Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Have you considered leaving the 2008 iMac as it is (no software updates) and running it headless? Connect to it with VNC or similar from a newer Mac for everything else and use a shared network drive for moving things between them when needed?

You would also be able to run Snow Leopard in a VM on a new Mac.

Migration Assistant should work fine between the two Macs. I don't think there's any risk of harming the old one.

You can run 2x versions of OSX, either as a dual boot, or window in window (or what ever it's called) no windows required.

But, it only worked twice for me with Mojave and Catalina as dual boot. And this is also to run legacy software.

I'm not a computer expert at all - I just google/youtube things and hope i can muddle though. I don't really understand the above - but anything that requires him to alter how he currently uses his computer is probably a no, so some shared drive sounds tricky.

Also, it's a built in screen /iMac - so will always have it's head on...if I've understood.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16241273/

Ipad sold. All else still available.

run Snow Leopard in a VM on a new Mac.

What does this mean exactly?

The thing I liked about my solution was how easy it was for him. I used a trial version of "Crossover" to install the windows version of Appleworks. This meant he just had an Appleworks icon in his launchpad and when clicked, it would just seemlessly boot up, with crossover running in the background.

Would this be the same for your suggestion?

This old dog is not going to be learning any new tricks - so it needs to be as close to how you'd normally use the Mac as possible.

Again, I'm not really sure I follow! Thanks for all the help though - it is really useful to bounce this off people who know what they're talking about!

Whats Window in Window?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine

You get him a new(er) mac that works with all the up to date stuff, and then on that you run a virtual machine with snow leopard that has all his old apps and files on.

This thread may or may not be useful https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/snow-leopard-vm-running-in-catalina.2211489/

nice circa 2012 iMac

I have a 27 incher sat next to me right now. SSD upgraded... It's been sat there for a year now and not been turned on. If you'd like me to remove the layer of dust and take a photo I'm sure I can be persuaded.

Get an iPad for him to do all new web browsing/email requirements and leave the computer he works on as it is.

Yeah - this was the other solution. I still think he'd prefer a one stop shop - emails in one place etc. At the moment hes forwarding emails to Mother in law's iPad, and doing it from there - but they don't seem to like this solution (interrupts mother in law from doom scrolling the daily mail for stories about Meghan Markle)

At the end of the day, he's really quite old - likes to sit in his study and get all the things done. It's tricky, because as he gets older he's falling for scams, forgetting how to do things, and doesn't work well in the "modern" world with multi factor authorisation etc. They still don't internet bank (don't think they ever will) but hes also pretty deaf. Tech life needs to get easier rather than harder.

He's also amazing, in that he still works at 87, and is generally "busy" - without which I don't think he'd be as healthy.

Which brings me onto the next headache....I think there may be a few....
He uses Microsoft Entourage for his email - it looks like this may be some kind of nightmare to move over into outlook on a new system....any words of advice?

May PM...but I'll check - 27 may be too big...his current one is 24 and looks huge to me.

Also, it's a built in screen /iMac - so will always have it's head on...if I've understood.

It will but you don't have to look at it. Turn it to face the wall or something.

Several people have suggested VMs which would be great with Windows but getting Mac OS to run as a VM can be tricky.

The shared drive would be fairly seamless, the change in how your father-in-law uses the computer is he would need to run VNC Viewer (or similar) to get a window on his old machine rather than walking up to it.

Microsoft Entourage

That seems to support IMAP. I'm assuming his primary email store is on the local machine so it's a multi-stage process. Start by moving his email provider to one that supports IMAP (if not already). Then move all the email from his local machine to the IMAP store. Then you can in theory run a new email client on the new machine pointing to that same IMAP store. I've done something similar for my father but he is only 80 and I did it a couple of years ago so had it slightly easier.

Thanks - thats really helpful.

I'm going to keep trying to get my action plan updated ready for a "fun" Christmas where I try to get it all to work!

Apple heads - where to go in London for cheap / decent iPad repairs? Have a fucked up home button that needs replacing I think.

Get newer Intel-based iMac (not a new 24” M1 model), buy a copy of Parallels, install the most recent version of OSX that supports AppleWorks 6, set it to ‘Coherence’ mode: fanny’s ur aunt.

This’ll run the antiquated software in question as if it were a native app, with all saving/loading of files done from the same Documents folder or wherever he currently keeps everything.

I did something similar for a client years ago; ancient property management program coded as a mind-bogglingly complex assemblage of Microsoft Access 97 macros, which would only run on Windows XP. His 15 year old Dell desktop finally died, so I migrated everything to a 27” iMac running XP and Access 97 in Parallels, and you can’t tell that it’s not a native app.

Thanks, this seems closer to the Windows solution I've already got working. Agree it would be neater to run a Mac OS version if I can. I need OS 10.6.3 which originally came on a disk, but don't think he has this anymore. Currently got the disk image from this page on download -https://archive.org/details/MacOSXSnowLeopard . Fingers crossed this works.

Parallels looks easier to navigate than Crossover - big love for the free 14 day trials these apps provide.

He keeps the iMac for appleworks 6 and gets an iPad for internetting.

Ive a 2013 macbook air 8Gb Ram

Power supply gone and it freezes up all the time. Gone back to Catalina and worked through all the software/ config options.

I bought a new mba (as missus was going to sydney and needed something reliable immediately) so its now just sitting there.

What should I do with it? A power supply and motherboard may resurrect it - and frankly I'm not seeing much of a difference between a 2013 mba and a 2021 mba. But I'm looking at > £300 I guess, with some uncertainty - perhaps its the drive which is more $$ - and thats all more than its then worth.

Get newer Intel-based iMac (not a new 24” M1 model), buy a copy of Parallels, install the most recent version of OSX that supports AppleWorks 6, set it to ‘Coherence’ mode

This sounds like the neatest solution / the one that I think would be the easiest to handle for your dad @Scrabble

What are the ipads these days? Any new ones due?

Want something simple for netflix and using as a teleprompter source, then potentially something more capable for work (controlling lights / cameras / vision mixing etc). Not in an urgent hurry but not up to speed with what's been released when / cycles etc.

Nothing new due.
Normal iPad, iPad mini and iPad Air all recently updated

Pro’s have the M1 chip inside

Just seen some footage of people editing on the ipad pro - actually pretty convincing for an on the road laptop alternative for editing dailies. And TB4 for footage transfers... Wonder if there'll be be an ipad pro m1...pro (or max) at some stage.

I’m going to assume so, generation of creatives who have grown up working on iPads rather than laptops, and who don’t have that legacy production workflow that older editors do so just work with what is out there.
In terms of editing on iPad, so they have ports to hook up external drives to view footage or is it all cloud based?

The pro seems to have a thunderbolt 4.. saw someone scrubbing through 8k R5 and DJI footage (both super compressed) without any issues at all using Luma Fusion over a drive.

Or for cloud there's 5G/WiFi 6... Might dabble..