Intel-based Macs: Rosetta: Application compatibility listings; more

We continue to receive reports from users who are having problems running specific PowerPC-coded applications under Rosetta on their newly arrived Intel-based Macs.

Groupwise Client -- incompatible MacFixIt reader Michael Conners reports that the Groupwise cross-platform client -- a Java application -- does not run properly under Rosetta. This is unsurprising as Rosetta's documentation indicates that some Java applications with JNI (PowerPC-specific) libraries are incompatible.

Michael writes:

"I cannot get our Groupwise cross-platform client, a java client, to run on our new Intel based Macs. I am not sure however if this is a Rosetta piece or whether this is a Java problem. It appears to be a Java problem. If Java is not universal binary yet, then I would fully expect other Java based apps to misbehave as Groupwise has."

Macromedia Studio apps -- compatible The Macromedia Studio 8 apps (i.e. Flash 8 Pro, Dreamweaver 8 and Fireworks 8) install and run under Rosetta.

One reader reports:

"A bit sluggish but no way something to prevent working with them."

Toast 7 -- compatible A few readers have reported that Toast 7.0 operates properly under Rosetta.

Flash content -- must force Safari to run in Rosetta Safari is unable to display some Flash content on Web pages because of an outdated Flash plug-in from Macromedia when run in Intel-native mode. In order to make Flash work with Safari, you need to force the application to run in Rosetta, as described in this MacFixIt article.

Autodesk Cleaner --compatible One reader writes:

"Autodesk Cleaner works fine. The Sorenson 3 Pro codec installed without problems and was recognized by Cleaner. I ran a little rendertest to compare with my Dual 2Gig G5 at home. It took 3:27 min. to render a 10 second Clip into Sorenson 3 on the Intel iMac. The exact same clip took 1:00 min. on my G5. After all, this is rather impressing considering the overhead Rosetta takes. But it is by far to long to be usable on a daily basis."

Kernel extensions Kernel extensions are not supported under Rosetta, and applications that rely on kernel extensions will either not run or exhibit significant issues.

Preference Panes Applications that install preference panes or reply on them will not work with the Intel version of Mac OS X.

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If you have found a PowerPC application that has problems running under Rosetta on your Intel-based Mac, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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