Mac x86

The Parallels WorkstationDesktop team now has an official blog.

Parallels Workstation just keeps getting better. The latest version finally adds USB support and the full screen mode works nicely.

I’ve been running beta 4 of Parallels Workstation since it was released yesterday and haven’t seen a single kernel panic. With beta 3, I would have at least two before noon. Sound works great in beta 4 and fullscreen mode works OK on my iMac, although it’s ugly on the MacBook Pro because it switches to a non-native resolution.

I just had my third Kernel Panic on my iMac today, all related to using a VPN connection in Parallels Workstation. This doesn’t happen on my MacBook Pro using the same Windows VM.


Mon Apr 17 15:16:02 2006
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x0019CAEF): Unresolved kernel trap (CPU 1, Type 14=page fault), registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x2e2f1000, CR3: 0x00d3a000, CR4: 0x000026a0
EAX: 0x79616c65, EBX: 0xfffffff8, ECX: 0x07ffe5b8, EDX: 0xbfadc2a6
ESP: 0x2e2f1000, EBP: 0x1c6dbb28, ESI: 0x2e2f0ffe, EDI: 0x3308c770
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x0087c2f7, CS: 0x00000014, DS: 0x1c6d001c

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x1c6db8d8 : 0x128b5e (0x3bbeb8 0x1c6db8fc 0x131bbc 0x0)
0x1c6db918 : 0x19caef (0x3c1340 0x1 0xe 0x3c10f8)
0x1c6db9c8 : 0x197b53 (0x1c6db9dc 0x1c6dbb28 0x87c2f7 0x190048)
0x1c6db9d4 : 0x87c2f7 (0x190048 0x44001c 0xee6001c 0x1c6d001c)
0x1c6dbb28 : 0x87cce6 (0x2e2bc600 0xc6 0x4 0x1)
0x1c6dbba8 : 0x87cda3 (0x4 0x1c6dbbcc 0x1c6dbbc8 0x0)
0x1c6dbbd8 : 0x1f720f (0x4e63f00 0x32a7004 0x2 0x1c6dbc48)
0x1c6dbc38 : 0x227af5 (0x32a7004 0x2 0x2e2bc600 0x34ab704)
0x1c6dbd78 : 0x232de5 (0x2e2b6000 0x0 0x0 0x2dac250)
0x1c6dbde8 : 0x3549e0 (0x32ffdd0 0x0 0x2e2b6000 0x4fdd604)
0x1c6dbe88 : 0x35932e (0x32ffdd0 0x4fdd604 0x4dca400 0x2e2b6000)
0x1c6dbee8 : 0x3596db (0x4dca400 0x0 0x2dcb2c8 0xaa)
0x1c6dbf78 : 0x36d8e4 (0x2ebd000 0x2dcb284 0x2dcb2c8 0x0)
0x1c6dbfd8 : 0x197e7e (0x31b6ac8 0x31b6ac8 0x1c6db9dc 0x1c6db94c) No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffff1d8
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.parallels.kext.Pvsnet(2.1)@0x87a000

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.6.1: Tue Mar 7 16:55:45 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.9.22.obj~1/RELEASE_I386


I ran some benchmarks on Windows XP running in Parallels Workstation using PassMark PerformanceTest 6.0. It completely blows away a Dell Dimension 8200. You can see the results here.

I spent much of today installing & setting up Windows XP on my Mac with Parallels Workstation. I finally got it pretty much the way I want it, so I can use Outlook & a custom database application through a VPN connection while being able to connect to local file servers and print locally. I still can’t get WORKGROUP and the domain to both appear in Network Places.

Beta 2 of Parallels Workstation is available. It fixes the kernel panic I’ve seen a few times related to networking.

I tried Parallels Workstation today and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for: true virtualization for Intel Macs. I’m now running Windows 2000 & Debian Linux on my MacBook Pro. I ordered Windows XP Home Edition so I don’t have to use the Dell installation disk. Windows runs almost as fast in Parallels as it did with Boot Camp, but I don’t have to reboot and the OS X integration is wonderful. I can even copy & paste between OS X & Windows.

I tried using Apple’s Boot Camp to install Windows XP on my iMac with mixed results. I wasted a few hours and ended up removing the Windows partition.

The only Windows installation CD I have is a Dell-specific one, which also happens to be SP1 (Boot Camp requires SP2). I was able to get Windows XP up and running, but it was pretty useless. It wouldn’t recognize the iMac’s built-in ethernet, and the Mac driver disk won’t install in SP1. I also had a SP2 upgrade disk image, so I attempted to update it to SP2. Unfortunately the 8GB partition didn’t have enough space for the upgrade (even though it had a lot more than the installer required), so I wasn’t able to install the upgrade. I finally gave up and deleted the XP partition.