Pangolin Laser Light Software on Apple Mac

Since PC´s and Macs exists next to each other, there have always been user preferring the one or the other operating system platform.

Creative people like Apple hardware

People in the creative environment like to work with Apple hardware and so get in contact with the MacOSx operating system. Creating and performing laser shows strongly involves creativity and some laserist work on hardware made by Apple to bring their imaginations to laser.

Pangolin Laser Software on a Apple MAC?

At the beginning, there is often the question “Does Pangolin Quickshow and BEYOND run on a Mac”.

However this cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.

Both Pangolin Quickshow and BEYOND are not written for MacOS. And Apple MAC has undergone large changes through the years, resulting in various solutions with mixed results.

In  2005 Apple changed the central processing unit (CPU) of Macintosh computers from PowerPC processors to Intel x64 processors.

By making this large change. Apple allowed Microsoft to install Windows through Bootcamp. Bootcamp made it possible to run MacOS and Windows side by side, giving Windows full control of the processor the  your MAC.

In 2020 Apple changed the central processing unit (CPU) again. Changing it from Intel X64 processors, to Apple its own, in house designed “Apple M series” processors (aka Apple Silicon).
This large change made bootcamp obsolete as this processor is no longer talking the same language as Windows does.. This meant that it is no longer possible to run Windows on Apple hardware.

At the end of 2023, Apple stopped manufacturing computers with Intel X64 Processors, ending the Bootcamp era.

Bootcamp was the best way to run Pangolin Quickshow and BEYOND.  Many shows have been done on Mac book’s.

Now days, the only way to run Windows on a MAC, is through virtualization.

Virtualization

Virtualization is a method where an application like like Parallels or VirtualBOX  mimics a PC. This is also known as a virtual machine.

A virtual machine allows you to install Windows your MAC in a virtual container. As everything is virtualized, Windows does not have full control of the PC.

For this reason we strongly advice against running a show on virtual hardware and cannot provide support for this setup.
Also note that FB3 will not work on Apple Mac with M series of cpu.

The recommended setups for Apple Mac:

If your mac supports Bootcamp, Install Microsoft windows through bootcamp!  Otherwise get a computer that runs Microsoft Windows natively.

Have more questions?

Let us know and get in touch with us.

We are happy to help!