What OpenOSX couldn’t do Parallels Workstation did. For months I’ve been wrestling with getting WinTel 2.x to work on my MacBook Pro and have never been able to, even though it’s got Intel inside. Oddly enough, I did get it working on the Mac mini running a PowerPC here in the SvenOnTech labs but never any luck on the chip Windows98 was designed for. I finally gave up and kissed off my $25 even after repeated e-mails from OpenOSX tech.

Yesterday I tried Parallels’ solution and I had little hopes. Heck, after being burned by OpenOSX, I didn’t think any of this would work. Well, after getting over the CD-ROM problem (good luck figuring out what your CD-ROM “name” is…I had no luck) and just sucking in an ISO I made for WinTel, I was up and running Windows98 Second Edition about an hour later! Installed the Parallel Tools and now I was running with higher resolution than my MacBook Pro even supports (on the LCD)! Sure, I can’t figure out how to get the audio to work (Device Manager can’t find any audio hardware,) but who cares at this point, I’m running Win98 at native speeds. I can now take my MBP on the road without fear of having to run a program on my desktop at the office via Remote Desktop on my Mac! All the good stuff works; networking, CD-ROM, Internet, and even file sharing all work without a hitch! It’s insane how easy this is.

Sure, got to get the sound working and figure out the stupid CD-ROM thing, but hey, those aren’t badly needed. I don’t need to hear anything at this point and files can be accessed via Network Neighborhood, so I ain’t stressing it.

In all, this program is well with worth the $50 asking price. I haven’t even scratched the surface of this yet. Wait ’til I dig out my OS/2 Warp CD-ROM!!

[tags]windows,os x,linux,os/2,virtualization,openosx,wintel,parallels workstation,it works[/tags]