Many Mac users need to either run the occasional PC program or
connect to a Windows network to share files or printers. But when
they upgraded to OS X, they were out of luck - popular
programs that provided these functions (such as Connectix's Virtual
PC and Thursby's Dave) simply did not work under OS X.
Until now.
This winter, new versions of both Virtual PC and Dave have been
released, each providing support for both classic Mac OS's and
OS X in the same box.
We looked at VPC last Friday and examine
Dave in this article.
Dave 3.1
While emulators like Virtual PC let you actually run PC
operating systems and programs on your Mac, many of us have needs
that are less flamboyant. We may simply need to connect our Mac to
a Windows network so we can share files and printers on the
network.
With both Macs and Windows systems using the TCP/IP networking
protocol, it would seem simple, but it isn't. Macs and Windows
speak different networking dialogues: AppleTalk and Client for
Microsoft Networking respectively. (For more on networking Macs and
Windows, see Living in a Windows
World)
Dave, from
Thursby Software, has long been the leader at letting a Mac
join an existing Windows network. (If you've got an existing Mac
network and want to add a PC or two, take a look at Miramar
System's PC MacLAN).
Versions up through 2.5 let Mac users log into a PC network and
access the PC's shared folders and shared Postscript printers.
Moreover, unlike products like Connectix's DoubleTalk (and
Thursby's lower-cost MacSoho), Windows users could also access
folders and Postscript printers on the Mac(s).
Dave 2.5 integrated itself into the classic Mac operating
system, appearing in the Chooser and also adding Apple Menu and
Control Strip icons. Dave 2.5 users who upgraded to OS X were
out of luck, however. None of those features worked under the new
operating system.
So Thursby went right to work on Dave: The Next Generation.
Version 3.0 was designed to work under OS X as well as classic
OS 8.6 or above. But as other developers found, Apple's OS X
10.1 upgrade broke everything they'd done, forcing them to start
over.
Moreover, as Steve Jobs demonstrated at Macworld New York in
July 2001, OS X 10.1 included built-in Samba (a.k.a. SMB)
support, an open source standard for connecting to Windows
networks.
Thursby tossed the unreleased 3.0 version, replacing it with 3.1
this winter, with simultaneous support for OS X 10.1 and
classic OS 8.6 and above. In actuality, these are two completely
separate programs.
Dave 3.1 for classic Mac operating systems is a modest upgrade
to version 2.5. As with previous versions, it integrates nicely
into the classic Mac way of working, making working with files and
Postscript printers shared on Windows systems appear as if they
were native Mac drives, folders, files, and printers. Select a
printer in the Chooser using Dave, and it appears as a desktop
printer. Similarly, Windows users can access files and Postscript
printers set as sharable on the Mac - without having to know that
they're really connected to a very different computer system.
The improvements over version 2.5 are subtle: an improved
installation, fewer system extensions (with all options accessible
from a single utility), keychain support, large file support, and
Unicode International Character support. If you're staying in the
classic Mac environment, you may see little need to spend US$90 on
this upgrade (US$150 for new purchasers).
The big news, obviously, is support for OS X.
It's not a simple matter to move a system-level add-in like Dave
to Apple's new operating system. It's not just a question of
recompiling the OS 9 version. OS X has no Chooser, for
example. Networking is built on a totally different base.
It would be easy to recommend Dave 3.x if we were still talking
about adding Dave to 10.0. It is possible to add Unix-style SMB
networking support to OS X 10.0, but it's not for the
faint-of-heart (or the typical Mac user).
Mac OS 10.1, however, promises built-in SMB support. Apple's
website promises: "We've also added support to natively connect to
Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Unix-based SAMBA file servers with the
built-in SMB client. These servers appear right in the Finder like
any other file server."
Sort of.
The built-in support is just a step up from a raw Terminal
command line. Click on the OS X's Finder's Go menu, then on Connect
to Server. In the address field, type something like
SMB://server_name/share_name, and the shared folder will
appear on the Desktop. You don't know the server's name? The share
name? Too bad; you won't get any hints from the operating
system.
You want to put icons for more than one shared folder on the
Desktop at the same time? Sorry - no can do.
You want to share files or printers on your Mac? Well,
maybe you can learn how to do it using open source SMB
add-ons, configuring them in the Terminal. Once again, this is not
for the faint of heart.
Just as the classic version of Dave uses standard operating
system tools like the Chooser and Control Strip, Thursby made the
OS X version integrate into the operating system's System
Preferences and Finder. With Dave installed, that previously
unfriendly Connect to Server dialogue gets a new Dave Network item
- choose it, and it starts opening up like the Finder's new Column
mode, showing network servers and shared folders, making it much
easier to use than Apple's bare-bones version.
Moreover, OS X users of Dave can choose to have their Mac
share folders with Windows users, and (new to this version, and in
OS X only), many models of inkjet printers connected to the
Mac can be shared across the Windows network.
Unlike the classic OS version, however, OS X users cannot access
shared Windows printers. Many users may find this a major
disappointment.
As well, there are a number of rough edges to the OS X
version. For instance, on both Macs that I tried it on, installing
both the classic and OS X version resulted in an error message
shutting down, restarting, or logging off OS X - there was a
complaint about the Dave Shutdown item installed by the classic OS
version. Booting to OS 9 and using the Extensions Manager
control panel to turn that off fixed it.
Thursby's email tech support was very helpful and hinted that
the company is hard at work trying to bring the OS X version's
printing support up to the level of the classic OS version.
If you're not sure if it's for you, the company has fully
functional time-limited evaluation versions of both the classic and
OS X versions available for download from their
website. 
