Boot Camp

It doesn’t just work if you load up all the default software updates. The Boot Camp 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 which weighs in under 3MB, go through the firmware update process and only then, will Boot Camp start.

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.

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?

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.

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

800×600 on a widescreen display does look really 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!

What’s with Windows XP asking me to activate 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.

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.

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.


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