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Recycled Computing

Nerd-vana? School Network Means Installing Windows on a MacBook

- 2009.08.10

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I've been out at the lake this summer, and the rustic charm of my uncle's cabin, the cry of the loon, and the quiet lapping of the water has introduced a salve for my soul.

the lake

So why would I jump back into the dark side of the computer world?

My son is going off to college this fall. The campus intranet requires Windows as an operating system.

The only reason Windows exists is that someone, somewhere requires it. Nevertheless, as I left the tranquility of nature behind, I had to install Windows on my son's virgin Intel MacBook. It makes you dirty just thinking about it.

Installing Windows

So I fired up Boot Camp and ran into my first dilemma.

Boot Camp wants you to print out the instructions. Okay, that's prudent, but I hate wasting paper. However, you really want to have the instructions around, because you'll be venturing into the dark forests of Microsoft. I ended up firing up my daughter's MacBook (for obvious reasons, I don't have Boot Camp on my trusty Pismo - it has a G3 processor and doesn't run Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard") and "printed" the file as a PDF to my daughter's desktop.

As a said, you're going to want to have this handy, as you have to navigate some non-Apple screens (the shock! the horror!).

Nerd-vana?

Imagine me surrounded by three computers on the coach. My daughter's MacBook is displaying the Boot Camp instructions, I have a Windows XP disc in my son's iBook, and I was blogging on the Pismo. Nerd nirvana.

It does take a while to partition, format, and install Windows. I followed Apple's instructions, and the software install was a breeze. Apple has included the drivers necessary to make Windows "see" the hardware on the MacBook install disc. Easey peasey.

I still have to run down some specialized software that I will have to install on the Windows side. And I have decided that I probably better not register Windows XP with the mothership in Redmond. (Does Steve Ballmer read Low End Mac? I have a policy that says, "if you don't ask me, I won't tell". Guess I have to snag any updates on my own.)

Mac vs. PC

My son is thrilled and wants to go show his PC buddy the install. I believe that he was going to ask if his friend could run OS X on his PC.

Here's what I like about those "laptop hunter" ads: That machine costs less, but it can't do as much. I have a buddy who has a triple boot machine - Windows, Linux, and Leopard.

How does Windows run on a Mac. Pretty good. Even better than on our Dell desktop. Of course, the MacBook install isn't loaded down with 5 million bloatware applications.

That reminds me, I've got to get on the Dell to get rid of all those ridiculous programs that came with it. Yuk. LEM

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