Borg: I finally bit the bullet and bought the Express card for Xite-1.  I will eventually switch to a Mac Mini Server later this year and if time permits I'm going to partition and install bootcamp.

So for basic Scope and Ableton usage (I don't use the extensive sample libraries, which are on the other partition anyway) what would be a good size?  Any special OS requirements, tips, tricks or or Pitfalls?   

Sunmachine:  It depends on your Mac what Windows version can be installed. See this link for details:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634

  • Read/Write Access:  You have read-only access to the Bootcamp partition from within OS X and vice versa.  So if your samples are on the OS X partition you should be able to access them from within Windows right out of the box.  But you can't change them there.  Having said that there are third-party tools that enable also write access.  Instead of buying and installing such tools I have a FAT-formatted SD card in my Mac Mini that serves as a two-way file exchange disk.  A NAS would be another solution.

  • Windows 32 bit or 64 bit: Since there are some things that don't work properly in Scope for Win 64-bit, yet, I'd suggest to install Win 32-bit (that is, if you can't live without the things that don't work).  Keep this in mind when you buy a Mac Mini (or any other Mac), since the newer ones only allow to install the 64-bit versions of Windows (see the fore-mentioned link).

  • Windows License:  Buy a Windows license that is valid for both 32-bit and 64-bit. I bought a license key for Win7 Professional at eBay and downloaded an ISO image for the installation.

  • Extra I/O Ports:  Check your needs before buying the Mac Mini. Do you need USB3?  Do you want to attach a second display?  Current Mac Mini models only have one Thunderbolt port that is needed for the XITE-1. I don't know if it's possible to connect the XITE-1 and a second display to the same Thunderbolt port.  Well, I think it is possible somehow with an external Thunderbolt dock, but I don't know if it's a good idea.  Maybe someone else can shed some light on this.  Let's see if the new models will come with two Thunderbolt ports.  You can also get an external graphic card for USB3 to connect a second display.  Don't know if this also works with USB2.

  • ExpressCard Adaptor:  To connect the XITE-1 via Thunderbolt to the Mac, you'll need the Sonnet Thunderbolt ExpressCard Adapter.

  • Disconnect External Drives:  Before installing Windows, disconnect all external drives.  If I recall correctly I had an external drive connected when I installed it and thus the reboot failed.  Windows likes to be rebooted as you may know.

  • Select the correct language:   Do this at installation time.  This is not only the language used for the Windows installation but also the language for the Windows GUI later on.  I did the mistake to think it's just the installation language so I ended up with a German version, although I prefer an English GUI.  As far as I know in Windows 7 Ultimate you can easily switch languages on the fly though.  It's a little bit more complicated in the Professional version.

  • Disable Internet:  After windows installation (and activation) turn off the internet connection if you don't want it to be online. (I've also assigned a static IP that I block in my internet router.)

  • Boot up Behavior:  You can set up the Bootcamp partition as default start volume in the OS X system settings.  To boot into OS X, press ALT immediately after turning on the computer and select the OS X partition.

 

Borg and Sunmachine October 2014