December 2001 Archives
Being a cross-platform person, I spend a lot of time on the dark side ie. Windows
Although I have extensively used Virtual PC, nothing beats having a real honest to goodness i386 architecture to run Windows.
But you don't want two keyboards, mice, monitors etc. And more than one person should be able to utilise the x86 box at the same time.
For a long time Citrix have been offering products which satisfy these requirements. I make extensive use of this at work and have been involved in building Citrix servers (which is an odd, patience testing task)
However, Citrix don't have a huge commitment to the Mac, their Mac client was actually deveopled by Insignia (they also developed the only competition Virtual PC ever had SoftWindows)
Almost a year after the release of OS X, there is no sign of an OS X native Citrix client, so until today, my only way of running Citrix was via Classic, which was frustrating.
But, I noticed that Citrix have recently released an update to their Java ICA client.
This client has always been unfriendly to the mac, but mostly worked (albeit slowly as all java did under OS 9). However I have had two issues with the java client under OS X
- Program Neighborhood would crash on launch - that's a biggie as it's half of the client solution
- Keyboard input was ignored, another major show stopper
Well, the latest ICA Java version (v6.20.1205 - 11/12/01) finally fixes the program neighborhood issue and as a result finally gives me a fix for the second issue via the newly accessible program neighborhood
I am now in ICA heaven (or as close as I can be until a truly native ICA client is released). This of course begs the question, is Java a truly native application environment for OS X?
Anyway, thanks MRJAppBuilder I now have double clickable applications for the two modes of Citrix ICA Client operation and more importantly, now that Program Neighborhood works, I can set my keyboard type which allows Citrix to recognise my text input
To read how to set this up for yourself, click for
I've been experimenting with this recently.
Currently I have a utility CD, booting OS 9.2.1 and chock full of goodies for fixing almost any mac problem. I also have similar for x86 machines but am sorely limited by a reliance on DOS and the plethora of network/scsi drivers required for widespread support.
With my own Mac constantly running OS X these days, it makes some degree of sense to start thinking of bootable OS X CDs and the ability to repair/optimize/hack from a CD boot.
The default OS X install/upgrade CDs are bootable, but will only launch installer.app. This can be changed by editing /etc/rc.cdrom on the CD prior to burning. However most apps expect to be able to save their preferences and make unnecessary assumptions about write-access.
I have managed to modify a 10.1 CD to launch Terminal rather than Installer, however Terminal fails as it is opening a window. It is either looking for a file which does not exist on the CD or is expecting to have write access.
These problems have been resolved on other operating systems with the usage of a RAM disk. Is this an appropriate path to follow?
Closer inspection of the rc.xxxx scripts is required and any suggestions are welcomed.
