cessnagirl
18th Dec 2015, 23:55
Just got my first Mac-Book Air. Want to use Rant & Flight Sim but have no idea how to install them.. Any ideas?
Thanks, CG
le Pingouin
19th Dec 2015, 03:39
Those are Windows programs and you're using a Mac so you can't install them without first installing Windows in some form.
Two alternatives: setting up a dual boot system where you install Windows on a separate partition and choose to boot either OS X or Windows when you start (or reboot) the computer. Not an overly convenient solution because you can only use one operating system (OS X or Windows) at a time.
The other alternative is to install Windows in a virtual machine (a virtual computer running in software) and run that within OS X. Far more convenient as you're using both operating systems at the same time but it affects system performance (may or may not be an issue depending on your hardware).
The caveat is you need to have a suitable copy of Windows available to install complete with its own licence key.
There is also Crossover which can run some Windows software directly in OS X but you're out of luck with Flight SIm and no idea about Rant.
There are two main ways to run Windows software on a Mac.
One is to use a Virtual Machine, which effectively runs a copy of Windows on top of OSX. Running two operating systems at once and a hypervisor ([eg. VirtualBox, VMware, Parallels] - the software that allows you to run Windows in a Virtual Machine ) is obviously much more resource intensive than just running one natively. This works ok for undemanding software.
The other is to install Windows natively on your Macbook, by partitioning your hard disk (or SSD) using Boot Camp so that you can choose either OSX or Windows when you boot your Macbook. This gives either operating system full access to the hardware and is better for hardware-intensive applications.
For RANT, you could follow the author's own advice here: RANT on a Mac (http://www.oddsoft.co.uk/newst5.html). You could also try WINE (http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/), but you may find that RANT does not work, or is buggy - there might be a reason Oddsoft didn't recommend it (this is actually a third way of running Windows software - sometimes it works, sometimes not).
Unfortunately, the Macbook Air is not really suited to flight simming; it is a lightweight in the graphics and CPU department. It is certainly not impossible, but expect to have to dial most of the settings down to their minimum in order to make it flyable.
You will definitely be in for a very disappointing experience if you try to run this on a Windows-based virtual machine. If you really want to run Flight Simulator, I suggest you install Boot Camp and then install a native copy of Windows.
What you really want is something native to the Mac. You want X-Plane (http://www.x-plane.com/desktop/mac/). You should try the free demo for suitability on the Macbook Air before making a purchase.