Device Support Questions

[plt1776]

1) Is the “no Apple silicon for Bootcamp” (other virtual Windows too?) a doesn’t work situation or a non-supported situation?
2) for Windows 11 laptop is there a minimum memory required?

FYI, I purchased the HEX-V2 not realizing that it was Windows-only, so looking at either the cheapest possible PC for this one application or a return.

Thank you

 

[wh17]

VCDS works perfect on a Mac (Intel and Silicon). Just download the free Fusion Player from VMware. This lets you run Windows XX on a Mac. Use the USB passthrough mode and your Domgle is recognized by Windows.
If you want it cheap, buy one of the many Laptops sold because they cant be upgraded to Windows11. You wont get updates for Windows11 but if you only want to run VCDS this might be the cheapest solution.

Here is something from the FAQ:
We recommend a PC running Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 with at least 2GB of RAM (single-core Atom-class processors are no longer recommended and Windows on ARM is only supported with the HEX-NET and HEX-V2). Screen resolution of at least 800x600 is recommended.

You dont need to be a high end laptop:-)

 

[Uwe]

2) for Windows 11 laptop is there a minimum memory required?

VCDS does not use a large amount of memory. Basically, if a particular version of Windows is happy on a PC, VCDS will be fine on it too.

-Uwe-

 

[nugentp]

1) Is the “no Apple silicon for Bootcamp” (other virtual Windows too?) a doesn’t work situation or a non-supported situation?
2) for Windows 11 laptop is there a minimum memory required?

FYI, I purchased the HEX-V2 not realizing that it was Windows-only, so looking at either the cheapest possible PC for this one application or a return.

Thank you

The other thing you can do if it's an Intel based Mac is to deploy windows in a Boot Camp partition. That works awesome and it's easy to boot machine in either OS. Other VM solutions are Parallels and Virtual Box - those also work nicely once you have set them up right. I use all three variations for different Macs with their own primary and secondary purposes. I actually hate windows (have used macs since the early 1990's) but have to suffer the painful ways of microsoft for a lot of automotive applications that are never going to land natively on a Mac.

 

[wh17]

The other thing you can do if it's an Intel based Mac is to deploy windows in a Boot Camp partition. That works awesome and it's easy to boot machine in either OS.

It works but this is NOT awesome, you need to shutdown macos, boot windows (wait for updates etc..). This consumes a lot of time...

Other VM solutions are Parallels and Virtual Box - those also work nicely once you have set them up right. I use all three variations for different Macs with their own primary and secondary purposes. I actually hate windows (have used macs since the early 1990's) but have to suffer the painful ways of microsoft for a lot of automotive applications that are never going to land natively on a Mac.

Same to me ... i have nearly everything native on my mac beside Project, Visio, Homebanking and VCDS.

Parallels: well very expensive pricing ... one time payment is without updates....
Virtual Box and Fusion are free.. so if you need it only for VCDS use one of these... works and you need not to boot your mac.

 

[nugentp]

Actually you will be surprised how quick windows 10 boots on an Intel MacBook and it's not hard to change OS on the next boot. Windows runs 100% native on the Mac hardware so no worries about VM drivers or any special configs. If you are having to swap OS a lot then sure it gets to be painful.

Agreed Parallels is expensive- I haven't updated that for a LONG time. VirtualBox is free (or was last I looked) but you still need a Windows OS license whatever you do unless you flying on the dark side.

 

[wh17]

Agreed Parallels is expensive- I haven't updated that for a LONG time. VirtualBox is free (or was last I looked) but you still need a Windows OS license whatever you do unless you flying on the dark side.

You need a license in ANY way (boot camp, parallels, fusion, virtuel box)...
So the difference is just the price for the VM host system...

I can only speak in detail about fusion (i had the paid version before it became free) and they have a clean usb passthrough mode, so the ross-tech hardware needs no special driver from a mac as is is not visible for macos but for the windows in my vm.
Parallels was and still is too expensive and phones home..(first version was from russia and hmmm is is nice to see with little snitch where some applications connect to..)

VCDS needs not too much ram and cpu power so any vm solution works..(on my Mac M3 VCDS is double as fast on a native windows :-)

 

[UCyborg]

What about using WINE?

From what I read, some people run it successfully that way on Linux. Though it does require some tinkering as by default, applications running as normal user don't see the diagnostic interface by default. No idea if macOS has similar restrictions for accessing specific hardware devices.

Operations are somewhat slower, but it may be an option if it's considered acceptable trade-off for convenience.

 

[nugentp]

You need a license in ANY way (boot camp, parallels, fusion, virtuel box)...
So the difference is just the price for the VM host system...

I can only speak in detail about fusion (i had the paid version before it became free) and they have a clean usb passthrough mode, so the ross-tech hardware needs no special driver from a mac as is is not visible for macos but for the windows in my vm.
Parallels was and still is too expensive and phones home..(first version was from russia and hmmm is is nice to see with little snitch where some applications connect to..)

VCDS needs not too much ram and cpu power so any vm solution works..(on my Mac M3 VCDS is double as fast on a native windows :-)

Yep - ya pays your money and takes your choice.

 

[wh17]

What about using WINE?

From what I read, some people run it successfully that way on Linux. Though it does require some tinkering as by default,

i requires modification in the system which is tricky and NOT a plug-and-play solution..

applications running as normal user don't see the diagnostic interface by default. No idea if macOS has similar restrictions for accessing specific hardware devices.

as is said, there is NO restriction as with pass-through mode macos does not see anything of the hardware. Everything is passed to the vm and requires the driver in the vm not for macOS.

Operations are somewhat slower, but it may be an option if it's considered acceptable trade-off for convenience.

Well Wine is free:-) so you save money for tje windows license. Well i dont know pricing in us, but in germany microsoft has to accept sale of parts from a company volume license. Thus you can it for aorund 5 Euro:-) as a legal key for activation.