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Parallels Desktop for Mac

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Parallels Desktop for Mac
Developer(s)Parallels, Inc.
Stable release
3.0 (Build 5608) / 2008-06-11
Operating systemMac OS X
PlatformApple-Intel architecture
Available inMulti-lingual
TypeVirtual machine
LicenseProprietary
WebsiteParallels Desktop for Mac

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a software product by Parallels, Inc., a developer of desktop and server virtualization software. The only retail publisher of Parallels Desktop since July 2006 has been Nova Development. [1] Released on June 15, 2006 it was the first software suite to bring hardware virtualization mainstream to Macintosh computers with Intel processors.

Initially, the software was released as 'Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X', consistent with the Linux and Windows versions. This was not well received within the Mac community, where some felt that the name, particularly the term “workstation,” evoked the aesthetics of a Windows product. Parallels agreed: “Since we've got a great Mac product, we should make it look and sound like a Mac product...”, it was therefore renamed ‘Parallels Desktop for Mac’.[2]

On 2007-01-10, Parallels Desktop for Mac was awarded "Best in Show" at MacWorld 2007.[3]

Overview

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a hardware emulation virtualization software, using hypervisor technology that works by mapping the host computer’s hardware resources directly to the virtual machine’s resources, allowing each virtual machine to operate identically to a standalone computer. Each virtual machine effectively has its own processor, RAM, floppy and CD drives, I/O devices, and hard disk, essentially all the resources of a physical computer.[4] Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualizes all devices within the virtual environment, including the video adapter, network adapter, and hard disk adapters. It also provides pass-through drivers for parallel port and USB devices.

Because all guest virtual machines use the same hardware drivers irrespective of the actual hardware on the host computer, virtual machine instances are highly portable between computers. For example, a running virtual machine can be stopped, copied to another physical computer, and restarted.

Feature overview

Parallels Desktop for Mac is able to virtualize a full set of standard PC hardware, including[5]

  • A virtualized CPU of the same type as the host's physical processor.
  • A generic motherboard compatible with the Intel i815 chipset.
  • Up to 2 GB of RAM for 32-bit guest virtual machines (4 GB total), currently max 512MB for Linux as guest system because of incompatibilities between i815 emulation and current Linux kernels[6]
  • Up to 64 MB of video RAM (VRAM).
  • VGA and SVGA video cards with VESA 3.0 support.
  • A 1.44 MB floppy drive, which can be mapped to a physical drive or to an image file.
  • Up to four IDE devices. This includes virtual hard drives that range in size from 20 MB to 128 GB each and CD/DVD-ROM drives. Virtual CD/DVD-ROM drives can be mapped to either physical drives or ISO image files.
  • DVD/CD-ROM "pass-through" access.
  • Up to four serial ports that can be mapped to a pipe or to an output file.
  • Up to three bi-directional parallel ports, each of which can be mapped to a real port, to a real printer or to an output file.
  • An Ethernet virtual network card compatible with Realtek RTL8029(AS), capable of up to five network interface connections.
  • Up to eight USB 2.0 devices and two USB 1.1 devices.
  • An AC97-compatible sound card.
  • A 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard and a PS/2 wheel mouse.

Version 2.5

File:Parallels coherence.jpg
Parallels Coherence

The first official release of version 2.5 was on February 27 2007, as build 3186.

Version 2.5 brought support for USB 2.0 devices, which expanded the number of USB devices supported at native speed, including support for built in iSight USB web-cams. The amount of video RAM allocated to the guest OS was made adjustable, up to 32MB. Full featured CD/DVD drives arrived in this version, which allowed the user to burn disks directly in the virtual environment, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD as one would in OS X. In addition, a shared clipboard and drag-drop support between OS X and the guest OS was implemented. This version brought the ability for users with a Windows XP installation to upgrade to Windows Vista from within the VM environment.[7] A new feature known as Coherence was added, which removed the Windows chrome, desktop, and the virtualization frames to create a more seamless desktop environment between Windows and OS X applications. This version also allowed users to boot their existing Boot Camp Windows XP partitions, which eliminated the need to have multiple Windows installations on their Mac. A tool called Parallels Transporter was included to allow users to migrate their Windows PC, or existing VMware or Virtual PC VMs to Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Netsys lawsuit

In 2007, Netsys sued Parallels' German distributor Avanquest for copyright violation, claiming that Parallels Desktop and Parallels Workstation are directly based on a line of products called "twoOStwo" that Parallels developed on paid commission for Netsys, of which it says, Netsys has been assigned all copyrights, according to news sources[8]. The lawsuit claimed that Parallels Desktop 2.5's compatibility with "twoOStwo", which was developed for and paid for by Netsys, showed that the two software products are run by essentially the same functional core.[9] When Netsys lost its initial urgency proceeding, in which it requested a temporary injunction from the Landgericht district court of Berlin, it filed a new suit[10].

Version 3.0

File:Parallels Desktop graphics.jpg
Parallels Desktop features hardware accelerated 3D graphics, and runs many Windows games, including Half-Life 2, shown here.

On June 7, 2007 build 4124 was released as the first publicly available version of Desktop 3.0.

Version 3.0 retained all of the functionality from previous versions and added new features and tools. Support for DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL[11] was added, allowing Mac users to play some Windows games without the need to boot into Windows with Boot Camp.[12] A new feature called SmartSelect offers cross OS file and application integration by allowing the user to open Windows files with Mac OS X programs and vice versa. Parallels Explorer was introduced, which allows the user to browse their Windows system files in OS X without actually launching Windows. A new snapshot feature was included, allowing one to restore their virtual machine environment to a previous state in case of issues. Further, Parallels added a security manager to limit the amount of interaction between the Windows and OS X installations. This version included a long awaited complete "Parallels tools'" driver suite for Linux guest operating systems. Therefore integration between Mac OS X and Linux guest-OS's has been greatly improved.[13]

Despite the addition of numerous new features, tools and added functionality, the first iteration of Desktop for Mac 3.0 may be missing some of features that Parallels had planned for it. A Parallels, Inc. representative stated at MacWorld in January 2007 that version 3.0 would bring accelerated graphics, "multi-core virtual machines/virtual SMP, some SCSI support, a more Mac-like feel, as well as a more sophisticated coherence mode, dubbed Coherence 2.0".[14] While accelerated graphics have materialised, Coherence, as well as the overall look and feel of Parallels Desktop for Mac has only changed slightly. Also, SCSI support has not been implemented.[15]

It is currently unknown if these features have been abandoned altogether, or if they will show up in a later build of version 3.0.

Build 4560, released on 2007-07-17,[16] added an imaging tool which allowed users to add capacity to their virtual disks.

Feature update

File:Coherence+w+Expose.png
Parallels Coherence in Exposé

Build 5160, released on 2007-09-11,[17] added some new features and updated some current features.

The release focused on updates to Coherence, with support for Exposé , window shadows, and transparent windows and the ability to overlap several Windows and Mac windows. Further, Parallels' Image Tool was updated to allow one to change their virtual hard disk format between plain and expanding. Parallels Explorer was updated to allow for one to automatically mount an offline VM hard drive to the Mac desktop. Some new features added are iPhone support in Windows, allowing iTunes in Windows to sync with it. [18] Users can now mirror desktops or other folders. Further, Mac drives can now be mapped by Windows and sound devices can now be changed 'on the fly'. Up to 2 GB of RAM can be allocated to a virtual machine, with a total of 4 GB of RAM available. [6]

Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 5608 is now available for download. This build adds support for guest Parallels Tools for Linux in the latest Linux distributions (including Ubuntu 8). It also includes added support for running 3D graphics in your Windows VM on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3.

Wine controversy

According to Parallels' Licensing page, Desktop for Mac version 3.0 contains Direct3D code that was originally developed by the Wine open source project.[19] Wine software is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, which required Parallels to release the source code. Parallels released the modified source code on 2007-07-02, about 2 weeks after the promised release date.[20] A Parallels spokesman explained the reasons for the delay in a message on the official company blog.[21]

Supported guest operating systems

Parallels Desktop requires at least Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger” (version 10.4.6+) running on an Intel-powered Mac as its primary/host operating system.[22] Parallels is compatible with Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard". [23] Parallels Desktop supports running a wide variety of 32-bit x86 guest operating systems. It will run various Linux distributions, FreeBSD, eComStation, OS/2, Solaris, MS-DOS and other 32-bit x86 OSes but not 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows.[22]

Originally, Parallels Desktop did not support Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium, because Microsoft's license for these operating systems prohibits their use with a virtual machine.[24] However, because Microsoft has dropped its restrictions on running these operating systems in virtualized environments, Parallels Desktop now supports Windows Vista Home and Windows Vista Home Premium[25].

Known issues

Known limitations of Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0, as of October 2007, include the following:

  • Cannot run 64-bit guest operating systems (thus it's limited to 32-bit guest OSes).[26]
  • No support for multiple CPUs (SMP) or multicore CPUs within the virtual machine.[citation needed]
  • Using Windows Vista's Boot Camp partition results in needing to reactivate Windows.[27]
  • Windows Vista's Aero (glass) user interface is not supported.[28]
  • 3D support is not comprehensive; some applications that require DirectX 9 and above, such as NASA World Wind do not work.[29] There is also no OpenGL graphics acceleration for Linux.
  • Pressure sensitivity is not supported for all models of Wacom graphics tablets.[30]
  • Because of incompatibilities between the i815 emulation and current Linux kernels, several Linux distributions do not run with more than 512 MB RAM in the guest system[citation needed]
  • Logitech Mice lose their assigned Button-Setup[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Peter Cohen, "Parallels Desktop comes to a store near you" "Macworld" July 17, 2006 http://www.macworld.com/article/51871/2006/07/parallels.html
  2. ^ Rudolph, Ben (2006-05-18). "Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X is now Parallels Desktop for Mac—and the release candidate is ready for download!". The Official Parallels Virtualization Blog. Retrieved 2006-09-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Rudolph, Ben (2006-05-18). "Parallels Desktop for Mac Update RC Wins MacWorld Expo 2007 "Best in Show"". Parallels, Inc. Retrieved 2007-01-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Parallels Desktop for Mac Datasheet" (PDF). Parallels, Inc. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  5. ^ "System Requirements". Parallels, Inc. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
  6. ^ a b Parallels Desktop 3.0 build 5160 features and improvements
  7. ^ "Desktop Release Features". Parallels Web. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  8. ^ Virtual Strategy Magazine - Virtualization's Dirty Laundry Aired in German Court Room
  9. ^ Virtualization's Dirty Laundry Aired in German Court Room - Virtual Strategy Magazine
  10. ^ MacNN | Netsys sues Parallels German distributor
  11. ^ "Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 3D Graphics". SWSoft Parallels. 2007-06-07.
  12. ^ Wang, Anthony (2006-12-11). "Inside Mac Games Interviews Parallels". Inside Mac Games. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  13. ^ "Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 overview". SWSoft Parallels. 2007-05-31.
  14. ^ Chang, Jacqui (2007-01-11). "Ars at Macworld: Interview with Parallels". Arstechica.
  15. ^ "Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 overview". SWSoft Parallels. 2007-06-07.
  16. ^ Rudolph, Ben (2007-07-17). Desktop for Mac 3.0 - Build 4560. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.
  17. ^ Rudolph, Ben (2007-09-01). "Parallels Desktop 3.0 Feature Update is LIVE!". Official Parallels Blog. Retrieved 2007-09-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Beta Announcement Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac Feature Update". Parallels, Inc. 2007-08-02.
  19. ^ Licensing information. Parallels, Inc. Retrieved on 2007-07-16.
  20. ^ Dösinger, Stefan (2007-07-03). Parallels Desktop Watch. The official Wine Wiki. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
  21. ^ Rudolph, Ben (2007-07-03). The Lowdown on Parallels & Wine. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
  22. ^ a b Desktop for Mac System Requirements Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  23. ^ Parallels press release for 10.5 support Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  24. ^ Are Windows Vista Home editions supported as a guest OSes in Parallels Desktop? Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  25. ^ Microsoft dumps Vista virtualization limits
  26. ^ Parallels / FAQ
  27. ^ "Vista Activation + Bootcamp 1.3 + Build 4124". Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  28. ^ "I am running Windows Vista. Why won't the Aero Interface and Flip Page effects work?". Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  29. ^ Geens, Stefan (2007-06-14). "Parallels Desktop for Mac 3: Not ready yet for virtual globes". Retrieved 2007-06-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. ^ "Wacom Intuos 3 - Boot Camp vs. Parallels". ZBrushCentral Support Forums. 2007-06-15. Retrieved 2007-11-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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