Migrating my Trados environment to Mac -- a few questions
Thread poster: Jacques DP
Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
Oct 17, 2012

Hello there,

I am in the process of migrating my work processes from a PC setup to a Mac setup. Things are looking good but I am not there quite yet, and I would have a few questions... (I'm new to Macs but familiar with computer science in general)

So far I have done the following. I installed Windows 7 (Home Premium 64 bits) with Bootcamp. There I installed Studio and Multiterm 2009, and SDL Trados 2007. Then in OS X I installed Parallels Desktop 8 (trial version), an
... See more
Hello there,

I am in the process of migrating my work processes from a PC setup to a Mac setup. Things are looking good but I am not there quite yet, and I would have a few questions... (I'm new to Macs but familiar with computer science in general)

So far I have done the following. I installed Windows 7 (Home Premium 64 bits) with Bootcamp. There I installed Studio and Multiterm 2009, and SDL Trados 2007. Then in OS X I installed Parallels Desktop 8 (trial version), and I chose the option to use the Bootcamp partition as the basis for the Parallels virtual machine. This is on a 2011 iMac 21.5 with 12GB RAM.

The first problem I am meeting is with licenses. I could activate SDL Trados 2007 when booting the physical machine in Windows. But when accessing it from OS X in Parallels, I was asked to activate it again, and this time it refused, saying that I had activated it too many times. Is it the case that, though 2007 is installed only once in this setup, it would require two separate licenses/activations?

Thanks!

Jacques
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Giunia Totaro
Giunia Totaro  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:36
French to Italian
+ ...
Why Bootcamp + Parallels? Oct 17, 2012

Hi Jacques,

is there a particular reason why you decided to have both Bootcamp and Parallels? If you need to boot your machine in Windows, Bootcamp is enough; if you want to easily switch from one OS to another, Parallels is wonderful. I understand having both could virtually be an advantage, but are you sure it really is in your specific case?

AFAIK, having Parallels installed in the Bootcamp partition equals having *two* Windows machines, one native (in Bootcamp) and
... See more
Hi Jacques,

is there a particular reason why you decided to have both Bootcamp and Parallels? If you need to boot your machine in Windows, Bootcamp is enough; if you want to easily switch from one OS to another, Parallels is wonderful. I understand having both could virtually be an advantage, but are you sure it really is in your specific case?

AFAIK, having Parallels installed in the Bootcamp partition equals having *two* Windows machines, one native (in Bootcamp) and one virtual (in Parallels), that's why your Trados license won't work the second time. Trying to use the same license both on the native and on the virtual machines is the same as installing the Trados sf on two separate computers.

Anyway, wait for more experienced users to come to your rescue, and let's hope I'm wrong : )
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Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Java tool on a Mac Oct 17, 2012

Hi,

Why not forget about the whole overhead of Parallels/Bootcamp and Windows and work with a Java application that can handle sdlxliff files, Trados ttx files and Trados bilingual rtf files directly?

There are several alternatives, like Wordfast Pro (ttx?? and bilingual rtf), Swordfish (ttx, rtf and sdlxliff) and -- my personal favourite -- CafeTran (ttx, rtf, sdlxliff).
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Hi,

Why not forget about the whole overhead of Parallels/Bootcamp and Windows and work with a Java application that can handle sdlxliff files, Trados ttx files and Trados bilingual rtf files directly?

There are several alternatives, like Wordfast Pro (ttx?? and bilingual rtf), Swordfish (ttx, rtf and sdlxliff) and -- my personal favourite -- CafeTran (ttx, rtf, sdlxliff).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ivZrWj4hdms

Cheerio,

Hans
iMac 27"/MacBook Pro 13"
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Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
The dual Bootcamp/Parallels setup looked liked the ideal solution Oct 17, 2012

Hi Juliette,

The reason is that I am not sure yet if the Parallels setup will work satisfactorily. Therefore when I saw that the Bootcamp install could be used in Parallels, it looked like the ideal solution. I can try to work in Mac+Parallels and if things go wrong I can reboot my machine into Windows, with a familiar environment and more power (no overhead). The great thing being that this is a single install on which I would work from the two systems.

Now it seems th
... See more
Hi Juliette,

The reason is that I am not sure yet if the Parallels setup will work satisfactorily. Therefore when I saw that the Bootcamp install could be used in Parallels, it looked like the ideal solution. I can try to work in Mac+Parallels and if things go wrong I can reboot my machine into Windows, with a familiar environment and more power (no overhead). The great thing being that this is a single install on which I would work from the two systems.

Now it seems there are problems in this approach. First there is a lot of disk space wasted by the Bootcamp partition (I "only" have 500GB). And now the license issues, apparently.

So I am in fact planning now to create a pure Parallels VM and delete the Bootcamp partition, and see how it goes.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts
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Giunia Totaro
Giunia Totaro  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:36
French to Italian
+ ...
Go for Parallels... Oct 17, 2012

Ok, got it. I read about possible problems with Parallels-hosted VM when using Trados.

Point is, that was probably true in the past - I run Windows, with Trados on it (and several other Windows applications and sf) on a Parallels-hosted WM on a 2009 iMac, and it runs smoothly with only 4 Gb (RAM). Never ever had problems, never. In fact, Windows seems much more reliable when run on Mac than on PC...

My suggestion would be to undo everything you've done up to now, and
... See more
Ok, got it. I read about possible problems with Parallels-hosted VM when using Trados.

Point is, that was probably true in the past - I run Windows, with Trados on it (and several other Windows applications and sf) on a Parallels-hosted WM on a 2009 iMac, and it runs smoothly with only 4 Gb (RAM). Never ever had problems, never. In fact, Windows seems much more reliable when run on Mac than on PC...

My suggestion would be to undo everything you've done up to now, and just partition your HD and do a clean Parallels install on the new partition. Make sure you set your partition capacity to "expanding", so you won't waste HD space unnecessarily. The only real advantage of having Windows installed natively in Bootcamp is that your machine is supposed to be faster, but I guess the difference is unnoticeable to, er, the human eye : )

My 2c

ps Be sure you back up your *whole* HD (with Carbon Copy Cloner for ex., or other disc-image creators), as well as with Time Machine, before adventuring into formatting and clean reinstall.

Good luck!
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Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
About using a native Mac CAT tool Oct 17, 2012

Hi Hans,

The question about Trados or not Trados is a question that goes beyond the scope of my question, in which Trados is a basic requirement

Thanks for your suggestions anyway, I might try these programs some day.


 
Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Juliette Oct 17, 2012

Yes, this is in fact what I am doing. Thanks!

(Expect some more questions later on!)


 
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Pros and cons Oct 17, 2012

Jacques DP wrote:

The question about Trados or not Trados is a question that goes beyond the scope of my question, in which Trados is a basic requirement


True, there are some things that you can do with Studio 2011 and cannot do with CafeTran (e.g. track changes when reviewing, add character formatting). But the same applies to the other way around (e.g. sorting segments alphabetically, auto-assembling target segments, search engine integration).

I translate everything in CafeTran and when I've finished a sdlxliff or ttx project I start up Parallels and Studio or TagEditor to verify and finalise. 98 % of my daily working time on the Mac side, 1 % (or less) on the Windows side, 1 % looking out of the Window while windows boots.



But that's just the way I do it .

Good luck in exploring!

Hans


 
Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Nice Oct 17, 2012

Nice picture!
And thanks for your input, which I will keep in mind.


 
Giunia Totaro
Giunia Totaro  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:36
French to Italian
+ ...
Very nice pic Oct 17, 2012

... indeed : )

ps Jacques
you do not really need to format, I guess. Just set a new VM up, copy all files and sf in it, then eliminate the Bootcamp partition and the old VM. Then enjoy : )


 
LEXpert
LEXpert  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 00:36
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
Don't forget to return your Trados license Oct 18, 2012

If you plan on re-doing the Windows arrangement on your Mac by reformatting and reinstalling, don't forget to return your Trados license first, so that you won't have problems reactivating it.

 
Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Entering special characters in Windows/Parallels with Mac keyboard Oct 18, 2012

Hi there,

In Parallels/Windows, I am trying to input a "@" character from the Mac keyboard. How can I do that? The keyboard shortcut which works in OS X doesn't work there...

Thanks.

PS Rudolf: yes, I had thought about that, thanks!


 
Stephanie Busch
Stephanie Busch  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:36
English to German
+ ...
ctrl + alt + q Oct 18, 2012

This shortcut will insert an @ sign in MS Word, Excel, etc. (I am using Parallels 5 on a 2009 iMac with a Mac keyboard).

 
Giunia Totaro
Giunia Totaro  Identity Verified
Local time: 06:36
French to Italian
+ ...
Define the input Oct 18, 2012

Generally speaking, you can define the needed keyboard input in Parallels so that it reflects your Mac keyboard's shortcuts.

I seem to recall that you can do that by Control Panel > Keyboard input then select Apple keyboard and the needed language (FR for you, I guess, depending on your keyboard).

Don't know if it's clear enough, if it's not I'll look into my notes and post agin later,

Ciao


 
Jacques DP
Jacques DP  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 06:36
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
What I found about keyboard input Oct 18, 2012

Actually, the special characters (the ‘third characters’ associated to keyboard keys) in Parallels/Windows are where they are (on the keyboard) in Windows, which is defined by the locale-dependent standard PC layout. The physical keys don’t have the labels so they should be remembered or noted somewhere.

That will do for me, since there are only a few of them that I actually use.

Juliette’s approach seems interesting for people used to the extended Mac layout an
... See more
Actually, the special characters (the ‘third characters’ associated to keyboard keys) in Parallels/Windows are where they are (on the keyboard) in Windows, which is defined by the locale-dependent standard PC layout. The physical keys don’t have the labels so they should be remembered or noted somewhere.

That will do for me, since there are only a few of them that I actually use.

Juliette’s approach seems interesting for people used to the extended Mac layout and who want it to apply in Windows.

Thanks Juliette and Stephanie!

[Edited at 2012-10-18 16:19 GMT]
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Migrating my Trados environment to Mac -- a few questions






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