Family Historian User Group

Does anyone know if family historian is compatable with imac computers.  My pc is just about dead and am thinking along the lines of an imac but before I launch forward I need to know if family historian is compatable with imacs

ID:2778

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Family historian on Mac thread

Dianne, i know that the other thread Jane refers to covers most of the points, but just thought that i would add here, that FH3 most definitely can be run on an iMac, using Parallels. i've recently done exactly this and find it works fine. You do have to remember carefully which operating system you're in, Windows or Mac, though!!

Thanks for the reply. Still toying with the idea. Not sure what to do.[confused]

I have an imac and use Boot Camp which is built into Mac OS X Leopard. You have to set up a partition but this is part of the Boot Camp installation programme and is just a matter of following the on screen instructions. You then load Windows (you can probably use the one from your PC)

You have to reboot to use Windows and therefore FH and so is not as convenient as Parallels - but it does save you the cost of buying Parallels

Roger

The small print which they should mention with either Boot Camp or Parallels is worth a mention.

With either one, once you've got Family Historian and Windows set up to run on the iMac, you need to know that you have to reinstall your printer to run under Windows; the mac connection won't help you. Also if you link to objects, photos etc, those will need to be loaded in the new version of windows. iPhoto is no hep!! Also if you want to go online for any reason when using FH under Windows, then you'll need to set up a separate internet connection to run under Windows. Ditto email.

You need to remember that you're running FH under windows, and that anything you normally do with the mac is not an option when you're in Windows.

in case you're wondering, I've learnt all the above the hard way. The worst thing is forgetting that you're in Windows and hitting one of the Mac icons; the 'puter just hangs with that annoying rainbow disc, from which I've found the only way to recover is to turn the machine off and start again

Hi Dianne,
I am not sure if you have read the other threads regarding Mac's and FH. but i have been using parallels for a fair while now and have not had any issues, admittedly though i do have a nice fast Mac Pro with a good supply of memory, so the 'PC' has a good amount of resources.
I am note sure what set-up rclrocco has been using, but it is not as bad as he makes out. Using parallels, getting access to the mac side is just a couple of keys away, and you can then use the Mac as normal in the background. Setting up the printer on the PC, or the internet again is not a big deal if you have ever set them up on a PC before [wink]. As for iphoto being no help, this again is personal choice, with the latest version of parallels you have the option of sharing the mac/window folders for pictures/music/videos etc, so both machines use the same folder, so you can organise you pictures on the mac, and then just link them from the PC in FH.

Richard

Richard, I'm always willing to learn something new, and if I can genuinely use the mac in the background as you say, then happy days. So far though I have definitely found it to be one or the other ie Windows or mac.

if I hit any mac icon or something in the Dock when I am in Parallels under Windows, then my machine 'hangs' and I literally have to start again. I'm using a 2.8 ghz iMac with 4Gb ram. Perhaps I need to look at my set up in Parallels some more

Hi rclrocco,
Which version of parallels & OS X are you using ? Also are you running anything else in the background ? I having been running Vista in parallels, and then running other Mac applications including photoshop (which is very resource hungry) with no problems.

Richard

Richard,

Windows XP; Parallels version 3; OS X Leopard. my imac is only two months old and apart from a few hundred photos, and two or three standard Windows applications, family Historian 3, and pedigree, is still almost empty.

I don't think my machine is behaving itself completely when i'm in Parallels and Windows

Thanks for any help,
Rupert

Hi Rupert,
As you have most up to date versions, i don't know what else to suggest other than to contact the support team for parallels, as something is obviously not quite right.

Sorry

Richard

Has anyone been able to get there FH manual
(from the help menu in FH) to load into Acrobat - using Parallels ? I was unable to get Acrobat reader v 8.1.2 or v 9 to successfully load the manual from FH when selected.

Works nicely in Bootcamp however.

Thanks,
Andrew