composerHE for imac

[Booth1]

Is there a composer home edition available for an iMac

if so where can i down load it

[ILoveC4]

Nope...sorry.

[EagleMoon]

Pretty annoying.... Here's more than you might need to know or you might know it already:

The only solution I know of is to use one of the virtualization apps like VirtualBox (free), VMware Fusion, or Parallels Desktop. Version 5 of Parallels Desktop has finally brought decent performance, low overhead and reasonable stability to Parallels. I use it but only because I have it on my employer-provided MacBookPro. I haven't used VMware in about three years but back then it was quite good and better than Parallels at the time. I've briefly tested VirtualBox and it also seems stable but has moderately higher overhead.

If you go with any of these, for best performance I'd recommend using as stripped-down a version of Windows as possible for your ComposerHE virtual machine (VM). I'd dedicate the VM to that purpose alone, never using it for email or browsing or any other Windows application. I personally turned off automatic updates. I have it notify me of updates but not download any until I'm ready to walk away for a bit. That's because every time you start it there will be updates available -- megabytes of them and on Parallels, at least, it will be slow for the first few minutes as it downloads them and stores them on the disk. You should probably leave antivirus running -- I removed mine for now but I am fanatical about using it for nothing but Composer. Also, make sure you do not install or enable any of the desktop search utilities; uninstall Microsoft's if it got installed.

On that last point, I simply change the target of the Windows "My Documents" shortcut to point to a folder shared from the Mac and use Spotlight to find things. I keep all my files on Windows organized under "My Documents", so that works fine for me.

Parallels has a couple of interesting features: 1) "Mac Look" -- one click enables a built-in Stardock theme that makes Windows look as much like a Mac as possible; it seems to have no flaws, and 2) "Coherence" -- hides the Windows Desktop, allowing each Windows application window to float freely on the Mac desktop like Mac application windows. Coherence is a little bit clunky in operation so I don't use it very often, but there are times when I've found it handy for my paying day job, not so much for Composer/Control4 work. FYI, my Composer/Control4 VM is the only one where I use "Mac Look". That makes it look different from any of my other VMs and helps keep me from inadvertently using it for browsing.

Edit: Typos

[crazybuppie]

+1 for what EagleMoon said.

Run composer in a VM. it's pretty much your only option.

[Acetechno]

I have it on my employer-provided MacBookPro.

Must be nice.

My boss said to me if I want to be a programmer for this company, go out and buy yourself a lap top and bring it to work. If you break it, its on you. :/ :):)

[EagleMoon]

I have it on my employer-provided MacBookPro.

Must be nice.

A 17" widescreen. I'm going to miss it when I resign in January and have to give it back.

I'm on a team of about 20 network engineering types. Some of us used to haul around multiple laptops, the rest of us wrestled constantly with installing/un-installing incompatible applications and VPN clients (for different customers) I started using my personal MacBookPro with VMware and Parallels 3.5 years ago. After seeing me do that for a year, we got the higher-ups to buy Macs for the entire team. Only one of the 20 has been unhappy about it.

[Acetechno]

I have it on my employer-provided MacBookPro.

Must be nice.

A 17" widescreen. I'm going to miss it when I resign in January and have to give it back.

I'm on a team of about 20 network engineering types. Some of us used to haul around multiple laptops' date=' the rest of us wrestled constantly with installing/un-installing incompatible applications and VPN clients (for different customers) I started using my personal MacBookPro with VMware and Parallels 3.5 years ago. After seeing me do that for a year, we got the higher-ups to buy Macs for the entire team. Only one of the 20 has been unhappy about it.[/quote']

Very cool. I use all Mac at home and love it. Got two 13" Mac Book Pros and 1 20" iMac and 2 Airport extremes. And for work use a 15" HP. Go figure. Best of luck come January to ya.

[EagleMoon]

Best of luck come January to ya.

Thanks, it's all for fun -- there will be snow on the mountains and soon after that the trails will be ready for hiking and biking. Plus, between those there'll be some springtime biking in Dallas.

My job isn't disappearing on me, I'm trading it in for a permanent vacation.