IR with a MAC?

billmunson · Post by **billmunson** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:56 pm

Will IR.exe work on a MAC, or just a PC? Will the other files (Keymaster and RDF Files) work with a MAC?

e34m5 · Post by **e34m5** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:38 pm

No MAC. I did make it work with VPC.

greenough1 · Post by **greenough1** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:20 pm

I think someone else also got it to work under linux running wine (windows emulator running under linux).

jeff

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:58 pm

Summary...

1) IR.exe will run under VirtualPC
2) I don't think KM works on the Mac version of Excel, but I could be wrong.
3) RM is a Java program, so it will run anywhere that you can install the current version of Java, so you should be able to use RM on a Mac.

Budget_HT · Post by **Budget_HT** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:32 pm

Will the USB interface work for a Mac running OS X and Virtual PC? It seems like it should, but it would be nice to hear from someone who has already tried before making a purchase.

I've just read through some of the "newbie" getting started threads. I am hoping that IR.exe and RM and a USB interface will work with Virtual PC on the Mac.

TIA

Dave

todd_i · Post by **todd_i** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:57 am

I've been using a JP1 interface for a couple years now, and have always dual-booted my Linux server into Windows whenever I needed to update my remote, which is a bit of a pain in the butt.

This thread came up in a search looking for any Mac JP1 updates, so I tried it out. It worked great for me:

PowerBook G4 1.67GHz, 768MB RAM
Mac OS 10.4.8 (Tiger)
Virtual PC 7.0.1
Client OS: Windows 2000
JP1 Interface Type: USB

Setup was the same as in native Windows.. Install JP1, plug in the USB cable, install the USB drivers.

I did both an upload and download with my URC-6131, and both worked great.

Note that mine is the older PowerPC based laptop, and everything works well under this emulation mode. I suspect it would also work under Windows emulation on the new Intel MacBooks, or maybe even with Wine like has been done with Linux.

todd_i · Post by **todd_i** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:29 pm

Another followup on this..

I recently upgraded to a MacBook Pro, the new Intel Core 2 Duo based system and purchased "Parallels" virtual machine software.

I installed Win2K pro, and ran IR. It appears to be communicating with the remote just fine. USB support is an area where Parallels is reportedly lagging behind a bit, so I wasn't sure if it would work or not.

It seems quite slow, taking about 12 seconds to download the config from the remote. But, it does work. (This is a bit odd, since everything else runs very quickly in the virtual machine).

Also, recognition of a USB device is a bit different in Parallels. You must click on the USB icon on the GUI, and select "USB IO Controller" from the list of devices to activate. In VirtualPC, it automatically activated it in Windows when the hardware was plugged in. I think I like the Parallels method better.. just plugging a device into my Mac doesn't necessarily mean I want it in Windows.

One note: I have not tried uploading a changed configuration to the remote yet, but I have no reason to believe it won't work.

Host Hardware: MacBook Pro, Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, 2GB DDR2 RAM
Host OS: MacOS 10.4.8; Parallels build 1940.
Guest OS: Windows 2000 SP4
IR: ir.exe version 6.20
JP1: USB Interface, URC-6131 Remote.

todd_i · Post by **todd_i** » Sat May 26, 2007 3:39 pm

Another note on this:

I am using RemoteMaster in Mac OS X (it's a Java app, so it runs directly on Mac OS - which has Java built-in). I wasn't sure if I could Copy & Paste from Mac OS to Windows/Parallels without losing information. But, it works fine.. it must just be simple text that is copied.

So, the only thing I need to run in Windows is ir.exe, RM works great in Mac OS X.

cywelchjr · Post by **cywelchjr** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:12 pm

And with wine (or one of the Mac specific flavors of wine) you should be able to get IR to work in the Mac OS as well.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Wed May 30, 2007 7:26 pm

GREAT news on the MacOS/Parallels thing. My Mac is has a copy of Parallels and Vista on it but I lent my USB cable to someone and haven't gotten it back yet so I can't play. It was one of the first things I wanted to try out when I got Parallels going.

I now know that I can have one piece of hardware on my desk instead of the extra old Windows laptop that I use to run IR and RM!

-bill

cywelchjr · Post by **cywelchjr** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:57 pm

A point to keep in mind is that with Vista you will need to set it to run as administrator for the USB cable to work (oh, and make sure that you have the latest version of the driver (3.x IIRC) as well). I also find that I have to disconnect and reconnect the cable in between each session or it doesn't work also.

todd_i · Post by **todd_i** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:33 am

cywelchjr wrote:A point to keep in mind is that with Vista you will need to set it to run as administrator for the USB cable to work (oh, and make sure that you have the latest version of the driver (3.x IIRC) as well). I also find that I have to disconnect and reconnect the cable in between each session or it doesn't work also.

I just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing.. I assume you are referring to running Vista within a VM under Mac OS X. If so, what VM software are you using (VirtualPC, Parallels, VMWare Fusion) and on what type of Mac (PowerPC, Intel).

I didn't have the issue you describe about needing to disconnect the USB cable. It worked fine for me (Windows 2000 in Parallels on a MacBook Pro).

cywelchjr · Post by **cywelchjr** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:44 pm

I'm actually referring to running IR under Vista at all. The Vista security system doesn't allow access to the function layer used by the USB cable's driver. The ONLY applies to Vista using USB from my testing, but I don't know what the case is with the parallel interface since none of my computers have anything but USB anymore. XP and lower do not have this issue, it's unique to Vista and how the driver works under Vista. This is true whether I run Vista natively or in a VM (VMWare at this point). I'm pretty sure that Vista is going to cause the same problems in Paralells under the Mac as it does elsewhere, as it's the core parts of the OS that are causing the problem, and they are still there.

Post by **The Robman** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:59 pm

cywelchjr wrote:XP and lower do not have this issue, it's unique to Vista

You need to log on as admin with XP, ME and 2000 also. This isn't an issue for Win98 and Win95.

cywelchjr wrote:...but I don't know what the case is with the parallel interface since none of my computers have anything but USB anymore.

This is going OT, but I have PCI cards available that add both a parallel and serial port to your PC, if you're interested.

cywelchjr · Post by **cywelchjr** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:14 pm

Not to a laptop. I don't use desktop computers anymore, they are just too tied down (I like to use my computers whereever I may be). However, it is nice to know that they are available if I run into a need on one of the family computers for a serial or parallel port.

Thanks,