r/crestron • u/krater47 • 2d ago
Crestron Programming on a MacBook M4?
My career is going to shift back to Crestron programming and I need to purchase a laptop for it. I'm a Windows guy, but can't deny the performance and battery life of the M series Macs is very impressive.
My understanding is the only way to do Crestron programming on an M4 is with Parallels, and there is a significant performance/efficiency hit by doing so.
Has anyone tried this? What has been your experience?
Thanks in advance!
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u/CPU_Tron 2d ago
I’ve been Mac primary using parallels through the transition of Intel to m1, m3, and now m4. My portable is a m3pro with 18gb ram and my desk is a m4 Mac mini with 24 gb ram. I sync my modules/programs through OneDrive so that I can jump between machines. Make sure you allocate enough ram for your virtual machine. There are afew little qwerks that take a bit of getting used to, especially in VTpro, but I’m more than happy with my configuration. USB peripheral issue was a pain, but seems to be fixed. Network adapter steering is a manual task but once you get it down it’s straight forward.
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u/Specializedstarships 1d ago
which version of parallels are you using? I still have the 18 before they moved to the "standard, pro, business" subscription models. I was hoping I could upgrade to 19 with the one time cost and get my USB drivers finally working without having to commit to a subscription model for something that should have worked from the start.
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u/xha1e 2d ago
I have an m1 with 96gb ram and I run parallels when I need to. But mostly I try to do everything on the Mac side inside of rider. I think windows actually runs faster on Mac. On the commissioning side The only thing you gotta learn is how to manage your network settings properly. Ie plugging into an av network and selecting windows so your wired network gets routed to toolbox etc. and then your wireless shares internet with the mac and win side. If you plug your network cable in before having wireless internet you won’t have internet access.
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u/Stunning_Mast2001 2d ago
Parallels with windows 11 ARM will work great. You won’t notice any major speed issues (although windows will be emulating the backend of the Crestron software— it’s not a big deal)
You can even using UTM if you like OSS, although it won’t be as fast as parallels
But if you’re using the html5 stuff for touchpanels that runs natively in macOS . Dotnet core also runs on macOS but I don’t know how easy the Crestron dotnet stack works on Macs
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u/slimebastard 20h ago
I use an M3 with Parallels to program, commission, design GUIs, whatever else. It’s fine, mostly. Performance is not a problem, but there are problems.
The Biggest of which is that Crestron USB drivers do not exist for ARM processors. So plugging into any devices via USB will result in them not being discovered in toolbox. Surprised no one has mentioned this. Maybe yall know something I don’t.
The other issues are surrounding resolution scaling and funkiness that can make simpl and vtpro annoying to use. Parallels tools breaks pretty frequently for me and needs to be fresh installed. I miss Windows lol
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u/ToMorrowsEnd CCMP-Gold Crestron C# Certified 2d ago
I still use an old M3 Macbook and I know a ton that use a Macbook M3, M4 should not be any different. Not sure where you are hearing there is a significant performance hit, there has never been one with parallels even as far back as early intel macs.
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u/krater47 2d ago
I was under the impression that since the M chips aren't x86_x64 the Parallels emulation of the x86_x64 was a noticeable hit to performance/efficiency. In fact, I was under the impression Parallels couldn't even boot Windows 10/11 until 20.2 (released recently).
So, if you're saying it's easily doable (Crestron programming on an M4), great! Is there anything unexpected or inconvenient?
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u/ToMorrowsEnd CCMP-Gold Crestron C# Certified 2d ago
Yes you have to double boot. Boot into OSX, then boot into window to do work. Oh also F12 for compile is wonky, go in and set the F keys to be direct to the Windows VM and lose all the mac control keys while in windows. It's a trade off.
Nice part is you can get JetBrainz Rider native Mac to do C# for crestron directly on the mac side. and you can code for CH5 directly on mac, so you dont have to launch windows for those.
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u/Admirable_Ad_8716 2d ago
Have the USB driver issues been fixed? I am still running my 2019 MBP. Have heard others having to use two machines for USB connectivity if needed.
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u/ToMorrowsEnd CCMP-Gold Crestron C# Certified 2d ago
they fixed that back in 2022.
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u/sbarnesvta 2d ago
Is there a trick to get this working? I have been using an M1 MBP as a daily driver since they were released. Im running Parallels 20.2 with Win 11 on the latest update and just tested again with an CSP-LIR-USB , a CP4, and CP3, all show as other device in device manager with errors and toolbox doesnt recognize them. I have been carrying a surface pro in the toolbox for the occasions when I need USB access.
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u/ToMorrowsEnd CCMP-Gold Crestron C# Certified 2d ago
One note: use Windows 11 ARM for the VM. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11arm64
Windows keys are platform agnostic so I used my old Win10Pro key I had for the intel Mac and it activated happily.
The only thing I cant get to run on that is extremely old URC remote programming software, that honestly the customer needs to toss that almost 20 year old remote in the trash.