Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux system

Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:41 am
Busta999 offline
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Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux system

Given that my 5 yr old Mac mini is still more powerful than any Mac mini on sale today I am seeing a time when I will be forced to go Windows or Linux if this aging computer should die.

Anyone aware of any issues that would stop Indigo running in a vm?

Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:51 am
roussell offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Technically it works, even vanilla MacOS on the VMware versions, but it’s illegal and unsupported from both an Apple and Indigo perspective.

Terry


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Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:59 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

So I’ll have to find a home automation system that supports Linux or Windows - that is disappointing...


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Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:04 am
roussell offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Well, or run unsupported... like you I have Indigo on a 2012 mini. I also have a spare 2012 Mini for “just in case”. I found it on Craigslist for a steal and though it’d be cheap insurance. I power it up from time-to-time to update it but otherwise keep it unplugged and waiting. Not the best solution, but it gives me pease of mind.

Terry


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Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:33 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Busta999 wrote:
So I’ll have to find a home automation system that supports Linux or Windows - that is disappointing...


I don't understand your basic premise. If your mini dies you can still buy a new (or used) one. It's not like they're unavailable. So WHY do you HAVE to switch platforms?

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:44 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

@Flyingdriver - the premise is that Apple is stepping away from computers, re Mac Pro, Mac Mini and lack lustre MacBooks .... Buying a new Mac mini at the inflated price that Apple charges for 5 year old tech is a tough pill to swallow. I am a long time Apple user and I am greatly disappointed by them, but it is getting harder and harder to justify spending more and more for less and less. Today, I was thinking about what the next 2, 5 and 10yrs of tech would be like. It seems that we have reached a plateau of innovation in OS, hardware and mobile - so that will be working on locking in through attached services - I was looking at what would I have to do to keep me and my extended family running on an abstracted technology level allowing us to utilise best value hardware/os at any given time and allow us to do that frictionless. Nothing immediate, but certainly over the next two years aim to be in a hardware/os agnostic position.


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Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:50 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

It's FlyingDiver, not Flyingdriver.

While I understand the reluctance to pay top (Apple) dollers (or pounds) for less than cutting edge hardware, I don't understand the willingness to create a more complex (and possibly less reliable) environment for what many of us would consider to be mission critical software. There's certainly some advantage to dedicated hardware for dedicated tasks. Virtualized environments have their uses, but IMHO this is not one of them.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Sun Nov 12, 2017 11:09 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

@FlyingDiver. Curse autocorrect.

Early days - just starting to think this through, I think you maybe right , home automation really needs to be run on an appliance not a pc.

I’ll look into that too, makes sense.

I’m in the early stages of thinking through where IT is going and how it will impact me and my extended family.

Most activities are on mobile rather than PC so have been thinking about that more than
Pc.

But what does seem prudent is migrating away from platform specific and common tools.

Skype instead of FaceTime, Google Photos instead of IPhoto, WhatsApp instead of Messages etc etc

By taking these steps now, if or when an iPhone costs more than a £1,000 and you have to buy dongles to enable to use it we will be able to get an android which meets all the use cases , cheaper, and do it very easily without a lot of pain.

I think of it as an Insurance at this stage against the death of innovation , commoditisation and the rush try to lock users into walled gardens :-)

Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 5:47 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Ok

Taking the appliance route..

Could Indigo run on a Mac Mini 2010? With Yosemite?

Processor and memory
2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
1066MHz frontside bus
2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB

That way it Indigo is the Only thing it runs?

Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:42 am
roussell offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

That’s more than enough for Indigo. I ran Indigo 6.x on a 2006 Mini with 2GB of RAM and it was fine for years. I think I paid $200 for that Mini.

Terry


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Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:43 am
autolog offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

That's not my experience :cry:

I am running my production Indigo system on a 2010 Mac Mini ( running macOS Sierra 10.12.6):
  • 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo
  • 8 GB Memory
  • System Disk: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
  • Data Disk: Samsung 1TB HDD
Having a SSD for the system disk is essential, closely followed by 8GB of memory (IMHO). :)

I am intending to upgrade before too long because the system is painfully slow. Whilst It is predominantly running Indigo, I have a lot of plugins active and at times the system crawls along. Basically, I don't think the processor is fast enough as quite often it is running at 100%. :(

Indigo flies along on my development system that has an I7 4-core (8 logical processors).

At the moment I can't decide whether to invest in an iMac or keep waiting for the mythical new mac mini to appear. :D

Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:58 am
FlyingDiver offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Indigo itself doesn't take much to run. Some plugins can be CPU or memory hogs, and you need to determine if you're running any of those. On my server, it's SecuritySpy that's the resource drain. I might need to get another mini just to run it.

joe (aka FlyingDiver)
my plugins: http://forums.indigodomo.com/viewforum.php?f=177

Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 7:24 am
roussell offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Good points about the plugins. I should mention that on the old 2006 Mini, and my current Indigo box, I always ONLY run Indigo and the absolute minimum number of plugins required. For other things that feed Indigo, instead of plugins, I’ll have a VM on another machine or Raspberry PIs performing those a toons and sending the info to the Indigo box.

Doing that requires a little more hardware, but insured that the “core” stays unmolested and as stable as possible.

I’ve toyed with idea of Python Remoting, like you can do with .Net, but have nothing in “prod”.

Terry


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Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 8:01 am
Busta999 offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Ok then

Looks like the best way forward is to pickup a 2012 dual/quad core Mac mini

Upgrade it with an SSD and at least 8 GB RAM stick it on a UPS in the closet somewhere and run it solely to manage Indigo.

While I arrange budgetary approval from she who must be obeyed, if they release a Mac Mini that is worth buying, then I'll take that and run Indigo on my current 2012 i7 2.6Ghz quad core and I'll use the new machine.

I can but hope they don't make the new Mac Mini the size of Coke Can then find it is too small to take any processor/graphics upgrades later, because that would just be very stupid.... :wink:



Probably remote desktop into it.

That allows me to use any OS/HW for personal usage and not be tied to

Posted on
Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:44 am
jay (support) offline
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Re: Running Indigo in a macos vm on a Windows or Linux syste

Also very important: as OS releases progress, they get bigger, heavier, and slower. If you have a Mac that will run an older OS (10.7 min for Indigo 7), I HIGHLY recommend you do that. Older releases tend to be more stable and were better optimized for the older hardware.

More memory is always good since it makes VM swaps to disk happen much less frequently. A faster SSD in general won't help much unless you have a plugin that's doing a lot of disk IO (or you don't have much memory which makes more VM swaps more frequent). If you're using the SQLogger then an SSD might help some.

If you are using CPU intensive plugins (probably only the ones that are doing graphing and/or other image processing) then you may see some issues depending on how many and what they're doing.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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