Tools for running PFPX on a Mac

[Will]

I posted this before, but it's been a year or two, and so I'm re-posting the question to see if anything new has hit the market. The title says it all: what are the best tools for running PFPX (and TOPCAT) on a Mac?

In the past, I've tried: Boot Camp, Virtual Box, and Parallels; each solves the problem more or less, but comes with enough "side effects" that I'm still on the lookout for the ultimate solution.

Any input? Thanks.

[farrokh747]

hi will

you can try the Wine  environment...  https://www.winehq.org

i use it on my mac to run Windoze stuff, works well for most things.... youll need to install Quartz as well i think

the good part is that this runs natively on the mac, no need to reboot to a win partition, etc....

just installed (an older) pfpx, and it seems to load ok...., including net connectivity.

http://farrokhchothia.com/slists/wine/pfpx.jpg

please make sure this doesn't mess up other things in your mac though, i haven't had a problem yet, but please do a check for any potential issues....

hope this helps....

fc

[Will]

Thanks, Farrokh.

The most success I've had so far is with Parallels, running in what they call "coherence mode." When you do that, PFPX looks just like any other window that's open on the Mac, probably handling in the way a Wine window would work.

With Parallels, I can print a PFPX flight plan on a printer that's networked through my Mac, which is really convenient. And I can save a route file to my Mac desktop. So it's 100% usable.

Unfortunately, Parallels has some disadvantages. First, it's not freeware. Second, you need to purchase a full installation of the Windows operating system, unlike with Wine. And with Parallels, PFPX could save with a robust file structure into the Windows side, but on the Mac side, it only sees the desktop. Meaning, I can save a route to the Mac desktop but I can't export it directly to the Aerowinx/Routes folder. That's not so troubling, as it only requires one additional drag-&-drop, but it means the system doesn't feel integrated.

With Wine, have you had any trouble with PFPX seeing networked printers? And do you have access to the full Mac file structure for exporting?

Thanks!

[farrokh747]

hi

im able to browse around the mac folders / save to, open from wine to macside when im using other win apps... i dont use pfpx, so not sure how it would save the FP to the routes folder.... but in theory it should work.... 

the older pfpx i installed runs ok, the current one installed but would not run, shouted at me about a missing dll.....

this happens sometimes with some apps....

i dont have a printer, so no idea if it will talk to a networked one.... but there's a lot of info on this online...

https://wiki.winehq.org/index.php?search=network+printer


cheers,

fc

[farrokh747]

http://aerowinx.com/board/index.php?topic=2920.msg29311#msg29311

[Will]

Thanks, Farrokh, that's helpful.

The full version of PFPX actually calls TOPCAT, so that between-application communication may be too complicated for the Wine shell to handle.

In any event, Parallels runs perfectly, just with the "side effects" I described above. So I guess I'll stick with that for now.

[mokeiko]

"And with Parallels, PFPX could save with a robust file structure into the Windows side, but on the Mac side, it only sees the desktop. Meaning, I can save a route to the Mac desktop but I can't export it directly to the Aerowinx/Routes folder."

You might have to go into the Parallels options and create a shared folder pointing the Aerowinx Routes folder.

fly safe