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macbook and gsak


Shrek & Fiona

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Clyde has made it pretty clear that he will only offer the program for computers. I can't see GS taking on the task since it is creating an offline database and they have indicated repeatedly they would prefer the information you use be as current as possibe for many reasons and have made tools available to facilitate that.

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Clyde has made it pretty clear that he will only offer the program for computers.

A Macbook is not a computer? :unsure:

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a macbook program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

I've always wanted to take my geoqo software (which does work on a mac, but is hard to get up and running), refactor the important awesome concepts into C++/Qt and make it easy to use on pretty much everything (mac, linux and windows). If there are people that want to volunteer to contribute time and energy (ie, code and documentation) into making such an open source project, it wouldn't take too much to get something up and running.

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a macbook program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Able to do so ?

Unknown.

Planning to do so ?

Not that I can recall hearing.

 

I run on a Macbook, but multiboot with bootcamp (free) to Win7 to run just GSAK and Streets+Trips.

Virtualizing with Parallels or VMware Fusion (about $50 each) works fine as well.

 

Running GSAK as a Mac binary with winebottler seemed to work reasonably well

although it was a bit unstable for me as well as painful to set up.

 

Clyde is a very responsive Windows developer who provides great support.

The $30 that I pay every couple years to keep up to date with GSAK update is well worth it for me.

 

The power of GSAK to me is the one-click PQ downloads+processing, the incredible macro library and functionality, and the excellent very technical and helpful user community. Each would be a hard thing to catch up on. You have to wonder if it's worth any company's money to invest that at this point.

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a macbook program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Able to do so ?

Unknown.

Planning to do so ?

Not that I can recall hearing.

 

 

The answer to both is that GSAK is written in Delphi, which does not support Mac. So the answer is pretty much a solid no.

Edited by jholly
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The answer to both is that GSAK is written in Delphi, which does not support Mac. So the answer is pretty much a solid no.

 

That's a bit of a stretch. Delphi is an evolution of Object Pascal, which was originally developed by Apple for their Macintosh computers. It would probably require quite a bit of development effort to move to a portable code base, but it's far from impossible.

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there is so many smart people on here and I can hardly get this thing turned on but anyway someone must be able to change gsak so it will work on a mac with out putting windows on the mac

Change GSAK so it will work on a Mac? No. It isn't that simple. Mac and Windows are VERY different beasts, so it wouldn't be just a matter of changing a few lines of code. Someone would have to build it from the ground up, and considering the complexity of GSAK, that would be a huge project. Clyde is but one man, so I don't blame him for not providing a Mac version. It's also very likely that he has little to no experience or knowledge in Mac programming. Unfortunately, you're probably going to have to use some kind of emulator/virtual machine with the Windows GSAK, or go without.

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a macbook program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Able to do so ?

Unknown.

Planning to do so ?

Not that I can recall hearing.

 

I run on a Macbook, but multiboot with bootcamp (free) to Win7 to run just GSAK and Streets+Trips.

Virtualizing with Parallels or VMware Fusion (about $50 each) works fine as well.

 

Running GSAK as a Mac binary with winebottler seemed to work reasonably well

although it was a bit unstable for me as well as painful to set up.

 

Clyde is a very responsive Windows developer who provides great support.

The $30 that I pay every couple years to keep up to date with GSAK update is well worth it for me.

 

The power of GSAK to me is the one-click PQ downloads+processing, the incredible macro library and functionality, and the excellent very technical and helpful user community. Each would be a hard thing to catch up on. You have to wonder if it's worth any company's money to invest that at this point.

There is a problem running Parallels for a virtual PC. Something in Parallels interacts badly with SQLite and some databases become corrupted. I have several dbs and the largest one keeps running up against this problem.

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FWIW, here's my SaaS approach: I email my "solved unfound puzzles" PQ to boulter's Geocaching Basecamp, and then download GPX files with corrected coordinates from there. Once Groundspeak's new Edited Coordinates feature is fleshed out a bit more, I may switch to just downloading the PQs with corrected coordinates directly.

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There is a problem running Parallels for a virtual PC. Something in Parallels interacts badly with SQLite and some databases become corrupted. I have several dbs and the largest one keeps running up against this problem.

This is contrary to my observation. I am running GSAK (and pushing it pretty hard with macros, API calls, PQs and databases over >15000 records) in Windows 7 in Parallels under OS/X Lion on a MacBook Pro with absolutely no problems.

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There is a problem running Parallels for a virtual PC. Something in Parallels interacts badly with SQLite and some databases become corrupted. I have several dbs and the largest one keeps running up against this problem.

This is contrary to my observation. I am running GSAK (and pushing it pretty hard with macros, API calls, PQs and databases over >15000 records) in Windows 7 in Parallels under OS/X Lion on a MacBook Pro with absolutely no problems.

All I can say is that Kai Team looked into it and says the problem I was having is caused by Parallels. The problem I have had does not happen all the time, but does show up, and once it does, that db is useless. Kai Team linked another forum that had the same problem with Parallels and a db using SQLite. See the thread on the GSAK board.

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there is so many smart people on here and I can hardly get this thing turned on but anyway someone must be able to change gsak so it will work on a mac with out putting windows on the mac

Being "smart" and being able to develop software are very different things. No one is refusing to be stubborn. Rebuilding GSAK to run on a Mac would be a major endeavor. Given the complexity of GSAK, you can expect to pay professional programmers tens of thousands of dollars for such a project.

 

how does a person do a parallel and how bad can I mess up my computer

There's no way you can mess up your computer at all. Anything you do in the virtual machine is completely isolated from your computer.

 

You can purchase Parallels here for $80. While you're there you'll also need a copy of Windows 7, so add that to your cart as well. Once you have both downloaded, look at this quick start quide to get started and this user's guide for additional information.

Edited by Ambient_Skater
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You can purchase Parallels here here for $80. While you're there you'll also need a copy of Windows 7, so add that to your cart as well. Once you have both downloaded, look at this quick start quide to get started and this user's guide for additional information.

 

  • GPS: $200
  • MacBook Pro: $1500
  • Parallels: $80
  • Windows 7: $100
  • GSAK: $30
  • Geocaching Premium Account: $30
  • Finding a film canister under a lamp post after buying all that stuff: Priceless!

 

(actually, the only thing I think is silly in that list is needed to buy another operating system just to run GSAK; though I know of a lot of people that *only* bought windows so they could run GSAK)

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For a small scale business like GSAK, writing software for the little kid on the block might not be a sound investment of their time.

 

As of 2010, the Windows OS globally still had roughly a 90% market share. If you have 10 potential paying customers, are you going to concentrate on the nine with a PC or the one with a MAC?

 

Sure, the numbers are going to vary a little but when you are trying to feed your family, it just makes sense to cater to the larger market.

 

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/mac-vs-pc-myth-busting-consumer-guide/

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there is so many smart people on here and I can hardly get this thing turned on but anyway someone must be able to change gsak so it will work on a mac with out putting windows on the mac

Being "smart" and being able to develop software are very different things. No one is refusing to be stubborn. Rebuilding GSAK to run on a Mac would be a major endeavor. Given the complexity of GSAK, you can expect to pay professional programmers tens of thousands of dollars for such a project.

 

how does a person do a parallel and how bad can I mess up my computer

There's no way you can mess up your computer at all. Anything you do in the virtual machine is completely isolated from your computer.

 

You can purchase Parallels here here for $80. While you're there you'll also need a copy of Windows 7, so add that to your cart as well. Once you have both downloaded, look at this quick start quide to get started and this user's guide for additional information.

Don't forget that this only works for Intel based Macs. If someone has an older PPC Mac, Parallels won't work.

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Don't forget [Parallels] only works for Intel based Macs. If someone has an older PPC Mac, Parallels won't work.

The OP said they have a MacBook, which came out around the time Apple finished transitioning to Intel processors, so the OP's MacBook is likely Intel based.

Since the OP is probably not the only one interested in the subject, it doesn't hurt to specify.

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I have a macbook pro version 10.5.8

processor 2.5 ghz intel core duo

memory 2 gb 667 mhz ddr2 sdram

and I have a copy of xp service pack 2

 

will the parallel desktop 7 work for me ?

Parallel Desktop 7 will work fine for you. Since you already have a copy of XP, you can omit purchasing Windows 7, but only if your copy of XP isn't already activated on a machine.

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Clyede at gsak wont make a program for mac users so I am asking if ground speak would be able to come up with a good program similar to gsak

there is alot of posts in the forums here and on gsak looking for a macbook program for loading cache info into and to search through them

 

Able to do so ?

Unknown.

Planning to do so ?

Not that I can recall hearing.

 

 

The answer to both is that GSAK is written in Delphi, which does not support Mac. So the answer is pretty much a solid no.

 

Oh, I was answering the 'if Groundspeak would be able to' piece of his questions, but interesting hearing what GSAK is written in. I always wondered.

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There is a problem running Parallels for a virtual PC. Something in Parallels interacts badly with SQLite and some databases become corrupted. I have several dbs and the largest one keeps running up against this problem.

 

I have never experienced that on my 2006 Macbook or my 2009 Mac Mini, but I'd "suspect" you either ran out of memory, or your virtual disk is full as the first things to look into if you really wanted to dig further. I've had to grow my virtual disks a couple times over the years as I've kept the system up to date with updates. Windows gets freaky when the disk is close to full.

 

I've been up to 25,000 caches in my all-of-WA database with zero problems under Bootcamp FWIW on a 2GB 2006 Macbook running Win7 (32 bit).

 

There are at least three virtualization possibilities:

- Parallels (about $40)

- VMware Fusion (about $40)

- or bootcamp (free, comes with OS/X)

 

In all cases you need the Windows license, but I'm guessing most people are awash in XP licenses at a minimum. You can sometimes find a student or home deal that gets the price down to $30 or so. I did my Win7 systems as educational updates over XP way back when. If you're near Redmond WA, find a friend who works for Micro$oft to do a little company store visit on their prices. A case of beer can get you some nice discounts :-)

 

Anyway, I've run them all and do virtualization for much of my day job, but at home I switched to bootcamp for USB related issues. For some reason when I went to Win7 SP1 the virtual systems got stupid and wouldn't mount the GPS which is of course important for downloading PQs and processed databases. Bootcamp fixed that issue for both the Oregon and the Nuvi.

 

If you're paying $80 for Fusion, you're getting ripped off. Price is $40 on Amazon. Parallels is $65 on Amazon for (to me) an equivalent product. If you don't like one, they both do the competitive discount thing. My Fusion was purchased that way for $20.

 

But bootcamp is free if the money matters that much, once you have the Windows license in hand of course.

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There are at least three virtualization possibilities:

- Parallels (about $40)

- VMware Fusion (about $40)

- or bootcamp (free, comes with OS/X)

Boot Camp isn't virtualization. It's a utility that helps you partition your disk to install both OSes and dual boot between them. The difference is Boot Camp requires rebooting to access Windows and again to leave it), whereas visualization allows you to run Windows as a program in Mac OS X. (i.e. you click on its icon in the dock to start it, then exit it when you're done*)

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There is a problem running Parallels for a virtual PC. Something in Parallels interacts badly with SQLite and some databases become corrupted. I have several dbs and the largest one keeps running up against this problem.

 

I have never experienced that on my 2006 Macbook or my 2009 Mac Mini, but I'd "suspect" you either ran out of memory, or your virtual disk is full as the first things to look into if you really wanted to dig further. I've had to grow my virtual disks a couple times over the years as I've kept the system up to date with updates. Windows gets freaky when the disk is close to full.

 

I will try adding more memory to Parallels VM and see if that helps. I am now running GSAK on my PC laptop and having a backup on my Mac. I don't like doing it that way, but it works.

 

Seems as how someone running GSAK on a PC has now encountered the error I had. The thread on that one is here.

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