Running GeoDa through CrossOver!
Software:
• Windows Applications Seamlessly Integrated on Mac OS X - CrossOver Mac
• GeoDa - An Introduction to Spatial Data Analysis — GeoDa
I was amazed today by CrossOver (demo), through which you can run some Windows applications in Mac without even installing Windows. The first thing I tried to install was Office 2003, in particular, Excel and Access. Considered “supported software,” they were installed within a minute and run smoothly just like Mac’s native applications.
How about “unsupported software”? I tried to install GeoDa, but it crashed at the last moment, right after the “bottle” was simulating the Windows reboot. Unwilling to give up easily, I discovered that through “Manage bottles” and then under “Advanced” I could open the simulated “C: Drive.” I got in and found under “Program Files” the complete GeoDa folder, which has the executable “GeoDa095i.exe”!
The final step was easy -- I moved the GeoDa folder to the CrossOver folder, which I had inserted on the finder sidebar. Now I can easily use it any time!
Comments
Hi Jerry,
It's interesting to see your experience with CrossOver--I myself use Parallels to run Windows in a virtual machine in my Mac and have been pretty pleased with it. All I have to use it for is to run Internet Explorer 6 to see how horribly it renders my blog layouts, etc., but it's been pretty useful. The nice thing about these new dual-core Intel-based macs is that they can basically make one core of the chip run Windows while the other core keeps running the Mac OS. It works really great.
I might try CrossOver though, too, since it bypasses the need of having to have Windows running at the same time. I bet it's more secure and obviously probably has less of a resource overhead than Parallels does.
Posted by: Graham Lampa | July 11, 2008 12:38 PM