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Forum thread: Apple Mac
| Mark Fertig 07 September 2013 12:52 |
Hi Marcus, We are updating to Apple Mac's next Monday, how can I use a Mac on an Individual licence? Many Thanks, |
| Marcus Butler (STEARsoft) 07 September 2013 17:28 |
Dear Sam, Thank you for your post. You can only run the STEARsoft server on a Windows PC, but provided you keep your Windows PC running STEARsoft and both the new Macs and your PC are on the same network, you'll be able to use your Macs too. Just type in the web address the STEARsoft server uses into a web-browser on your Mac (normally Safari). Don't forget to put the :13031 at the end of the address. Yours, Marcus |
| Mark Fertig 07 September 2013 17:58 |
Thanks for your post, I have an individual licence and most likely all Windows computers will go in the school. I hope there is another solution as we were going to get a school subscription in October! |
| Marcus Butler (STEARsoft) 07 September 2013 20:20 |
Dear Sam, Running STEARsoft purely on a Mac with no Windows PC in sight is unfortunately not an option. If you're planning to get a school subscription, even if it was possible it would probably not be your best option anyway (see below). I would suggest keeping one Windows PC to run STEARsoft as a dedicated server. You can then leave it permanently switched on and keep it in a more secure room. Once set up it won't need a keyboard and screen, so needn't take up much space. All STEARsoft administration can be done remotely through the web interface (eg from a Mac), and should you need more control, 'Remote Desktop' is a useful feature of Windows that allows remote logging in. Keeping a dedicated server machine for STEARsoft is what you will need anyway if you're planning to get a school subscription; and a dedicated Windows PC is usually cheaper than a Mac - especially if you've already got one that you'd otherwise be getting rid of. I hope this gives you a sensible route forwards. Yours, Marcus |
| Mark Fertig 07 September 2013 20:23 |
May I ask if you will be developing an option in the foreseeable future? For intense all that needs done is for the download file not to be .exe. I will try the above. Thanks |
| Marcus Butler (STEARsoft) 07 September 2013 21:16 |
There is no current plan to produce a Mac version of the server. That may change in 6 months or a year of course, but I don't envisage anything within 2 years say, and probably longer. In fact a linux version is currently higher up the list and more likely to happen first. As hinted at above, school deployments would probably favour a Windows server anyway, even if all users had Macs. There is certainly far greater choice of hardware down this route. Investment in hardware with fantastic graphics, other media capability and slim-line looks is wasted on a server that might sit in a store-room. STEARsoft has modest needs; It will still run on Windows 2000 (and anything more recent), is not multi-threaded (so doesn't benefit from multiple cored processors) and only uses a modest amount of memory (by today's standards), even for a large school of say 1500 students. They key things that will affect STEARsoft performance are single-core processor speed, bus speed, memory speed and network speed (so use wires, not WiFi to this machine). A fast hard-drive will also help, particularly with start-up times. Thank you for giving the opportunity to explain some of this, as I'm not sure the main site includes some of this detail and thinking. Yours, Marcus. |
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