Jean-Christophe Martin's blog» MacOS

Parallels acquired by SWsoft

jc — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:47:42 +0000

According to this article, Parallels was acquired 3 years ago by SWsoft:

The tectonics of virtualization are shifting. It turns out that Parallels is not such a little company after all. About three years ago it was quietly purchased by an enterprise-focused virtualization company called SWsoft, a fact that has never been publicly disclosed until now.

SWsoft is providing Plesk, HSPcomplete, PEM and Virtuozzo, which seems to be the only virtualization related technology. It will be interesting to see if SWsoft applies its expertise in Self Service, Accounting and Billing to the VM Management space.

VMWare for Mac Beta has opened

jc — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:44:02 +0000

Today, the VMWare Fusion Beta program opened :

The new VMware desktop product for the Mac, codenamed Fusion, allows Intel-based Macs to run x86 operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris, in virtual machines at the same time as Mac OS X. It is built on VMware’s rock-solid and advanced desktop virtualization platform that is used by over four million users today.

I’ve tried to start a windows 2003 VM Image that was created on a PC, without any problem.

Running Solaris 10 in Parallels on Macbook

jc — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:41:29 +0000

I have been trying for the past few days to run Solaris 10/11 in parallels on a new macbook. The main issue I had was the JDS/gnome resolution adaptation with the 1280×800 resolution of the macbook.

Here are my steps :

I installed the new parallels beta (build 3036)
downloaded the free Solaris 10 update 3 from Sun’s web site. Download the DVD since it can be directly mounted in parallels.
create a new VM with the Solaris 10 type, but, before to finish, un-select the option to start the Solaris installation and edit the VM configuration to add a custom screen resolution of 1280×800.
start the VM to launch the install
log in an create a /etc/X11/xorg.conf with something like the one attached here (xorg.conf). Basically you need to add the Modeline lines (generated with /usr/X11/bin/gtf) and put 1280×800 in the appropriate Display subsections.

It should work. However, I’m still experiencing some duplicate keystrokes and garbled screen after VM resume (I have solved the later issue by switching multiple times between full screen and os window).

If anyone has any solution for these two problems, let me know.

Fast input/output sound device switch for OSX

jc — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:26:41 +0000

I you have an USB headphone,used on a laptop, you end up having to switch back to your USB headphone after reconnecting your headphone. This is king of annoying since you have to go in the preference/sound panel to do the operation.

I found SoundSource from RogueAmoeba. It’s really cool, install in your Apple bar and let you switch with a single click :

SoundSource is a tiny tool for OS X enabling you to switch your audio input and output sources with a single click. And with the System setting, you can transfer system beeps to a secondary audio source so you won’t be disturbed.

Highly recommended small application.

What are the motion sensors in Macbooks Pro for ?

jc — Tue, 30 May 2006 04:54:03 +0000

You may not know, but all MacBook Pro have a motion sensor that is used to save your hard drive in case of a fall. It seems that it can be used also :

To switch screens in a virtual Desktop (watch the video, it looks almost like playing a pinball)
A carpenter’s Level.
A security device (motion sensor).

Very cool. Any other usage I might have missed ?