Q: how to download a program on a disc to mac
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Dec 11, 2011 2:08 PMby Tess from Abington,HI.. thanks for the reply.. Can't believe I didn't state that ! It is windows, from 1980 belive it or not ! It is a simple program that is used for key codes. My husband is a locksmith. The program has floated from several pc's as you can imagine.. and now with my new mac, I'd like it here. It started on a floppy...which I still have, and then it was put onto a disc. When I put the disc in the mac, (or the old pc), it shows lots of stuff on it....lots of demos, etc, . The floppy says it's a zip file, and makes two mentions of "zip"...one with the program name, followed by ".zip" , then, something else that says "PKZIP ver. 2.04 G " .... that would be great if I could get it running here. thanks again for the reply.
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Dec 11, 2011 2:15 PMby Kappy,Well, you may have a bit of a problem. You cannot run Windows/DOS programs on a Mac, as is. You can install Windows on a Mac as well as run Windows through special software. The problem will be that such old software most likely requires Windows XP to work. What are the chances you might find an upgrade for the software?
If you must use XP then you will need a retail bootable installer for XP. To unzip a .ZIP archive on a Mac simply double-click on the archive and it will be unarchived for you. On Windows XP you would need to download a helper to unzip the archives.
In any event here are alternatives for running Windows. Note that the Boot Camp alternative will require you to install Windows 7 which is the only version that runs on the newest Macs. If you need to run XP then you will need to follow the virtualization route such as Parallels.
Windows on Intel Macs
There are presently several alternatives for running Windows on Intel Macs.
1. Install the Apple Boot Camp software. Purchase Windows XP w/Service Pak2, Vista, or Windows 7. Follow instructions in the Boot Camp documentation on installation of Boot Camp, creating Driver CD, and installing Windows. Boot Camp enables you to boot the computer into OS X or Windows.
2. Parallels Desktop for Mac and Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. Parallels is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
3. VM Fusionand Windows XP, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate, or Windows 7. VM Fusion is software virtualization that enables running Windows concurrently with OS X.
4. CrossOver which enables running many Windows applications without having to install Windows. The Windows applications can run concurrently with OS X.
5. VirtualBox is a new Open Source freeware virtual machine such as VM Fusion and Parallels that was developed by Solaris. It is not as fully developed for the Mac as Parallels and VM Fusion.
6. Last is Q. Q is a freeware emulator that is compatible with Intel Macs. It is much slower than the virtualization software, Parallels and VM Fusion.
Note that Parallels and VM Fusion can also run other operating systems such as Linux, Unix, OS/2, Solaris, etc. There are performance differences between dual-boot systems and virtualization. The latter tend to be a little slower (not much) and do not provide the video performance of the dual-boot system. See MacTech.com's Virtualization Benchmarking for comparisons of Boot Camp, Parallels, and VM Fusion. Boot Camp is only available with Leopard or Snow Leopard. Except for Crossover and a couple of similar alternatives like DarWine you must have a valid installer disc for Windows.
You must also have an internal optical drive for installing Windows. Windows cannot be installed from an external optical drive.
