Changing Windows Laptop to IOs Mac-Pro, is it good for Flex User?

YV5WZ

Good week end for everyone!!!

I have been long time without posting any, although I try to keep myself
update with your posts my dear friends.

Time has flown and I'm close to leave my country definitely, leaving my home, cars, radios, work and :-(  my family. It's not easy

I'll try to keep my station on air  "via remote"
However my actual laptop need to be upgrade, and  I've seriously been evaluating a Mac-Pro (I'm Iphone user)

I would like to hear IOS users experience about operating remote their Flex radios, and opinions about are welcome

God bless all you my friends

Thanks


George,
YV5WZ / PY3ZZZ
 

Jim Gilliam

Ken Hansen

Just to clarify, since you mention Mac and iOS, I assume you are asking about Apple Mac laptops, not the iPhone, iPad, or similar devices, right? To use an Apple Mac computer you have two choices, either run windows on the Mac laptop or run third-party software that runs natively on OS X, their laptop OS. To use an iPhone/iPad device you will need To run a third-party 'app'. To run Flex's radio software SSDR you can either boot into windows on your Mac computer (boot camp) or run a virtual machine (parallels). Also, many people operate their radios remotely, you might want to break your question on two - one on using Mac, a second on remote operation.

YV5WZ

N5BE

YV5WZ

Mike-VA3MW

Justin W4JTD

Hi George - I run my entire station on MacOS, and I am currently using Mojave with no problems. I use MacloggerDX, and DogprkSDR to run my flex natively in MacOS. I use Parallels to run SSDR in a Windows 10 VM, along with the Antenna Genius software and WSJT-X. However, you can easily run WSJT natively in MacOS. I like MacOS, so that’s what I use. It’s easy to have the best if both worlds using a virtual machine. There isn’t any need to “make it work”, you can do both at the same time or whatever OS you want. These days it’s pretty easy. My QRZ page has a pretty good description of the shack if you are interested. Overall I suppose my point is, use whichever OS you like, the Flex radios work just fine with either one and there are plenty of options a for native MacOS. Best of luck! 73 Justin KL2D

George KF2T

My Flex 6600 (and prior, 6500) have run using SSDR for iOS and Dogpark SDR nearly exclusively for years, locally and remotely. They work extremely well. If having a connection to your remote radio is what you need (say, for ssb on an iPad), you’ll be very pleased. You can even run fldigi, wsjt-x, etc., on the local laptop, and send the control and audio “home” to the Flex with ease. Helps with the bandwidth.

If you need/want access to the full in-the-shack experience, it is hard to beat VA3MW’s suggestion. That’s a great option. Can also be done with a Mac or PC.

One absolute NEED for a PC at this point - updating firmware in a non-M radio. Not necessary very often, but sure nice to have. I use a Parallels VM for that, and a few other Windows-only apps (CWSkimmer).

Good luck!

Geo/KF2T

Michael Coslo

Another data point - MacOS is apparently going to be able to run iOS applications soon, so we Mac users may be getting a real treat soon, with more options. Dogpark is a good application, but as a dedicated computer ****, I love having as many choices (and I happily pay for them) as possible. I suppose it sounds odd, but I choose whatever I feel like operating on any given day.