Running RadarBox 2009 under VMware Fusion?

[mcr]

I just aquired my RadarBox - been thinking about one for ages. I installed it on my Windows XP machine and it ran fine for the couple of hours I used it. My project for this week though was to retire that machine - I'm gradually switching to a Mac environment. I still need some Windows applications (not least RadarBox!) so I installed VMware Fusion and have built a Windows7 virtual machine on my Mac. I installed the RadarBox software yesterday and it worked fine for an hour or so. Today though I'm having problems - it works for a while then stops working. What happens (repeatedly, same each time) is this: connect USB device, software starts showing nearby flights (with USB and Signal LEDs flashing). After a few minutes the Signal LED goes off - but oddly it does still seem to be tracking flights (not network - local). Shortly after that the USB LED goes off too and at that point it stops working. Restarting the software doesn't get it working again. Logically disconnecting and reconnecting the USB device (in Fusion) doesn't help. Physically unplugging the USB cable and reconnecting it a few seconds later gets things working again - but only for a few minutes. Reboots (of the virtual Win7 machine and/or the host Mac) make no difference.

Has anybody got this type of setup working, or do I really need to keep a (hardware) Windows machine around just for this software?

[Jeremy]

Have you tried another USB lead. Sometimes poor quality ones can not cope with the power requirements.
J.

[mcr]

I was using the one supplied with the device, so I'd hope it was a good one, but just in case I've tried another - the behaviour stays the same. I also noted that there was a software upgrade available to version 3.13, I've installed that and still I have the same problem. :(

Perhaps I have a faulty box?

[AirNav Support]

Check you don't have any power settings turning of any USBs as if its working fine under your XP machine it rules out being faulty.

[donegalvolvo]

I had the exact same problem with VMWare but when I switched to Parallels it has not happened since.

Trial available from http://www.parallels.com/eu/

[Spaice]

I also used it under Parallels with no issues, however I still prefer to run RB under windows partition (Dual Boot) on the Mac.  It would seem that Airnav have no plans to develop software for the Mac despite the growing number of users, and I suppose given the Niche market of this kind of software it makes little commercial sense.

You may find that re installing the usb drivers whilst running under VMWare may help solve the problem.

[mcr]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. I'll keep the Parallels option in reserve for now, I use VMware on several other machines for other purposes and I'd like to stick to one vendor for virtualisation software if I can, so I'll take this issue up with VMware support and see if they have any ideas. There are some articles on their site about USB issues relating to Fusion. I'll let you know how it goes!

[carras320]

I´m also running MAC but I use the VMWare as virtual XP machine and it works fine.

AirNav, when a RB Software for MAC users?.

Have a happy new year.