Releasing without USB support

M

mikesax

Junior Member
Parallels team,

You have built a truly amazing product! With great respect and some humility, I'd like to suggest the following release schedule:

1) Release Desktop 1.0 without USB support.

2) Immediately start the beta for Desktop 1.1, with USB support.

Other than the USB support, the product is in great shape. This way, you can release a bug free product, and still let the people who want USB support to proceed with the beta process (and it would be perfectly fine if the beta was only available to registered users).

-- Mike
 
mikesax said:
Parallels team,

You have built a truly amazing product! With great respect and some humility, I'd like to suggest the following release schedule:

1) Release Desktop 1.0 without USB support.

2) Immediately start the beta for Desktop 1.1, with USB support.

Other than the USB support, the product is in great shape. This way, you can release a bug free product, and still let the people who want USB support to proceed with the beta process (and it would be perfectly fine if the beta was only available to registered users).

-- Mike
Click to expand...


What? Why would you do that? There is usb support just not usb 2.0.
 
4 out of the 5 USB devices i've tried don't work properly as it is... the USB support isn't exactly magnificant at the moment, be it 1.1 or 2.0

That being said, I have confidence that USB issues will be solved.
 
mikesax said:
KrullMac, check out this topic:
http://forums.parallels.com/thread2253.html

If RC2 is really the last release candidate, it seems that shipping without USB support (and essentialy leaving USB support in beta) would be best for everyone involved.
Click to expand...

No thanks.

Release it with USB working, and take as long in beta as necessary.

It doesn't appear to me to be an unsolvable problem, and it is a priority for me and a number of other people. They keep getting closer, and they haven't chosen to reply to any of the numerous requests for an explanation of where they are headed or what the holdup is, so I'm assuming (perhaps foolishly, but with lack of data) that the intent is to make it work.

So if full (and I mean full) USB 2.0 support isn't going to be delivered, I'd like to hear from Parallels as to why it's so difficult, and where it is on their roadmap.

I have preordered, and like the product. It does many things I need, but without FULL USB 2.0 support, I will still have to keep a Wintel machine around, or use bootcamp (undesirable since I prefer Win2K server and bootcamp only supports XP).

C'mon Parallels, tell us what to expect.
 
mikesax said:
KrullMac, check out this topic:
http://forums.parallels.com/thread2253.html

If RC2 is really the last release candidate, it seems that shipping without USB support (and essentialy leaving USB support in beta) would be best for everyone involved.
Click to expand...

I didn't pay for a program that isn't fully functional. You might as well hang a picture of Windoze desktop on your wall and call it Parallels.
 
USB is so nearly there it hurts, I worry about the troll factor here.

I don't like sprouts... so I tend not to buy them.

Parallels is a different thing to sprouts in my eyes, it is bleeding edge software that functions bar a few bugs that at every release candidate/beta have either been removed or improved upon.

Keep at it team //. If you make the usb support work I'll be happy, if not, I can wait while you do.
 
You say it's nearly there, but I can't get a connection to sustain data on either of the USB devices I care about... my blackberry and my cardscan. If they don't ship with USB support, I will be demanding my money back, and waiting for VMWare.
 
The rationale I see is: cut the features that aren't working, so the available featureset itself is fully working, making the product worthy of buying. I don't know... it'd just replace 'USB isn't working' threads with 'put USB function (back)' ones. I prefer that Parallels guys try their best to get the USB support working better for the GA, but put a disclaimer about how it may not work on some devices and/or post a list of compatible hardware.
 
It would be silly to release PD without USB support. The few USB devices I use (a CH Products joystick and a Lexar Secure II memory stick) work perfectly since at least beta 6. I'm sure Parallels is working hard to get better USB support for other devices. Let's be patient.

Honestly, for the little I use Windows the current version (RC2) is more than useful enough for me so I'm in no rush for the final release version. Of course I realize there are issues in one form or another for many of you.
 
snit said:
You say it's nearly there, but I can't get a connection to sustain data on either of the USB devices I care about... my blackberry and my cardscan. If they don't ship with USB support, I will be demanding my money back, and waiting for VMWare.
Click to expand...

The current version of VMware Workstation (5.5.1) for Windows does not yet have full USB 2.0 support. In a VMware VM the guest OS uses only USB 1.1. This information is from the VMware Workstation user guide.

So I do not think Parallels can get full USB2 support to work before the product is finally released. If you folks are expecting full USB2 support, you will probably be disappointed. USB1 support is quite possible in the final release, but it may not work properly all the time.

If VMware cannot do it on PCs now, there may be some formidable difficulties there. I think this may have to do with the lack of support of hardware virtualization on devices other than the CPU, just as you will not have full 3D graphics support now, and won't for some time.

You may have to wait until at least the next full release before you may see full USB2 support.

Pierce_Brosnan.jpg
 
James Bond 007 said:
The current version of VMware Workstation (5.5.1) for Windows does not yet have full USB 2.0 support. In a VMware VM the guest OS uses only USB 1.1. This information is from the VMware Workstation user guide.
Click to expand...
I NEVER ASKED FOR USB 2.0 SUPPORT. As far as I can tell, for any non-storage device on the planet (or, at least, the two I try every single release), if you sustain data passing over the connection, parallels will eventually drop it. Robust 1.1 support is absolutely good enough.
 
snit said:
I NEVER ASKED FOR USB 2.0 SUPPORT. As far as I can tell, for any non-storage device on the planet (or, at least, the two I try every single release), if you sustain data passing over the connection, parallels will eventually drop it. Robust 1.1 support is absolutely good enough.
Click to expand...

VMware also said specifically that some USB devices such as Webcam are not supported even in USB 1.1 mode. So I do not expect to have full USB support in Parallels either, considering it is only the first full release. If VMware cannot do it now, I do not think Parallels can, either, at this time.

So, I think may be you folks should not have such a high expectation with respect to USB support in Parallels when it is released. The way it does now is pretty good.

Pierce_Brosnan.jpg
 
Holy crap, dude, I am not trying to get a web cam to work. I am trying to get devices to function that I have used since before there was USB 2.0 on my mac at all.
 
I think the webcam was just an example to point out that even VMware doesn't have a fully functional USB support.
 
I know, I was saying that "Fully functional 1.1" is reasonable to expect, and that I haven't seen people saying it is unreasonable for them to forego 2.0 in their GA.
 
wesley said:
I think the webcam was just an example to point out that even VMware doesn't have a fully functional USB support.
Click to expand...

Kind of a red herring then. I'd like to see full USB 2.0 support for anything the guest OS can handle natively. Note that the built in iSight cam will not work in ANY guest because there's no native guest driver for it. If it doesn't work in boot camp, it won't work in Parallels. OTOH, if it does work in boot camp, it's reasonable, IMNSHO, that it will work (eventually) in Parallels.

I'm still waiting for a statement about what we can expect in this area from the Parallels team.

This is important, folks. Please let us know. My special VAG adapter from Ross-Tech almost works now, and I have an external DVD writer I'd like to be able to use from the guest. Toast is happy with it, but the Windows software is better.

Again, please let us know what to expect!
 
KrullMac said:
Yes but all USB 2.0 devices are backwards compatible with USB 1.1 and that is what it is using.
Click to expand...

They are not - at least not with Parallels.

Otherwise my Smart Card reader SCR335 would work with Parallels (like it does with Boot Camp).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top