maybe you get what you pay for in this instance.

So, what's your impression of Parallels? What does it look like on the Mac? How good is the resolution and color you get? Does Parallels seem slow to you?

Regards,
Bill (who, this weekend, converted to Linux for good . . . )

RichCMH · Post by **RichCMH** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:30 pm

I am running BootCamp on my new iMac and have Resmed's AutoScan running.

Since I do not want anti-v software, I don't connect to the internet with BootCamp. AutoScan runs great as does Office for Mac - Excel etc. I can export the AutoScan data into a file for Excel to read, which is just all the numbers data and not a huge help in seeing anything I can't read in AutoScan already.

Parallels is an emulator, so one should expect XP to run slower than a clean install on a partition like BootCamp allows.

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:57 am

Hi, from what I've heard, Parallels is a good program on it's own, but the consensus is that Bootcamp is better all around - and IS free, unless there are specific applications that aren't as well supported as they might be by Parallels. There have been pro/con discussions on this all over Macworld and I'm going to wait for the BC built-in when I buy my new machine (as soon as Leopard comes out).

RichCMH · Post by **RichCMH** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:12 am

Julie...
BootCamp divides and makes a partition on the hard drive to install Windows XP. Since you are running XP then most apps would run as they would on a PC. You would also still need anti-v software if you intend to use the internet etc.

Parallels is software that emulates XP allowing you to run Windows software. I've read the lasted version is ok, but still can be slow running memory intensive apps.

And you are correct, BootCamp is the way to go if you have to run XP on a Mac.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:00 pm

FWIW, I was able to resolve my issues with Parallels in Linux. Turns out there are some "TOOLS" which must be installed subsequent to installing the "Guest" operating system (in this case WinXP) before higher screen resolutions are supported. (This info is buried on page 76 of the manual.)

Just in case anyone else is thinking about converting to Linux, I didn't want to leave a negative impression of Parallels.

Regards,
Bill (who is now interested in seeing how well Encore Pro runs under Parallels in Linux . . . )

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:25 pm

Parallels is also designed to take advantage of virtualization technology available in the newest intel chips. It runs a great deal faster than VMWare ever has for me, even on this exact computer. So, basically it's a no brainer if you have one of the newer intel processors.

linrey · Post by **linrey** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:27 pm

NightHawkeye, you figured it out before I got to answering your message! Once you get the "Parallel Tools" installed, all sorts of features of your hardware are set up automatically.

Also, for those that have called this "emulation", that's not actually what's happening. Virtual PC is an emulator, since it's running an OS that's not native to the microprocessor. Parallels uses Virtualization, which is built into the Intel CPU, so that the native Intel instructions and software can be executed without emulation.

Glad to see so many Mac fans here

RichCMH · Post by **RichCMH** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:59 pm

linrey... I stand corrected!

Love the mac!

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:05 pm

blarg wrote:Parallels is also designed to take advantage of virtualization technology available in the newest intel chips. It runs a great deal faster than VMWare ever has for me, even on this exact computer. So, basically it's a no brainer if you have one of the newer intel processors.

I had to dig into this a little deeper . . ., and it may not quite live up to the hype. It seems that the major producers of virtual machine software, like VMWare, have implemented the hardware "virtualization technology", but have disabled it by default. They claim their software virtualization actually runs faster than the hardware virtualization. Go figure . . .

Regards,
Bill

Maryb · Post by **Maryb** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:07 pm

I run Parallels and Windows XP on my Intel Mac at home.
This enables me to run Encore Pro. I have version 1.7.
I have to say that running Windows XP using Parallels on my Intel Mac at home seems faster than it does on my PC at work.
I've been very happy with it.

Maryb

telly · Post by **telly** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:16 pm

No need to EVER go to Boot Camp with Parallels, unless I want to do some heavy duty rendering in After Effects. General computing is no trouble at all with Parallels. Glad you got it running Mary.

Maryb · Post by **Maryb** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:56 pm

yes Telly.
Thanks to your advice on a previous thread a couple of months ago about Parallels on the Mac, I bought a new Intel iMac and got rid of my old cube. Then I bought Parallels & Windows XP and got EncorePro up and running. It turned out to be all that you said.
thanks for the advice.

Maryb

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:34 am

Does anyone here use Encore Pro with just Bootcamp (and not Parallels)? Because I'm planning to get the new (Intel) machine specifically to run Encore on my comp. (vs my husband's), so if I'm under some misapprehension, I'd love to find out now before spending! Thanks