quilting software for Mac Computers

[Deborah W.]

Okay I just got a Mac for Christmas. But my problem is the EQ I already have doesn't work on it. So now my options are either spend $$$ on a virtual PC, or choose another quilt software that will work. Does anyone have first hand experience with other softwares???? Thanks in advance for any advice. Cheryl

[Beth A.]

Hear, hear! There are legions of us out there switching to Macs, and it is very disappointing that most of the quilting software does not work on them.

The reason I switched was the virus situation. Macs are FAR less susceptible to viruses than PC's. A virus killed our last PC and made it run slow or at stop for a long time before that. We purchased our Mac out of frustration over that situation and because our daughter and son both have Mac laptops and have had NO problem with viruses. Nor have we in the almost-year since we purchased it.

But my EQ software and Kaleidescope Kreator sit here, unused! Boo!!!

BethMI

[Beth A.]

We bought one for the family about a month ago for the same reasons, plus a friend had recently switched over with nothing but rave reviews. We liked it so much DH got me one for Christmas to handle all the quilting, genealogy and photo's. I Absolutely LOVE it despite the EQ problem. I saw on the internet that the EQ works if you buy the virtual PC. It costs $80 or I have seen reviews on the quilt pro. I was hoping there would be more people on the site that had used either programs, or could recommend others. Cheryl

[Annis C.]

I used a PC program on my Mac years ago and I remember it worked very slowly and I never could get it to work with a printer. I'm sure they've improved a lot since then. Quilt-Pro sounds like it would be a good quilt program for the Mac. Since I have several programs I use that require a PC, I'm fortunate to own both a PC and Mac.

[Lorena M.]

I have a Mac and bought the $80 virtual machine program to run my quilting programs. I find no problems with this system. The programs start up just as on the PC laptop my husband has that I use to take to classes. I really enjoy working on my Mac and find it works well. The extra dollars to run the quilting programs are definitely worth it.

[Lorena M.]

thanks ladies, my new problem is that I don't have the full version of microsoft xp. it had come already installed on the old pc. But my DH did discover that we can install the xp using a thing called "bootcamp" that is on my I-Mac. Just need to get the full version of xp. It looks like the bootcamp works the same way as virtual PC as in being able to run the two programs. I can "split" how much or little I want to use the XP and mac. I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out. If bootcamp doesn't work, then I will probably try the virtual pc. I would also still like to know if anyone has tried quilt pro. it had gotten okay reviews.

[Lorena M.]

There's a Yahoo Group for EQ on Macs, called EQonMacs (of course :lol: ) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EQonMacs. No experience of any of this, I just did a search on the EQ tech support page - I'm also interested in this as I'd also love to move away from a PC to a Mac. They also suggest a program called Parallels which is another windows replicator, but that also costs $$.

[Lynn K.]

I'm a full year into my switch to Mac and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I installed the Windows program on my computer using boot camp. Works great. This requires you to shut down the Mac OS to use Windows and my quilting software, but that's easy enough.

The reason I chose to do it this way was that the Apple guy told me using Boot Camp would not take up much space/speed and that if I used the Parallel program that allows you to have both programs open at the same time, I would sacrifice speed and disk space.

Hope that helps.

[Lynn K.]

Great ideas, I knew you all could help. I am going to check out the yahoo group, and look for the full version of xp. Plus I also need to start taking the classes at apple which is about an hour away. No problem for me, theres a cheesecake factory and its in a really nice mall.

Another thing; I was at the inklingo site by linda Franz, and apparently her disks don't work with xp 9, but does work in the older versions. Just one more thing to think about......

Cheryl

[Lynn K.]

Ha!! Had to check your location because there is also a Cheesecake Factory near my Apple in Sugar Land, TX!

[Lynn K.]

I switched to a Mac about 18 months ago and couldn't be happier. I run VMware's Fusion 3.0 with Windows 7, and my sewing software (Bernina DP V6, My Label, and EQ6) all run beautifully in it.

I tried the bootcamp method, and while it's certainly faster, I did not like having to reboot from one OS to the other, as I like to work on several things at once.

[Lynn K.]

Ha ha, cheesecake and mac need to go hand in hand...

CJ, thanks i'll have to think about if multi tasking is for me or not. But will check out the VM ware.

[Mary K.]

I switched to a Mac about 18 months ago and couldn't be happier. I run VMware's Fusion 3.0 with Windows 7, and my sewing software (Bernina DP V6, My Label, and EQ6) all run beautifully in it.

I tried the bootcamp method, and while it's certainly faster, I did not like having to reboot from one OS to the other, as I like to work on several things at once.

Great info - Thanks!!! I switched over to Mac about 5 months ago and am really happy so far! (In fact, the whole family switched, which has been great too!)

One thing I had been contemplating is whether or not to keep my PC to continue to run my Bernina, EQ and Kalidascope software. I have been giving Fusion 3.0 serious thought, so I appreciate the recommendation!!!

Mary Kay

[Mary K.]

I'm confused and hope some one can clear this up for me. I love my Mac and have no desire to change to a PC, but there are some programs that I would like to have that only run on Wondows. If I use a virtual program such as boot camp or Fusion do I also need to get a Windows program in addition before I can run E Quilter or Kaleidoscope Maker? I hope some of you who are more computer savy can make this clear for me. Marge

[Beth A.]

Glad to see this post because we switched to a Mac last spring and got Fusion, but we have never gotten it to the point where we can print anything in it, so it is useless for my quilting software. (EQ6, Kaliedescope Kreator, etc .)

This post gives me hope to keep plugging at getting that Fusion up and running!

BethMI