{"id":446,"date":"2006-05-24T05:42:52","date_gmt":"2006-05-24T10:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2006\/05\/24\/boot-camp"},"modified":"2006-11-17T07:39:06","modified_gmt":"2006-11-17T12:39:06","slug":"boot-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2006\/05\/24\/boot-camp","title":{"rendered":"Boot Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

It doesn’t just work if you load up all the default software updates. The Boot Camp<\/a> page is really useful, and pay particularly close attention to getting the latest firmware update. Don’t just assume that SMC Version 1.2f10 is what you’re after (in System Profiler) – download MacBook Pro (early 2006) Firmware Update 1.0.1<\/a> which weighs in under 3MB, go through the firmware update process and only then, will Boot Camp start.<\/p>\n

Once it starts up, all seems to sail fairly smoothly. It asks to either create a Macintosh Drivers disc or if you’d like to skip it, pop a CD into the drive, it burns away, and then it asks if you’d like to install a bona fide Windows XP SP2 or not. I say sure too quickly even before inserting the CD, and it throws a helpful error message telling me to wait till the disc is initialized! Thats what I call good UI design.<\/p>\n

On my 100GB disk, I notice E: Partition1 (200MB), F: Partition2 (83968MB) which is where OS X is sitting, a usual 128MB of unpartitioned space and of course, C: Partition3 (11100MB) which is where Windows should go. But what is Partition1, at 200MB? Is this like the Apple Bootstrap partition of 1MB on PowerPC?<\/p>\n

I decided to quick format the 10GB partition as a FAT filesystem, as opposed to NTFS. Since the Windows installer doesn’t recognize HFS+, it assumes that both Partition1 and Partition2 are actually empty! That can actually be confusing for newbies, that don’t read the relevant documentation.<\/p>\n

First gotcha after installing Windows is the eject button didn’t work. Remember, read the manual<\/a>. The one thing that does amaze me is that my Mighty Mouse works – both the left (obviously) and the right clicking!<\/p>\n

800×600 on a widescreen display does look really<\/em><\/strong> ugly – once the ATI drivers are installed, 1440×900 is fully supported. The sound driver (SigmaTel) installs in a DOS box! The Bluetooth drivers don’t get automatically installed, so some manual intervention is required. I find it funny that by default, Windows XP decides to take over booting!<\/p>\n

What’s with Windows XP asking me to activate<\/strong> their product? It does seem lame. Apparently I’ve already activated it. i find that odd, since I only installed it with Parallels yesterday. I am now activating this via a telephone. Bloody 9 sets of 6 numbers (installation ID) is what you need to enter over the phone. It believes its already been activated on another set of PCs, which I find funny.<\/p>\n

So I call the number. They give me a new code. And then I say, “so, do I have to do this everytime I install Windows?”. And drum-roll, she answers me, “Yes. We’re sorry about that Sir.” Why on earth would anyone actually want to run Windows XP? Its so troublesome. I honestly don’t think this is the trouble you’ll go through to get a RHN key, for instance.<\/p>\n

It just goes to show that Microsoft still can go suck on a bucket of c***s, and I honestly can’t see why anyone would buy a Mac and use Boot Camp to run Windows. Maybe to transition away, but eventually, you’d not want to run this crap. Heck, with a little more testing, I shall wipe this away and go for Linux.<\/p>\n

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