Quick Mac Question
 

Hi. I play poker mainly on pokerstars, however I got a macbook recently. Pokerstars is windows only, and I was wondering if it is a difficult/costly process to make the program compatible with mac OS. If it isn't, it would be like a good way to attract more people to play as macs seem to be getting more popular.

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

If it is a newer version with an intel chip, you can get Parallels and run PC on your mac.

This is what i do with my imac at home.

It works pretty seamlessly.

Pocono Drew

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

Yes, I considered the parallels program, but doesn't that require you to purchase and install an entire windows XP or Vista OS on your mac? That would be expensive and take up a lot of space. If thats my only option, I'll probably just move to FTP.

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

Indeed, your only (reliable) option is to run some version of Windows on your Macbook (either in Parallels or "dual-booting" with BootCamp), which will require a Windows license (approx. $200 for retail XP or Vista), though the Windows Vista Basic OEM version ("System Builders version") was only $89.99 from newegg.com. (I can't guarantee that version will work on a MacBook though. That version is a non-transferable license). The only cost-free option would be to run something like WINE on Linux (it's been done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdoDe8jaFtY but if you haven't heard of that before, chances are it's not a road you want to go down, since it's complex to set up and you still have to either dual-boot or run parallels. Linux is pretty much for serious computer geeks only.

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

I thought Stars was in the process of developing a Mac client.

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

Here is a posting I found at the IGN Boards:

"I like to play a lot of poker and want to keep on playing once I get my Mac. Pokerstars does not currently have the software avalible for d/load for Mac's(they are working on it) but they sent me this email.

Hello Nicholas,

Thank you for your Email. At this time we are in the process of
developing a native Macintosh PokerStars client. However, we do not
have a prospective release date at this time. The best guess is that
it is still several months away (it isn't a simple recompile of the
Windows code, but a ground-up rewrite).

Until this program is released, Apple and its vendors have provided
many ways to run our existing Windows applications under MacOS.

Among the options available to run Windows programs on a Macintosh are:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Virtual machines running as windows in MacOS:

Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/product...virtualpc.aspx

Parallels Desktop for Mac ($79, with a free trial version available)
http://www.parallels.com

Crossover for Mac (beta)
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Booting your Intel-based Mac to Windows XP instead of MacOS:

Bootcamp (beta) by Apple
http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Windows XP on Intel Macs
http://download.onmac.net

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Of these solutions, Parallels is probably the one a MacOS user would
most prefer to use. When using a virtual machine in this manner, the
PokerStars install program may not work. If this is so, you will need
to install first on a PC, and then copy the PokerStars folder to your
Mac. The subsequent program updates do seem to work though.

Crossover for Mac is known to work particularly well, as it is an
implementation of WINE for the Mac; WINE is the Windows emulator
originally written for Linux, and there are WINE developers who are
PokerStars fans and who go out of their way to ensure that PokerStars
will run under WINE (and therefore, Crossover).

I hope this has answered your question completely. Please do not
hesitate to let us know any time you need anything.


Regards,

Jeny
PokerStars Support Team"

Re: Quick Mac Question
 

There was a beta out in February I believe and the full version was supposed to be released in April but never got finished in time.

They might still give you the beta version by emailing [email protected] but chances are it will only be play money.