[Elecraft] Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

[Bayard Coolidge]

I was able to work around the issue by viewing Parallels' Knowledge Base article #114449 at
http://kb.parallels.com/en/114449

which is entitled "Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac does not start after upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion"
and discusses the fact that users needed to get an updated version of Desktop 7 to run under ML,
and provided a clickable link. I downloaded and installed ParallelsDesktop-7.0.15107.796624.dmg,
and it brought up my Windows 7 Home Premium installation very nicely. I tweaked a couple of
parameters (i.e., pointed it to the USB/Serial adapter), rebooted Windows, and then check its
settings. I then tested it by first bringing up the Elecraft K3 Utility, discovering in the process that
the new K3 firmware had been released. That was successful as far as I can tell - I haven't explored
all of the firmware changes/features yet, but the radio still works. I then brought up Ham Radio DeLuxe,
adjusted it to point to the "new" COM port and the USB Audio port, and it appears to work fine.
Finally, I did the same with RMS Express and tested it with a WINMOR connection, and it's fine.

I don't know if there is a later build of 7.0 out there, nor do I particularly care at this point. I can
only hope that further investigation will glean what updates within the Parallels 7 release stream
are available, what their designations are, and whether I can selectively update without having to
be nagged about migrating to Parallels 8.

Bottom line appears to be that users of Windows 7 should NOT migrate to Parallels 8 unless/until
they are actually going to immediately migrate to Windows 8 as well. Obviously, some extensive
research of the vendor documentation, and full backups of the current working environment,
will be needed.

My thanks to everyone with whom I've exchanged e-mail both on and off the list about this issue.


________________________________
 From: Charles Johnson <cbjk4zrj at gmail.com>
To: Bayard Coolidge <n1ho at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Mike Weir <ve3wdm at hotmail.com>; "elecraft at mailman.qth.net" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac
 
Another idea:

I am a registered Apple developer and was a beta tester for Parallels 8. If you are NOT running Windows 8, then Parallels 7 is the virtual platform of choice. It is still available from retailers at substantial discounts to version 8. Almost all of the changes incorporated into Parallels 8 were because of Windows 8 compatibility. Version 7 of Parallels is much more stable, and runs Win XP, Vista & 7 very nicely on most any Mac.

73, Charlie, K4ZRJ


On Nov 29, 2012, at 8:34 AM, Bayard Coolidge <n1ho at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I know nothing about SDR, and I own a K3, not a KX3.
> 
> But I do have a 27 inch iMac running Mountain Lion, with Parallels 8 and
> Windows 7 64bit Home Premium installed.
> 
> It was working beautifully with RMS Express, HRD, and the Elecraft utilities, etc.
> ...until yesterday (or late Tuesday), when I swallowed the latest update to Parallels
> (build 8.0.18345), which has a bug in it that prevents Windows 7 from being able
> to "see" the USB/Serial FTDI-based cables/chips properly and messes up the drivers.
> The issue has been raised to Parallels support and a fix is in the works, I think. Someone
> just posted a workaround on their user forum indicating that installing the FTDI driver
> on Mac OS X and creating a serial port on the VM will work, but it's limited to two of them.
> 
> So, basically, I can't control the K3 using its serial port, nor can I use my Signalink USB,
> for the time being. Yes, I need to spend a few hours pawing through my Time Machine
> backups to find the most recent working .pvm file, etc., but it's time I don't have right now.
> 
> I allocate one CPU core and 4GB of memory to the Parallels virtual machine, and that's
> given me very good performance (when it works!). One criterion for me is the time it
> takes HRD to switch modes between, say, PSK31 and RTTY-45 - there is a pregnant pause
> of several seconds on my Acer netbook (32 bit Atom processor at 1.66GHz, 2GB memory),
> but barely a blink on the iMac. Startup times for HRD and RMS Express are also impressive.
> 
> Personally, I would recommend you stick with a Windows 7-based solution for your SDR
> work until Windows 8 has been shaken out a bit - when you start adding layers of complexity
> like this, it becomes difficult to troubleshoot as there are likely multiple problems/interactions.
> 
> HTH,
> Brandy, N1HO
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