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Filed under: OS, Software

Boot Camp Drivers update 2.2 for Windows available

Earlier today, Apple released version 2.2 of Boot Camp drivers for Windows. Installation requires Boot Camp 2.1 to have been previously installed as well as Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista.

Boot Camp is included with Leopard and Snow Leopard and lets you install Windows on an Intel-based Mac. Shops or individuals who want to go Mac despite an unavoidable Windows-only application should consider Boot Camp along with virtualization options like VMWare and Parallels. For full information on installing Boot Camp as well as upgrade instructions, manuals, troubleshooting tips and more, look here.

Please note that Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2 is for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard only.

Filed under: Wireless, Features, Airport, iMac, iTunes, Ask TUAW, Snow Leopard

Ask TUAW: Arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows on a Mac, Airport networks and more

Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we have questions about arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows via Boot Camp, AirPort networks, iMac rotation support, replacing the video card in an iMac, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Leah asks:
Is there a better way to arrange icons on my iPhone than by trying to drag them around on the phone itself. I can't seem to get it to work very well and usually mess it up.
Apple provided a better way of organizing iPhone icons in iTunes 9. In the past, I always tried to arrange my icons on the iPhone the same way you do, by dragging them around on the device itself. This isn't as easy as it sounds, especially if you have larger hands.

Now, with iTunes 9 or higher installed and your iPhone connected to your Mac or PC, launch iTunes, click on the Applications tab, and you will not only see the apps you have installed on your iPhone, but the iPhone screens and the placement of the icons as well.

Simply drag the icons around in iTunes and put them in the desired order. The next time you sync, the icons are arranged identically on your iPhone as well. It's so much easier.

Continue readingAsk TUAW: Arranging icons on the iPhone, installing Windows on a Mac, Airport networks and more

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

VMware ships Fusion 3.0

Today is release day for VMware Fusion 3.0. The app has more than 50 new enhancements including:
  • Support for both 32-bit and 64-bit Snow Leopard kernels.
  • Integrated Migration Assistant guides you through migrating from the PC to a virtual machine.
  • First virtualization product to support for Windows Aero, including Flip 3D and Aero Peek.
  • Support for DirectX 9.0EX with OpenGL 1.4 with new WDDM graphics driver.
  • Greatly reduced memory usage when using Windows Vista and Windows 7 virtual machines and newly created Windows XP virtual machines
  • Faster disk and graphics performance on Snow Leopard.
  • Banish the Start Menu with Always-on Applications Menu on the Mac menu bar.
  • Access to Windows taskbar tray items in Unity view in the Mac menu bar.
  • Run 3D games and play 1080p video in Unity view.
I started trying to upgrade my copy to 3.0 late last night and into the early morning hours, but the VMware servers insisted I wasn't in the database. I noticed an increasing number of similar complaints on the VMware forums, so I can't tell you about my installation experience, or how it all works with Windows 7.

Stay tuned for more info as we get that sorted out, and hopefully your upgrade experience will be better.

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

VMware Fusion 3 supercharged for Snow Leopard

The latest release of VMware's top-notch virtualization software "Fusion" has been announced and some of the new features are definitely worth taking a look. For the uninitiated, virtualization is the act of simulating a guest operating system while running a host operating system. Put simply, it allows you to run Windows without having to reboot.

VMware Fusion 3 features highly improved Snow Leopard support. Most notably, Fusion now sports native 64-bit compatibility and support for the 64-bit kernel. What this means for the average user is improved performance for both the host and guest operating systems.

Further, with support for OpenGL 2.1 and DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3, gamers will now be able to play more demanding 3D games without the use of Boot Camp. Fusion 3 will also work beautifully with Microsoft's latest operating system by enabling the full Windows 7 experience, side-by-side with your Mac via Unity, complete with Windows Aero and Flip 3D.

VMware Fusion 3 is available for pre-order now and will be on store shelves October 27. Suggested retail price is $79.99US and on the day of launch upgrade pricing of $39.99US will be available for existing customers with previous versions of VMware Fusion.

I use Fusion 2 when I'm at my home office and while the performance has been good, I am really looking forward to Fusion 3's 64-bit support. Any other Fusion users out there, how will you make use of VMware's latest foray into the desktop virtualization game?


Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

VMWare Fusion 2.06 hits the streets

VMWare has pushed out another update to Fusion, the popular virtualization app.

Version 2.06 was released yesterday. The 289 MB download includes multiple fixes for running Fusion in a 32-bit Snow Leopard environment. The release includes enhancements for better 3D performance on Macs with Nvidia cards under Snow Leopard.

There are also the usual assortment of other bug fixes.

You can download the update here for free if you're a registered Fusion user. You can get detailed release notes from VMWare at this page. Users who upgrade should note that VMWare Tools does not automatically update when you do the upgrade. You'll have to install the tools from the Fusion menu bar.

When I opened my older version of Fusion this morning I was not alerted to the update, which was a bit of a surprise. Your mileage may vary, so I and am passing the info along to you in case you don't get flagged on it.

Happy downloading.

Filed under: Hardware, Ask TUAW, MobileMe, Snow Leopard

Ask TUAW: Recovering video files, moving from an old Mac to a new one, MobileMe Sync and more

Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly Mac troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about recovering video files from a corrupt SDHC card, transferring files from an old Mac to a new one, MobileMe sync, virtual machines and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions.

Matt asks:

I recently shot video with a camera that records it to an SDHC card. Unfortunately, that card is now corrupted and when I try to download the video to my computer, it doesn't show up. How can I recover the video from the card?

I know how you feel because this exact thing happened to me recently. We shot a bunch of great video interviews for another site I work with, and one of the SDHC cards became corrupt. Fortunately, all was not lost but recovering the video, at least for me, was a two step process.

This is the method that worked for me, even though there are probably other tools available; I was under a deadline and needed to get this worked out fast so looking for the best free apps or the best deal wasn't an option. However, it did work and all the video was recovered with no loss.

Continue readingAsk TUAW: Recovering video files, moving from an old Mac to a new one, MobileMe Sync and more

Filed under: Software

VMware Fusion 2.0.5 update squashes bugs, adds 10.6 support

VMware Fusion has now been updated to version 2.05. The release number is Build 173382. It is a free update to all Fusion 1 and Fusion 2 owners.

The update includes:
  • Support for Mac OS X Server guest operating systems with Intel Xeon 5500 and 3500 series processors
  • Experimental support for Snow Leopard Server as a guest OS (32 bit only)
  • Experimental support for Snow Leopard as a host OS (32 bit only)
  • Reduces CPU usage when a VM is idle
  • Contains more than 80 bug fixes
I applied the update this morning and had no issues. You can get a look at the release notes here. Your Fusion app should update automatically on launch, or you can download the update from the VMware support web site.

Thanks to Martin for the tip

Filed under: OS, Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Roundup: Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update

While Jason D. O'Grady considers anything more than ordinatrix inflagrante to be success when he's installing a new operating system, he and others are still reporting on the various and sundry issues that have cropped up since Tuesday's 10.5.7 update:

  • I can't find my brain: Some users are reporting that their Buffalo (among other) external disks aren't mounting after installing the update. Solution: Nothing concrete, though many people are suggesting installing the combo update you can download from Apple's site, rather than using Software Update. You can participate in Apple's Support Discussion on the topic if you share this problem. [via MacNN.]

  • Blue screen of death: No joke: since the update restarts your computer up to three times, some users are getting hung up on the first blue screen that appears after the gray Apple logo screen. Solution: Wait until disk activity stops, then shut down the computer hard by holding down the power button. [via PowerPage.]

  • I was blind, but now I see: The update is causing some video cards to output non-native display resolutions. Instead of outputting 1920 x 1200, instead Mac OS X will try and output 1920 x 1080 (which works fine for HDMI, but not many widescreen displays). Solution: An oldie-but-goodie: Zap the PRAM by holding down command + option + P + R at startup until the computer restarts a few times, then letting go. [also via PowerPage.]

  • Cold fusion: VMWare is suggesting people hold off on updating if their configuration includes an ATI graphics card and they use Fusion to run 3D Windows apps. (2D apps are just fine.) Slow and poor rendering and general crashiness are symptoms of the problem. Solution: None yet. Apple and ATI are working on an update. [via MacNN.]

Got problems of your own? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Filed under: Enterprise, Software, Productivity

Kerio MailServer 6.7

Yesterday, amidst the SlingMobile débâcle and an OS update, Kerio Technologies released Kerio Mail MailServer 6.7. The mail and collaboration server, often used as a replacement for Exchange, has added several new features, including a few geared toward Mac users.

The Kerio Global Address List (GAL) is a new feature that provides a simple way to get address and contact info from clients like Outlook or Entourage. It syncs and authenticates with both Microsoft Active Directory and Apple Open Directory, as well as Kerio's own user directory. In any company, people join and leave the group, and users are often required to manually update their address books to add and remove entries. With GAL, it's a single directory in a single place, and changes are transparent for users. It supports Entourage, works with the iPhone and functions offline.

Kerio MailServer 6.7 also comes with an auto-configuration script for Entourage 2008, downloadable within the Kerio client, providing pre-configured account setup. There's support for private events in iCal, allowing users to maintain personal schedules without requiring a separate calendar application. AddressBook gets some additional love with support for synchronizing groups (which become Categories in Entourage).

Kerio has had good support for iPhone users for a while now. For non-iPhone mobile users, there's new support for viewing HTML emails on Nokia devices, as well as DataViz RoadSync compatibility.

The MailServer itself is now a certified VMWare appliance, and promotes compatibility with two new Linux distributions: Ubuntu 8 and Debian 5. CentOS is the preferred platform for running on VMWare. IT admins and users alike will appreciate the dramatically improved anti-spam engine, which has been optimized for multi-CPU use, parallel processing of email messages for large queues, improved heuristics and 13 layers of spam protection.

In addition to some of the previously available migration tools provided by Kerio, a new IMAP migration tool relieves what is undoubtedly one of the biggest headaches in switching mail servers: keeping your old mail. It's a cross-platform utility which moves messages, folders, accounts and domains from the old system to Kerio MailServer. The IMAP migration tool has been fully tested with OS X.

Kerio's pricing has remained the same with this release. Starting at $499 for 10 users, there's a range of options available for different configurations and add-ons, as well as subscription pricing. See Kerio's pricing page for more details.

Filed under: Macworld, Enterprise, Software, Video

Macworld 2009: Interview with VMware's Peter Kazanjy

In the world of desktop and enterprise virtualization for the Mac, two companies, VMWare and Parallels, top the list. Each offers a suite of products designed to meet the needs of virtualization aficionados -- whether they need to run a rack full of servers or just use Outlook to check email.

At last week's Macworld Expo, TUAW's Michael Rose visited the VMWare booth and spoke with the company's Peter Kazanjy to get all the latest info on their VMWare Fusion product for the Mac and some news that will be of particular interest to those of you wanting to play some cool Windows-only games.

Click through to check it out.

Continue readingMacworld 2009: Interview with VMware's Peter Kazanjy

Filed under: Software, Snow Leopard

Parallels Desktop 4 updated

Popular virtualization software Parallels has been updated to build 3810. The software offers many upgrades and fixes, including Windows DirectX 9.0 with Shaders Model 2 support, as well as "experimental" support for Snow Leopard and Windows 7 beta.

The "experimental" caution, as you might surmise, means not all features will work. For example, in Snow Leopard, there is no USB support, and Parallels notes there is no shared networking support.

Parallels has been running a competitive race against VMware Fusion as each software solution tries to out-feature and outperform the other.

The Parallels update can be downloaded at this link, or you can select "check for updates" from the Parallels application help menu.

A complete list of the enhancements in this build can be found here. Some users are reporting faster performance and some improvements with use of peripherals.

Filed under: Software, Deals

Get VMWare Fusion 2.0 at a steal, after rebates, free upgrade

If you have been waiting to get your hands on VMWare's Fusion, then now is the perfect time. Fusion is the software that allows you to run Windows, Linux, and now Mac OS X Server in a virtual machine right inside of Mac OS X! And you don't have to pay the regular $79.99US for it either.

MacMall is currently offering VMWare Fusion 1.0 for $14.99US after a $20US mail-in rebate. Fusion 1.0 can be upgraded to the newest version (2.0) via a free upgrade available from VMWare. You can grab this after-holiday sale item from the MacMall website.

Know of more holiday sale items online? Tell us about them in the comments!

Thanks to Karl for the tip!

Filed under: Retail, Software, Holidays

VMWare Fusion - 50% off, today only

As if all the deals from "Black Friday" weren't enough, the good folks at VMWare are keeping the love going through today with this stellar deal offered exclusively for "Cyber Monday." Here's all the details, directly from the virtual horse's mouth:
Get 50% off automatically when you purchase VMware Fusion online, using the coupon code "CyberMondayDeal" for one day only.

*Regular Price: $79.99 Your Price: $39.99

*Offer Expires at 11:59PM PT on Monday, December 1, 2008.
So, even if you love the Mac but still, on occasion, wish you could run that particular Windows app just like your Windows-loving friends, today is the day to get your hands on a tool that will enable you to do just that. Note that if you already own a license for Parallels or Virtual PC that you bought from a small selection of online retailers, you can get an additional $30 rebate when purchasing Fusion -- check it out.

Filed under: Software

VMware updates Fusion to 2.0.1

It's not as big a jump as an upgrade from v3 to v4, but VMware's fetish for releasing upgrades late on Friday continues with the 2.01 build of VMware Fusion, now available for download. The new version's DMG sizes up at a healthy 246 MB, and the list of enhanced features and fixed bugs is reasonably long. Standouts include several improvements to mirrored folder performance and a safety check that pauses snapshot creation when your virtual machine is active.

Version 2.0.1 is a free upgrade for all VMWare Fusion owners. If you spend your Friday night upgrading it (we know you, and we know you will) please let us know how it goes. Note that there is still an incompatibility between Fusion and the CheckPoint SecureClient software noted on the release notes page.

Filed under: Software

Parallels 4 is released

Virtualization vendor Parallels has just released Parallels Desktop 4.0 for the Mac. Parallels Desktop is designed to let users run Windows (or Linux) on your Intel Mac within OS X.

The newest version of Parallels Desktop boasts better performance (Parallels is claiming a 50% increase over Parallels Desktop 3.0), better graphics, support for more OSs and support for up to 8 GB of RAM and 8 CPUs. Like VMWare Fusion 2.0, Parallels Desktop 4.0 also supports OS X 10.5 Leopard Server as a guest OS, and features experimental support for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Some of the other stand-out features:

  • Ability to save screenshots across operating systems
  • Remotely manage Windows VMs via the iPhone
  • Direct X 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0 support and support for up to 256 MB of video RAM (you can see a list of supported games here)
  • Parallels Virtual Appliance support

You can check out the full list of new features here. I'm converting my Parallels virtual machine to 4.0 right now and will post more thoughts on Parallels 4.0 and how it stacks up to other virtualization options from VMWare and VirtualBox in the next few days.

Parallels Desktop 4.0 is $79.99 and available now. Existing Parallels customers can upgrade for $39.99 through the end of November. If you purchased Parallels Desktop AFTER September 1, 2008, your upgrade is free.

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