switching platforms

[Anonymous]

I've been using ArchiCAD for about 8 years now. I work for my father. He is the architect, I'm just IT and drafting. We are not a big operation, but the work we have done on the Windows platform is considerable. Now he has assigned me to investigate switching over to the Mac platform. We want a more stable and user friendly environment.

Here's the deal: I have no (zero, none, nadda) experience with Mac, but am for some reason attracted to them. I currently use ArchiCAD 8.0 on a Windows 2000 OS. Will I be able to access, copy, and edit my projects if we switch to Mac? If so, can we get by with a high end iMac or are we looking at that expencive G5? Also, what will Graphisoft hit me up for (back in the ArchiCAD 5.1 days, wasn't it a minimal cross platform cost?)?

[TomWaltz]

If you are planning to upgrade to Archicad 10, I would recommend a new Intel machine. The G5s are nice machines, but are now outdated. You also get the added ability to run Windows on it if needed (via BootCamp or Parallels, after you acquire a Windows license for the machine).

I'm not sure AC8 would run on it, though. I know for sure the installers for Archicad 8 and 9 do not run on the Intel machines, even though the programs themselves do.

Archicad is still cross-platform. Your installation CD will have both the Mac and Windows versions.

Most of the issues I have seen are simple pathing issues, where different file structures mean you have to re-link file locations between the two platforms.

[Anonymous]

One of our Drawing Stations (not Rendering) is an 20" Intel-iMac. This works without any Problems. A Detail that i like is, that the iMac now support 1Gigabit Ethernet, so save and load to the server is very fast.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the responses guys. I'm going to try a test this weekend on a friend's Mac Book Pro (just to see if we can crash it). It may answer some access to old files issues.
BTW, afer digging out my install disk, I realized I have AC8.1.
Question: I thought Apple switched everything (currently sold) over to Intel machines. Is this true?

Thanks again.
T

[Thomas Holm]

Tod wrote:
Question: I thought Apple switched everything (currently sold) over to Intel machines. Is this true?

Yes.

And as Tom wrote, AC 8's installer won't run on the Intel Mac. You'll hvae to drag a complete installation from a PPC Mac (including Libary/Application settings etc). And stil install the new WIBU key.

Better suggestion: Upgrade to AC10!

[Anonymous]

Hey,
I just bought(Monday) a new macbook pro 17" fully loaded. I have AC9 and I tried to open up some archicad files and there were library parts missing, including all the windows and doors. I was running an XP Pro system originally. Do you have any thoughts on this? Are the files not compatible with each other?

[TomWaltz]

Most likely the library is just at a different path and needs re-pointed.

[Anonymous]

I'm not very computer literate. Can you help me to move the files.

[TomWaltz]

You don't need to move anything.

Open Archicad's Library Manager. You will probably see that one or more of your libraries are missing. In the left-hand window, browse to where the libraries are on the new machine. Pick the library, then click the >>> Add >>> button to tell Archicad that you want to use the new location.

The Archicad library should be under
/Applications/Graphisoft/Archicad 9/Archicad Library 9/ArchiCAD Library 9.pla

[Rod Jurich]

TomWaltz wrote:
You don't need to move anything.\.......

And ..........