VTT on ARM Macs with Parallels Desktop

I've been using VTT on my old Intel MacBook Pro via Boot Camp. I need to upgrade to a new computer soon and since Boot Camp is no longer available on the new Macs, I won't be able to continue using this setup.

Is anyone using VTT this way successfully or do you use a separate Windows machine/laptop for hinting?

Comments

  • There are ways to run ARM versions of Windows on Apple Silicon Macs, such as with Parallels Desktop. What I don’t know is, will VTT run on an ARM version of Windows?

    You can also run Windows in the cloud via the Windows 365 service, but that is at least $31/month (or more).
  • I can confirm that the x64 version of VTT runs on Parallels with Windows 11 ARM on Apple Silicon.
  • Jens Kutilek
    Jens Kutilek Posts: 364
    edited September 12
    I just tried to run VTT with wine, and it seems to work as well, thanks! I remember that it didn't work, possibly because for some time, wine had no 64 bit support on macOS IIRC?

    VTT only works there because it bundles its own rasterizer. I remember running FontLab Studio 5 in wine, and TrueType hinting was unusable because wine can’t use the original Windows rasterizer and uses FreeType instead, which is then used also for FLS5’s TrueType hinting preview.
  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,225
    edited September 14
    I ran Windows for a couple of years on a Mac in Parallels and then in VMWare’s Fusion. Both were buggy in various ways, as well as being subscriptions. In the end, I canceled and bought myself a PC laptop for less than $800 Canadian. It is much more reliable than any emulator I have tried.
  • Thank you everyone for all the recommendations! I will probably go for a mini Windows PC (either Intel NUC or the ThinkCenter). I have very little desktop space, so that's a major consideration for me. 
  • c.g.
    c.g. Posts: 54
    I ran Windows for a couple of years on a Mac in Parallels and then in VMWare’s Fusion. Both were buggy in various ways, as well as being subscriptions. In the end, I canceled and bought myself a PC laptop for less than $800 Canadian. It is much more reliable than any emulator I have tried.
    VMWare Fusion, as well as the Windows counterpart VMWare Workstation Pro, is now free for personal use: https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2024/05/fusion-pro-now-available-free-for-personal-use.html

  • John Hudson
    John Hudson Posts: 3,225
    From that site:
    Customers who use Fusion and Workstation at/for work require a paid commercial subscription...
    The free personal use license doesn’t cover the kinds of uses for which professional font developers would be likely to use the software.