Mac Support

[TwinStar]

Any updates on when Mac support will be available? Buying a copy of Windows to run RPA is akin to having to buy Digitrax command stations to run my RailPro trains.

We Mac users aren't complete leapers anymore. Time for Ring to join the 21st century.

[G8B4Life]

Any updates on when Mac support will be available?

Doubtful, we all know how slow Ring is, although he does say (forgotten where) that his software is written to be cross platform compatible. If that's the case then it should really be as simple as compiling for Mac.

We Mac users aren't complete leapers anymore. Time for Ring to join the 21st century.

I feel for you, it doesn't run on Linux either.

At the moment and for a long time to come it seems there's only two options, a separate Windows PC/Laptop or a virtual machine on the Mac.

It is possible to do the virtual machine way for free, both Virtual Box and VM Ware Player (Edit: VM Ware is not free on Mac) are free virtualisation environments and you can actually get official free copies of Windows. The caveat being that the free copies are time limited (they are after all, for evaluation) but you can use them after the expiry time, but they'll complain about not being activated and after some amount of time each time you use it it'll force shutdown on you.

I've been keeping an eye on a free from-the-ground-up windows clone but last time I ran an experiment the RP software wouldn't load. I don't know what they did but the version previous to the latest release the RP software loaded but the OS couldn't see the HC / CI-1.

- Tim

[TwinStar]

I used to have Parallels and Windows on my Mac but following a recent hard drive failure and replacement the newer version of Parallels (which they wanted more money for) didn't work well with the old version of Windows (which they wanted more money to upgrade) and it just seemed like a big hassle to operate RPA. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and just go buy one but it's frustrating that it won't run native on OS.

[William Brillinger]

wouldn't it be easier to just buy a cheap used windows laptop?

[MtRR75]

wouldn't it be easier to just buy a cheap used windows laptop?

That is what I am doing.

But it is cumbersome, and I, too, wonder if Ring will ever make a Mac interface

[TwinStar]

wouldn't it be easier to just buy a cheap used windows laptop?

I had a cheap laptop to run it at one time and it was infuriating. I see windows and DCC with the same lens of contempt. The idea of buying and maintaining such solely to run RPA seems ridiculous but it may be something I have to consider.

[G8B4Life]

I had to update my initial post, VM Ware is not free on Mac. Virtual Box most certainly is though and runs many old versions of Windows. I use Virtual Box and have had RP successfully working in a Windows VM.

There is also Wine (also free) for Mac. Whether it works for RP software or not I don't know as I can't test it at the moment.

To be fair to Ring, no other DCC programming software has a specific Mac version either, JMRI aside (as it's written in Java so it's natively cross platform) ESU LokProgrammer, DigiTrax Sound Loader and MRC computer interface software, just to pick software more commonly known in the US, are all Windows only too.

My guess is that Ring and these other companies either see no need or don't know how to make a Mac version; or both.

- Tim

[Alan]

My guess is that Ring and these other companies either see no need or don't know how to make a Mac version; or both.
- Tim

My guess is ROI or lack thereof. Mac people love Macs and for good reason. But from a business prospective Mac market share and Linux market share are both so small that non-Windows products are likely way down the manufacturers' priorities list.

Windows 87%
Mac 9%
Linux 2%

per netmarketshare.com

[TwinStar]

My guess is that Ring and these other companies either see no need or don't know how to make a Mac version; or both.
- Tim

My guess is ROI or lack thereof. Mac people love Macs and for good reason. But from a business prospective Mac market share and Linux market share are both so small that non-Windows products are likely way down the manufacturers' priorities list.

Windows 87%
Mac 9%
Linux 2%

per netmarketshare.com

My wife has a high end PC laptop and it's such a piece of s!@#. And no, I can't use it. The sensitive nature of her work and what is on her computer she can't even watch YouTube on it much less install any unauthorized apps. She can't even use public WiFi and travels with her own company hotspot.

I guess I'm stuck between a Mac and a hard place.

[Alan]

I guess I'm stuck between a Mac and a hard place.

At least you have company! Poor Linux folks are right there with you.

Watch eBay. You'll come across a decent sub-$50 laptop for sale every now and then. Less than the cost of a single LM.

[G8B4Life]

My guess is ROI or lack thereof
...
Windows 87%

Hence why I said "no need". For a company with the user base the size of say ESU or DigiTrax who cater to a very large market (DCC) then the loss Mac (and Linux) users is not a concern to the bottom line. For a market segment so small as Ring's RailPro system then that loss is a bigger risk. Perhaps we just have an over proportion of Mac users but our third most read thread here is "Software not Mac compatible".

At least you have company! Poor Linux folks are right there with you.

But there is no need for us to keep company while waiting for native code RP software for Mac and Linux; I've already posted that there is one completely free (if you can stand a little pain every 30 days) and one partially free way to run RP software on a Mac and Linux. If Jacob has a legit copy of Windows already, no matter how old a version it is then he can do it completely free without the 30 day pain. All it would take for anyone is learning some new skills and software. Perhaps I should write some tutorials.

I was also experimenting with Wine (not the drink, the software) today but I'm not letting the cat out of that bag until I finish my experiments.

- Tim

[Alan]

The VMs are (generally) known. It is understandable there is some push back on using a VM solution. For someone not already comfortable with such it is a lot of hoops to jump through just to run trains. Especially if computers aren't your thing.

[ON28]

I tried Wine, RPA loaded but couldn't connect the HC. I did not try the virtual version.

[G8B4Life]

... It is understandable there is some push back on using a VM solution.

Yes it can be scary, it was scary for me the first time I set one up because I wasn't familiar with how they worked but that was over come by reading a lot of how to's on them.

... it is a lot of hoops to jump through just to run trains.

I agree, we should not have to jump through a lot of hoops like that, just like we should not have to jump through hoops like silly programming mistakes the prevents people with a certain type of internet connection from using the software either even though it's been a known problem for quite a long time now. Unfortunately the situation is what it is with RP and people might have to do extreme things to get things to work for them.

I tried Wine, RPA loaded but couldn't connect the HC. I did not try the virtual version.

What did you try Wine on? I don't know about Mac but on Linux USB HID devices like the HC-2b and CI-1 are not passed to Wine by default so that's what I'm experimenting with. I confirm the software loads and runs (mostly) fine on Wine.

- Tim

[ON28]

I tried Wine, RPA loaded but couldn't connect the HC. I did not try the virtual version.

What did you try Wine on? I don't know about Mac but on Linux USB HID devices like the HC-2b and CI-1 are not passed to Wine by default so that's what I'm experimenting with. I confirm the software loads and runs (mostly) fine on Wine.

- Tim

My new MacBook Pro.