Apple has just released the 1.2 public beta version of Boot Camp, which will now support booting up into Windows Vista. The new version also includes updated drivers for trackpads, graphics, audio, and iSight cameras, and a new Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp info.
I’ve heard some mixed reports about how well Vista runs under Boot Camp. If you are using Boot Camp 1.2 with Vista, I’d love to hear about your experience so far. Is Vista humming or crawling?
Drop a line in the comments section and let us know how it’s working for you.
It works! I had to convert the file system from FAT32 to NTFS (Vista wouldn't install on top of FAT32). But that's okay, because I can also use Parallels and share files between the OSes through the Shared Folder in Parallels. Overall I'm happy and chugging along on a first gen Mac Mini with only 512MB of RAM.
<pedantic>Eric - I suspect that you mean "first gen Intel Mac mini". The real first gen Mac minis shipped with G4 processors.</pedantic> :-)
http://support.apple.com/specs/macmini/
Windows does not run *under* Boot Camp. Boot Camp is simply the drivers Windows needs for the Mac hardware.
There is a popular misconception about just what Boot Camp is, and the assumption you can't install Windows on your Mac without it. In fact, you can install Windows without running Boot Camp first. Boot Camp partitions your hard disk; creates a driver disk; and reboots for Windows installation. (I believe the original version updated your firmware, which is no longer necessary. At that time, yes, Boot Camp was necessary to install Windows.)
As said, nowadays, you just need it to use some of the Mac hardware (eg iSight), or get the best out of it in the case of the graphics display.
Bootcamp sucks and windows will always b better den mac
After updating to Boot Camp 1.2, I wiped the Windows partition and recreated it. I then installed the MSDN edition of Vista Ultimate. The Boot Camp driver CD installed without problems. Everything seemed to be working perfectly until I started installing some applications, such as NOD32 antivirus or Slysoft AnyDVD. After installing either of them and rebooting, I would get to the login screen but the system would reboot itself as soon as I logged in. In both cases I was able to boot into safe mode and use the System Restore feature to recover the system, but I never could get either of them to work correctly. I then tried running an "upgrade", installing from retail Vista Ultimate bits rather than MSDN. After that "upgrade", everything works fine with no unexpected reboots. Hmmm... does that mean there is a bug in the MSDN Vista bits? More testing is in order...
This was on my first generation Intel iMac 20" with 2GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive.
being a geriatric student, I have an academic version of Windows XP but I can't get it to work with Boot camp so I'm forced to purchase a full version of XP. Has anyone had success with Academic Windows XP? I have a new stainless steel iMac 20", 2Ghz so it looks like I might have to try Parallels or Fusion