Boot Camp (Software)

Boot Camp is software from Apple to install Microsoft Windows alongside Mac OS X on a Mac with an Intel processor.

The computer is a dual boot system. Next Boot Camp virtual machine was necessary for the use of Windows on Macs. Expendable it was a hybrid mode of the firmware and the partition table. Boot Camp supports the user in partitioning the hard drive and brings the device drivers for Windows with.

Boot Camp is seen as a strategic move by Apple to gain more customers, since they now own the Mac OS X and Windows can alternately run on the same computer without any loss of speed.

Operation

The booting of Mac OS X by means of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and GUID Partition Table, whereas Windows is started by the BIOS and Master Boot Record. To provide compatibility, Apple expanded its EFI to an emulation of a BIOS that works with a second partition table in the first.

The Boot Camp Assistant helps with the installation of Windows. He created a formatted with FAT32 or NTFS partition for Windows on the hard drive. After Windows is installed on this, the user can change when you restart the computer by pressing the Option key between the two operating systems.

Parts of the boot camp software can also be installed on non-Apple PCs. For some special Apple - functions are possible in conjunction with the Apple keyboard, about controlling the volume of the media player, extending the drive tray, etc.

Limitations

Boot Camp supports Windows XP ( Home or Professional with SP 2 ), Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 Other operating systems are not officially supported, but are partially (often with limitations due to lack of drivers ) are possible. It is also not possible with Boot Camp to install more than two operating systems. To switch between the operating systems installed on the computer using Boot Camp must be restarted. On a Mac with PowerPC processors Boot Camp can not be used here need to resort to other solutions.

Alternatives

You can install Camp Help and even remove OS X, but this requires knowledge of the system other operating systems without boat. This requires that an alternate boot loader, such as rEFIt or refind be installed.

Another possibility to install other operating systems on an Intel Mac is the use of virtualization software. This has the advantage that two operating systems can run simultaneously without requiring a restart is required, however, the operating systems must share resources such as processing power and memory compared to boot camp. Known virtualization solutions are Parallels Desktop, VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox. With Microsoft Virtual PC, it was possible to use Windows operating systems running on PowerPC -based Macs; on Macs with Intel processors, this program does not start up.

It is also possible with Wine and its Forks as CrossOver to run Windows applications on other operating systems without installing Windows. For this purpose, large parts of the Windows API have been reprogrammed. However, this is not fully done so far. Some multimedia features are not yet supported, so that such programs can not be used.

System Requirements

• Apple Mac computer with an Intel processor and the latest firmware
• Operating system Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard ) or higher
• At least 10 GB of available hard -disk space (5 GB for the Windows partition, 5 GB must remain free)
• Starting with Mac OS X 10.5 is located on the installation DVD, a Windows partition for the required Windows driver.
• A Windows installation CD (Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista or Windows 7) and a valid Product Key

Revision history

Boot Camp was available as a limited beta version since April 2006; with the release of Mac OS X Leopard on October 26, 2007, this can no longer be used to recalibrate from Windows partitions. However, existing Windows installations continue to function smoothly. Boot Camp has since been part of the operating system Mac OS X and is no longer available separately.

Since August 2010, Boot Camp is no longer included in Mac OS X Server.