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June 1, 2009
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Fractals etc., for Mac

Journal Entry: Mon Jun 1, 2009, 8:02 AM




I got my MacBook Pro on Saturday, spent my birthday weekend out in the middle of nowhere and I'm installing everything I need on it now that I'm back home with real internet again.  I'm new to Mac but loving it so far. :heart:

I want to install Vista Home Premium x64 in a virtual machine for UF, Apophysis and especially Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.  I'm deciding whether to go with Parallels or VMWare Fusion and I'm sure that some of you are Mac users so I want to know what kind of experience you've had running fractal programs with either of them.

I'm a dedicated DNS user -- I REALLY don't want to have to train another speech recognition program -- and it's just the best there is; it's also Windows-only.  I've been using Vista for about 2 years and don't want to go back to XP either, I actually like Vista better without flashy Aero effects.  

MBP's specs:  17" 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 duo, 3 GB RAM, 200 GB SATA + 250 GB external, Radeon x1600 256 MB, with Leopard.  I also have a second 22" display.  I got it used from a trade-in at my stepfather's Mac store with a brand new battery. :D

Even in the VM it will be faster than the Vista setup I had on my old PC.  DNS eats memory like Apophysis so performance will be very important for either of them, but UF will perform well with almost anything in my experience. :giggle:  Do you like Parallels or Fusion for fractal art or which would you suggest?  So far I think Fusion is appealing to me more, I have used another VMWare product and liked it but I would like to hear what some of you think before I buy.



Find me in #UltraFractal or at #Ultra-Fractal

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:iconone-tough-one:
~one-tough-one Jan 2, 2010  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Go with VMWARE...

Happy New Year :D
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:iconlyc:
glad to hear things are on the up & up! for virtualisation i use the fantastic (and free) virtualbox.
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:icontrystianity:
Free is always good but I decided to go with convenience. :lol:
It took about 10 mins to install Fusion then about 45 to install Vista with almost no effort from me :D
Reply
:iconlyc:
it wouldn't be any different with any other decent virtualisation sw, but if you've got something that works for you (and support other programmers along the way, w00t!) that's great :)
Reply
:icontrystianity:
Fusion has some extra features that I like, I can put Windows applications in the dock and I can just drag and drop files between guest and host. Convenience. :) I also like Unity mode, so I don't have to have a big ugly Vista window taking up too much screen real estate and I can enjoy Leopard's sexier UI. :p $80 seemed very reasonable to me, especially since I already had the Vista license.
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:iconfracfx:
*FracFx Jun 1, 2009  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I dunno, never used either since I don't have a mac or use linux, but now that you have a mac you can also add Oxidizer to your collection of fractal asking programs
[link]
Reply
:icontrystianity:
I've seen a few Mac fractal programs but none look good enough to make me want to switch from Apo and UF. :shrug: I don't really have time to spend on other programs.
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:iconcolliemom:
~Colliemom Jun 1, 2009  Hobbyist Digital Artist
I use Parallels on my Macbook Pro and I really like it. I am still running XP because I have it free from school. Apo, UF, and Paint Shop Pro all run very well alone but bog down some in combination. I have 2.6 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4 GB memory.

Good luck!
Reply
:icontrystianity:
Thanks. :) I used to run Photoshop and UF/Apo at the same time on an old single core 1.7 GHz Vista PC with only 1 GB. :lmao: I think I'm going to put about 1 GB ram to the Windows VM on here and run Photoshop in OS X with the remaining 2 so even if it lags a little it has to be MUCH faster than what I had before.
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:iconcolliemom:
~Colliemom Jun 1, 2009  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Yes! You are going to love it, let me know if you need advise!
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