Ripcord
Senior Lurker
I think I've just about convinced my boss to purchase G5 workstations for a group of us at work.
I've mentioned in other threads that many of the apps (most of the most important ones) are cross-platform and run VERY well on OS X, but we will have need, periodically, to run some Windows-only apps. This isn't going to be avoidable.
I'm a little uncomfortable at the thought of the usability of Windows 98 or 2000 under Virtual PC 6. It's not so much stability and interoperability I'm worried about, but SPEED.
My only real experience is using VPC 6 on my 533mhz G4, and on my P4 1.6ghz laptop.
On the G4, Windows 98 is pretty much UNUSABLE. The Virtual system is provided 128MB of RAM, but it takes about 2 seconds just to pop up the Start bar, about 10 seconds to launch Solitaire, not to mention launching, say, office. It feels about the speed of a 133mhz PC with a really slow disk and memory. Just not usable for any sort of real work.
On the P4, it's much more usable, perhaps about the speed of a 500mhz PC. Still too slow for real work (in this case, the primary concern is running some Sniffer software and some legacy apps)
I know a 2.0ghz G5 is going to be quite a bit faster than both, but even, say, 6x faster than what I've experienced with the G4 would be too slow. And I know the G5 is a much faster processor overall than the P4, but the hardware emulation is more expensive on the PPC platform than on the Intel platform.
Anyone have any experience with VPC 6 on faster machines? If I can squeeze out the power of, say, a 1Ghz PIII, on a 2.0Ghz G5, then I think things will work out okay.
I suppose we'll know more when people start receiving the G5s...
Rip
I've mentioned in other threads that many of the apps (most of the most important ones) are cross-platform and run VERY well on OS X, but we will have need, periodically, to run some Windows-only apps. This isn't going to be avoidable.
I'm a little uncomfortable at the thought of the usability of Windows 98 or 2000 under Virtual PC 6. It's not so much stability and interoperability I'm worried about, but SPEED.
My only real experience is using VPC 6 on my 533mhz G4, and on my P4 1.6ghz laptop.
On the G4, Windows 98 is pretty much UNUSABLE. The Virtual system is provided 128MB of RAM, but it takes about 2 seconds just to pop up the Start bar, about 10 seconds to launch Solitaire, not to mention launching, say, office. It feels about the speed of a 133mhz PC with a really slow disk and memory. Just not usable for any sort of real work.
On the P4, it's much more usable, perhaps about the speed of a 500mhz PC. Still too slow for real work (in this case, the primary concern is running some Sniffer software and some legacy apps)
I know a 2.0ghz G5 is going to be quite a bit faster than both, but even, say, 6x faster than what I've experienced with the G4 would be too slow. And I know the G5 is a much faster processor overall than the P4, but the hardware emulation is more expensive on the PPC platform than on the Intel platform.
Anyone have any experience with VPC 6 on faster machines? If I can squeeze out the power of, say, a 1Ghz PIII, on a 2.0Ghz G5, then I think things will work out okay.
I suppose we'll know more when people start receiving the G5s...
Rip
)
