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[Rui Lisboa]

Is anyone successfully using Signal Hound's SAs/Spike on Mac OSX running Parallels or other virtual machines?

[Ike Zimbel]

Is anyone successfully using Signal Hound's SAs/Spike on Mac OSX running Parallels or other virtual machines?

Hi Rui. I haven't with Signal Hound (don't own one) but I have had very good results running the Kaltman Invisible Waves sw and analyzer with that combination, if that's any help.

[Mac Kerr]

Is anyone successfully using Signal Hound's SAs/Spike on Mac OSX running Parallels or other virtual machines?

As with Ike, not that combination, but I have been using Paralles for years and I don't remember anything that I was unable to run.

Mac

[Rui Lisboa]

Thank you both! I've also been running Parallels for some time now and I'm very happy with it's general behaviour. I've used Winradio and RF explorer with no complaints.

Signal Hound's SAs mainly the faster ones have a very high throughput and the manufacturer has experienced difficulties amongst OSx users running VMs such as continuous disconnections.
I don't get it since the latest versions of Parallels are supposed to use the full bandwidth of USB3 and CPU processing. Perhaps it is something related with the CPU instructions Spike demands from the machine.

To be fair the manufacturer designed the product to be used natively with windows and they cannot efficiently help debugging problems when their product is used elsewhere.
However there are shy reports of success using Mac OSx with VMs. I wonder if someone here has done it and at which expense in terms of performance.

[Jordan Tanner]

Is anyone successfully using Signal Hound's SAs/Spike on Mac OSX running Parallels or other virtual machines?

Sorry to reignite an old thread, but I recently had the opportunity to trial a demo SA44B unit and can confirm I was unable to get it working with Parallels using a 2015 13" MBP. I tried both ports on my machine, but Spike repeatedly reported an interrupted connection to the device.

This is the only reason I haven't splurged for a Signalhound SA as yet. If by some miracle this one day decides to start working, or Signalhound release a Mac OS build of Spike or similar means of using their products in the Mac OS domain I'll buy one immediately!

[Rui Lisboa]

Thanks Jordan. I've had other similar inputs.
I am not willing to have a second unit running around so I can run the SH. So this is a deal breaker for me too.
Your feed back has become fundamental. I appreciate that.

[Tim McCulloch]

Sorry to reignite an old thread, but I recently had the opportunity to trial a demo SA44B unit and can confirm I was unable to get it working with Parallels using a 2015 13" MBP. I tried both ports on my machine, but Spike repeatedly reported an interrupted connection to the device.

This is the only reason I haven't splurged for a Signalhound SA as yet. If by some miracle this one day decides to start working, or Signalhound release a Mac OS build of Spike or similar means of using their products in the Mac OS domain I'll buy one immediately!

Or you could just use a Windows machine for the tasks that require Windows.  My personal philosophy is to never own anything from Apple but my professional life says otherwise so I own an iPad for the 3 things that don't come in Android or Windows flavors.  I may have to get a Mac Mini to do some new things - I'd rather stay in Windows but the preferred software is MacOS only.

It's a professional tool, not a lifestyle decision.  Either you can work without Signal Hound or you can't.  If you need SH, find a refurbed Dell or Lenovo laptop for $300 and call it done.

[Rui Lisboa]

Thanks Tim.
Such a shame that one resorts to a single machine to do one thing when all others can be done with Parallels.
Taking another machine is cumbersome for now. But I'm guessing there will be no other way with Signal Hound in the near future.

[Tim McCulloch]

Thanks Tim.
Such a shame that one resorts to a single machine to do one thing when all others can be done with Parallels.
Taking another machine is cumbersome for now. But I'm guessing there will be no other way with Signal Hound in the near future.

I agree that carrying only one laptop has advantages but circumstances do not comply.  I prefer to not use Apple products but own and use them anyway because my work requires using particular software only available on that OS.  The *value* provided by the software/computer combination outweighs the inconvenience.

[Dan Currie]

I have used the my BB60c with Parallels.  The only issue I have found is getting it to consistently connect to the Windows side of the machine.  These days I'm using a Yoga with IAS.  For me it's convenient to have one machine dedicated to RF, although Lake Controller also lives on it. 

[Rui Lisboa]

I agree that carrying only one laptop has advantages but circumstances do not comply.  I prefer to not use Apple products but own and use them anyway because my work requires using particular software only available on that OS.  The *value* provided by the software/computer combination outweighs the inconvenience.

You are right. A personal computer may not always be linked and engaged to your RF workspace.
Either way on site surveys manly abroad one that does it all would suffice and be convenient. It's just a shame that you can run pretty much everything RF related in Parallels (Motorola CPS, IAS, RF Explorer, Nano VNA, all IC tools) with the exception of SH running Spike.
But as the song says: you can't always get what you want

[Helge A Bentsen]

You are right. A personal computer may not always be linked and engaged to your RF workspace.

IMO a personal computer shouldn't be used in a production environment.
What have the computer been used to and exposed to? Who's responsible if it fails?
The computer should be provided as a production item with a trackable software history.

[RaySoly]

I prefer to not use Apple products but own and use them anyway because my work requires using particular software only available on that OS.  The *value* provided by the software/computer combination outweighs the inconvenience

Qlab? digital performer ? logic? just guessing.....what is mac only?

As others have stated the most difficult basic lesson to learn for my students is do not surf with the computer!..we supply you with the hardware..... It's a show computer ...don't auto update anything! ....if it ain't broke don't fix it....

Ray

[Jordan Tanner]

Another check- in here, I recetly purchased an SA44b and have managed to get it working reliably in Parallels on a 2019 Macbook Pro. Initially, it didn't work- the device would appear in Spikes device list, but connection was consistently unsuccessful. Eventually, I came across this thread in the Signal Hound forums

https://signalhound.com/support/forums/topic/cannot-connect-sa44b-with-spike/

Disabling the 'Load VCP' option seemed to solve my issues! Spike still drops connection to the device occasionally if Parallels is not the active window/application, but quickly reconnects.

[Rui Lisboa]

Thanks Jordan. I do realize that. However the BB60 is a totally different beast and the data running is much more demanding on the system. Unfortunately I've not found a successful case of running the BB60 on a Mac yet.

[ProSoundWeb Community]