Earlier this year I switched laptops and now have a MacBook Pro. I am at the point in rebuilding my layout that I need to update my DCS TIU and my hand held remotes. In reading the info on the loader instructions, I am somewhat confused if the loader will work on a Mac. Can anyone provide any info on this?
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Dave,
In order t make it work on a Mac, as I've done, you need to build a Windows environment on the Mac. There are several ways to do this, including Apple's Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop for Mac and VM FusionWare.
Regardless of which method you choose, you'll need to acquire a licensable copy of Windows.
Thanks for the info, Barry. That helps.
It would probably be cheaper and easier just to buy an old used Windows laptop.
Just build yourself a windows partition using BootCamp. When you boot the machine you hold down the option key and it will let you select the windows boot disk. The most amazing part is that your MacBook will run windows better than any windows machine
Any special tricks to getting this to work under VMware Fusion? I am using a MacBook Pro running Windows 7 in a VM with a USB to Serial Cable. According to my Windows configuration, COM 1 is the one in use. In the DCS Loader, I have tried both auto search and assigning COM 1 to the TIU, and neither works. The USB/Serial cable shows up in my Fusion settings, and I have rebooted the Windows VM and TIU multiple times. I am pretty sure the problem is in my Windows configuration, but I have no idea where to troubleshoot.
Tumbleweed56,
Have you ensured that the MBP USB ports are bridged to the virtual machine? Will Win7 "see" another USB device (say, a flash drive) inserted into the same USB port?
I was able to successfully upgrade my TIU to 5.0 using a VM (WinXP running in VirtualBox).
Bob
Bob - Thanks for the reply. I have a USB CD drive that the Win 7 VM reads just fine (I have used it to load several old applications that only run on Windows). I have put USB to Serial cable in that same USB port, so as far as I can tell the MBP USB ports are bridged and working fine in the Win 7 VM.
I am sure that there is some really basic setting that I am missing, but I am at a loss. I have updated the Windows drivers, so not sure what to try next. Thanks for the help.
Chris
Chris, can you see the USB-to-serial cable in Win7 device manager, properly recognized, and operating on COM1 [as here]? Bob
No. In Device Manager under Port (Com and LPT), I have Communications Port (COM1). It does not say USB to Serial cable, so for some reason the USB to Serial cable is not being recognized. I have installed updated drivers that came with the cable, but they must not be working.
Thanks,
Chris
so for some reason the USB to Serial cable is not being recognized
Chris,
Agree, sounds like a driver issue. Any way to de-install the driver, maybe let Win7 try to find driver automatically on its own when cable is plugged in? Or maybe try a different version of Windows, or test driver/cable on a dedicated Windows PC?
Just throwing out some ideas for further troubleshooting. Good luck, and let us know once you find a fix. 
Bob
Chris,
When you connect the USB to serial adapter, does the MAC ask you wether you want to connect it to the Mac or the Windows VM? Make sure the Windows VM is booted and ready before you connect the USB adapter and you select Connect to Windows. I have a MBP with Fusion 8 Pro and this setup works great. My adapter shows up as COM3. The only issue I've had is if I try to let the loader auto detect the COM port. I just select COM3 in the dropdown and all works well.
Tony
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