macbook pro and ecabinets

[Don Nichelson]

I am running on v5.2 right now on my Vista Gateway laptop and am told that the software will expire in 3 days. Now I am forced to upgrade but have been considering a mac for the last several years and am wondering if the software is compatible with macs. I've searched but can't seem to find a definitive answer. Should I get a mac to run the eCabinet Systems software?

[Leo Graywacz]

Go here to upgrade to v5.3 at the bottom of the page.
http://www.ecabinetsystems.com/ecabinet ... pdates.htm

I don't think eCabs will directly run on a Mac. If you have a windows emulation program it will work though.

[Don Nichelson]

Will upgrade to version 5.3 cause any problems I experienced when I upgraded to 6.0? I had to revert back to 5.2 because my computer couldn't handle the software. Also, what is an emulation program and what is the cost?

[BEN HOLM]

If you are looking at new Mac with mac os x 10.6 it has already part of the os whats called Boot Camp it gives you the ability to have both Mac OS x 10.6 (snow leopard) and Windows (you will need to buy a copy of windows). This is true dual boot no emulator, much much better. When you boot up to windows you will not be able to tell that is a mac. the only thing is that to go from mac to windows you have to shutdown and start up. And I dont think that the new apple magic mouse works with windows yet. but any other mouse works no problem.
I buying the iPad when it comes out for my presentations. Do a slide show of your rendered drawings and put it on there.
Come on Thermwood forget this windows crap start writing eCabs for Mac. Much less problems.

[Bryan J Tanner]

I agree with your sentiments Ben.

Get rid of windows, but I don't agree with Mac either. I don't have any thing against Macs at all. But how about a Linux distro set up specifically for E-cabinets???
Running only an email client and Open office. That could be installed on either PC or Mac.

And freely available.

Lets see how the post below grows

http://www.thermwood.com/forums/viewtop ... 570#p58570

[Dean Fehribach]

<snip>Come on Thermwood forget this windows crap start writing eCabs for Mac. Much less problems.

Ben,

Apple hasn't been very courteous to developers over the years and continues to be a real pain. To my knowledge, Apple has ditched further development of C and C++ libraries (Carbon, I believe) for Mac OS X in favor of Objective-C (Cocoa) to be written and compiled in X-Code. While not too different from Microsoft's ideas of late to move to C#, Microsoft still supports C++ development and libraries. Two major companies had difficulty migrating their major products to Objective-C: Adobe (Photoshop) and Microsoft (Office). There were serious delays in delivering updates for these programs because these apps had previously been written in C++ and found that to keep moving forward on the Mac platform, they had to adopt Apple's silly demands of using their not-so-familiar favorite, Objective-C.

So, I don't see Thermwood moving to a Mac-native eCabinet Systems on the radar at all. To have two dedicated development teams--C++ in Visual Studio for Windows and Objective-C in X-Code for Mac--just wouldn't be worthwhile.

My 2¢.

-Dean

[Jim Chilta]

Here is an answer from someone that uses ecab on a mac:

I have v5.2 running on a macbook (not a macbook pro).
I have it installed using bootcamp. I also installed parallels to run ecab.
I have a library of cabinets that I pull from and sometimes need to edit. Then I batch the job. I do not use the rendering / room layout functions
These are my findings:

With bootcamp: graphically it is faster, the cursor moves better. However when editing or batching (resizing cabinets) a job, it is not any faster
( I timed it)

With Parallels, the #1 advantage is I can have all my other apps open as well as ecab. With bootcamp, I need to restart the computer which, during the course of a day is a real pain.

[Don Nichelson]

THanks for all the info. I went to the website for the build 7 for version5 and now can't open ecabinets. I keep getting the error message that the software has expired and to call technical support. I did call and had to leave a message so now I am posting here to see if I can resolve the issue faster. On the website it did state that downloading build 7 will extend the old version until June 2010. I know there is probably a simple fix but can't seem to figure it out. Please help. THank you.

[Jason Rains]

We are using iMac's running Ecabinets and have no problems what so ever. You will need to purchase and install a Windows OS (we are running Windows XP) in Boot Camp and run in the Windows OS for it to run smoothly but you should not have any issues. Our Macs are the best Windows machines we have. In fact we just purchased another bringing the total up to 3. We are Macaholics and will never buy another windows machine. EVER!
Jason

[Ryan Callahan]

Don,

If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 to run your eCabinet5.2, be sure to install the update with the "Run as Administrator" option. Forgetting this step will cause your issue with or without a Mac.

Hope this is your solution.

[Jim Carter]

HI Jason
I read your post regarding your use of apple computers.
I a trying to get MacBook Pro to run e-cabinets with small glimmers of success.
I too am using boot camp running windows 7 and Ecabinets vs 6 build 4. but I am having trouble moving things around, and in the drawomg editer every things all but stops.
I heard abouit virtual memory, I am not sure how to find out what memory I have or how much I need. Any body else know?
any body I can call for guidance.
thanks
JIm

[Jim Carter]

last night I gathered more information.
MacBook Pro lap top
4 GB ram.
NVIDIA Geforce 9600m GT w/ 512 MB VRAM
NVIDIA Geforce 9400m w/256 MB VRAM

Maybe my drawings are slow because of the video card? a tech toold me that no lap top will have a good enough card to support this type of use?
I think I have two graphics cards because one is used to save power when on bat. I wonder which one boot camp is using for windows?
Any body have answers ?
thanks Jim

[Jim Carter]

for those of you rivited each night to the tales of woes from the life of Jim carter I will make yet another update
I took pc to a second tech. he noticed that I was only using 2.34 gb ram out of 4. He also noticed that My windows 7 was a 32 bit operating system.
three days earliery I paid a different tech to come out to up date my windows operating system. ($ 540.00) the second tech charged me $ 100 bucks to reinstall windows 7 64 bit version, which was in the same package the first teck opened.
any how it running better, faster. But bog complicated rooms still choppy in moving about. So tonight I broke one custom layout in to three sections. to do the detailed work. much better.
JIm.

[Jim Carter]

Please excuse all the typo's. I just re-read my posts and am more then a little embarased. Half asleep when writing these things.

[Leo Graywacz]

Edit button should be available.