[cw-discuss] Installation on MacBook Pro; how can I install Quartz-wm "after the fact"

[Jim Robertson]

On 1/23/08 5:10 AM, "Jeremy White" <jwhite at codeweavers.com> wrote:

> I'd be very surprised if CrossOver triggered that; I suspect it's a
> coincidence rather than a cause and effect.  (We don't use the Boot Camp in
> any way whatsoever).
> 
> However, if you've tried Parallels or VMWare, that is exactly what will happen
> if you switch between them.
> 
I DID try Parallels beta versions a year ago, and even back then they worked
out the "reactivation" issue (which I and many others reported). After they
fixed that, I could go back and forth between using the laptop as a
Windows-only machine (via Boot Camp) or running a virtualized XP within the
Mac OS without EVER having to reactivate Windows. My problem then was that
Parallels sucked up too many clock cycles, so that when I was making patient
rounds in the dialysis center my MacBook Pro's battery wouldn't last for an
entire shift of patients, and running under Boot Camp meant I had no current
access to the rest of my digital life. CrossOver seemed an ideal solution to
that.

For the last year I've limped along using my MacBook Pro as a Windows-only
box in the dialysis center because I like its keyboard and screen better
than the HP laptops they have on mobile carts, and because the IT folks have
those laptops "locked" to their EMR (electronic medical record). Not until
IE6 threw up a dialog while I was running it within a CrossOver "bottle"
saying something to the effect "IE6 has encountered a problem and has been
forced to close; a report has been sent to Microsoft" did I ever again
encounter the "you must activate Windows to use this computer" dialog. Of
course, this occurred AFTER I gave up on attempts to use IE6 within
crossover and rebooted the MacBook Pro as a Windows-only box.

So, I'm pretty certain it WAS running a Windows executable under CrossOver
that caused this, UNLESS there's some residual debris left over from my
Parallels installation of a year ago that was triggered by the IE6's crash
while I was running it via CrossOver (I just did a spotlight search on the
laptop, and there ARE still some Parallels log and plist files on it...).

I do have another (cosmetic) problem running IE6 under CrossOver. The IE6
application (actually just a database on the dialysis company's servers with
a web browser front-end) I run has somewhat poorly-chosen color schemes,
with a good many of the clickable links in white text on a tan background.
Many of those links aren't visible when I run IE6 within CrossOver. They're
obviously THERE (those that have embedded tooltips pop up the tooltips when
I move the cursor to the appropriate screen coordinates, and the cursor
changes to the raised-finger-fist configuration when I move the cursor to
one of those links, and clicking while there activates the coorect link. The
problem is that even though I've memorized what MOST of those links do, I
could NEVER convince my less-tolerant fellow Mac user colleagues in
nephrology to accept such a cobbled-together solution. I had hopes that
improving IE6's appearance in the Mac OS by installing the Quartz-wm
component would resolve that, but in SF I logged onto the dialysis center's
EMR at your booth and found the same cosmetic issue.

Thanks for your prompt reply. It seems Wine is a noble effort. but the
obstacles strewn in its path by the complexities of picking and choosing
which OS resources to build in to the "bottle" to support the installed
application must be a daunting task.

Jim Robertson
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