* Plugin Configuration

[imac_boy]

I am a new user of FH5 on a Mac using Crossover. Please excuse any ignorance on my part with regards to how the forum works but i just wanted to know firstly if using FH5 on an iMac is just going to be one load of hassle or whether members find it works well?

Secondly, I have tried to follow the Plugin Configuration that is contained within the "How to Install Family Historian with Crossover and Wine" but was unsure about the instruction that follows "select the cxbottle.conf file, and open it in a plain text editor. I cannot seem to find this as an Application on my iMac and from looking into this further I wander if I need to download this program before attempting this?

Thirdly, if i don't do this configuration, is FH5 going to work ok for me on my iMac? I would like to use FH5 on my iMac as my other laptop which has Windows 7 on it as being playing up recently so I am reluctant to use it on that machine. As I have recently asked my son for the program as a present for my 60th birthday - at present I am using the 30day trial version - so this is another reason why I am hoping the FHUG can help.

Thanks

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG.

FH V5 in Crossover is continually improving and I think has reached a stable position that can only improve further. Calico Pie have stated their committment to supporting Crossover.

The cxbottle.conf file edit is only needed for some Plugins, and has no impact on other FH features.
The FH 30-day Trial does NOT allow Plugins anyway, so you are good to go for the time being.

The equivalent sort of plain text editor in Windows would be Notepad, but I am not a Mac user so will leave it to a Mac user to advise.

[imac_boy]

Thank you tatewise . Lovely to get a reply like that and so promptly too! I have a really good feeling about this forum and hope eventually to be a contributor instead of asking for help!

[jacomes]

I've been using FH5 (and before that FH3 & FH4) on my iMac under Parallels and Windows XP with no problems at all. (Parallels creates a "virtual PC" on the iMac hard drive.) Windows and OSx run as one system, my files stored in the Mac are easily accessible, and I generally use Firefox on the iMac to link to the web. Works a treat!
Don't know anything about Crossover though.

[tatewise]

One big advantage of Crossover is its cost.
It is about half the price of Parallels, and because it is an emulator, not a virtual machine, it needs NO Windows licence, thus saving even more.
On the downside, it does not emulate absolutely every feature of Windows, so sometimes programs such as FH and AS don't behave as they do in Windows.
Also there is Wine, which is the free but unsupported version of Crossover.
See how_to:family_historian_on_imac_ipad_android_etc|> Family Historian on Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, etc.

[Valkrider]

The built in plain text editor on an iMac is TextEdit.

Another advantage of Crossover over Parallels is that as you are not running an actual Windows install you don't need a Windows Anti-Virus tool.

I am running FH happily on a MacBook Air under Crossover and on my desktop PC. Seeing the announcement about the 5K display on the new 27" iMac I know what is on my Christmas list I have several other Windows genealogy programmes running under Crossover: Transcript, Genscriber and GedXlate for instance as well as Ancestral Sources of course.

[mjashby]

Just one mild warning about using Mac's TextEdit software: It's more like Microsoft's Wordpad than Notepad and, by default, it normally creates and saves files as RTF text with formatting even though they may have txt extensions. You have to use TextEdit's preferences to set the program to be able to create and save files as plain text, or download and use a dedicated plain text editor.

Mervyn

[tatewise]

Can one of you post the preference settings for TextEdit plain text mode, so they can be added to the Knowledge Base regarding the cxbottle.conf file edit for FH/Plugins/Crossover.

[imac_boy]

A big thank you to everyone who replied! Very much appreciated! I have now been able to carry out the Plugin Configuration in Crossover as per Knowledge Base:- How to Install Family Historian with Crossover and Wine, so I hope that it is now configured correctly! We will see I guess when hopefully my son gets the full FH5 for my birthday!

[Valkrider]

Mike

Fully detailed at http://support.apple.com/kb/ta20406

[tatewise]

Thanks Colin, I had found that link but was not sure it was the 'best' reference.
KB now updated.

[imac_boy]

Hi and thanks once again to everyone who has replied!

I am just wondering in view of what Valkrider has posted whether I need to redo the Plugin Configuration that I'd done using Textedit before making the change as per http://support.apple.com/kb/ta20406.

I see that Crossover has done an update and the previous way of getting to Manage Bottles has changed. You now get to it by clicking on Crossover >Bottle > open C:Drive>go up 4 levels to cxbottle.conf file and open it with Textedit.

That I had done but that was prior to making the changes to Textedit as per the Apple instructions re. Textedit. I have looked at the changes I had made to cxbottle.conf file and they look exactly like all the other writing that is in that folder. Just wandering if it's best left alone and maybe deal with this as and when I get any problems installing Plugins?? I am thinking this especially as Crossover has since been updated and I see that the place at [EnviromentVariables] in the cxbottle.conf file where I had added the words "COMPUTERNAME="MacName" (have since the update) been moved by Crossover!

Any advice on this would be much appreciated. PS Can someone update the instructions at How to Install Family Historian with Crossover and Wine to reflect the changes following the Crossover update re. Manage Bottles (see above).

Thanks to all!

[tatewise]

Because the [kb]home|[/kb] is a Wiki you can sign up and change it yourself. If things go awry, all old revisions are saved and easily resurrected by anyone.

I don't have a Mac or Crossover, so it is not clear where Crossover > Bottle > open C:Drive selects your FH & AS Win XP/7 Bottle as opposed to any other Bottle.
Is there no longer a Crossover > Configure menu option to Manage Bottles in order to select a Bottle?

Maybe the [EnviromentVariables] entry for "COMPUTERNAME"="MacName" moved in previous Crossover versions, but nobody noticed. Where does it move to?

FYI: The "COMPUTERNAME" should NOT literally be "MacName", but should be the same Mac computer name as in System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name. Otherwise, if you had more than one Mac/Crossover PC their shared Plugin settings might conflict with each other.

[Valkrider]

I am off on holiday this week but I will try and do an update to the wiki before I go.