Installing BOG in MacOS

These instructions explain how to install BOG on a MacOS computer. The idea is to install Windows XP as a guest operating system (OS) within MacOS, and then to install BOG within that guest OS. I have successfully installed BOG on essentially all MacOS versions up to 10.8. The instructions below assume Mountain Lion (10.8), although the procedure is virtually identical for Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), and Lion (10.7).

Note that these instructions are largely text-based, but there are frequent links to an appropriate (image) to help you along. If you get stuck, the Win7 installation instructions contain somewhat more detail.

What You Will Need…

In addition to the BOG software and GemRay (explained here), you will need the following to get BOG working on MacOS:

VirtualBox software - Available as a free download at www.virtualbox.org (see below).

Valid Windows XP installer - This may be in the form of a CD or a file of type .ISO .DMG or .CDR In any case, you will need the Product Key, which is five groups of five alphanumeric characters like this: A1B2C-3D4E5-F6G7H-8I9J0-K1L2M. The product key often appears on the packaging of the distribution disks. Note that these instructions presume Windows XP (hereafter WinXP), but it should work equally well with other versions prior to Vista. Consult the VirtualBox website for more help on other guest operating systems.

Download and Install VirtualBox

Point your browser to the VirtualBox website: www.virtualbox.org. You will be greeted with a screenful of information (image). Click on the Downloads link in the left margin and then on the VirtualBox 4.2.6 for OS X hosts link. Note that the exact version number (4.2.6) may have changed. The download should start automatically.

You should end up with a .DMG file (here VirtualBox-4.2.6-82870-OSX.dmg. Double click to mount the disk image (image). Double click on the package icon to install VirtualBox. The program will prompt you that it will check whether the software can be installed. Click Continue to proceed.

You will see a standard Mac OS installer open to the first step, Introduction (image) Click Continue to install. You will then be informed that VirtualBox will occupy a certain amount of disk space and be prompted for a standard or custom installation. Click Install to proceed.

You will have to enter an administrator's password to allow installation.

The Installer will write the necessary files and eventually inform you that the installation was successful (image). Click Close to continue.

VirtualBox should now be in your Applications folder. Double click its icon to launch the program. You will see the Welcome panel (image). Press the New button at the upper left to create a new virtual machine. You must give it a name (for example, “WinXP”) and select the appropriate type. You will then be prompted for some input. You can accept all the default suggestions. Here they are:

      Memory Size: Accept the suggested value of 192 MB
      Hard Drive: Accept the suggested option (Create a virtual hard drive now). Click Create.
      Hard Drive file type: Accept the default option (VDI)
      Storage on Physical Hard Drive: Accept the default (dynamically allocated)
      File location and size: Accept the default options (WinXP and 10GB).

Click create to complete setting up your virtual machine (image). With the new WinXP virtual machine selected in the left panel, click the Start arrow to boot the new VM. You will be informed about how the VM captures keystrokes. Read the info and click Ok.

You will then be prompted to select a start-up disk. This is the disk containing the XP installation. It may also be a .DMG, .ISO, or .CDR file. Use the small folder button to the bottom right (image) to navigate to the appropriate disk or file then click Start.

You will then see the famous blue installation screen of Windows XP (image). You will be informed about mouse integration. Select Ok to continue. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the OS. A friendly yellow bar will help you monitor progress (image). NOTE: My Windows XP is a German-language version. This and other images may appear different on your monitor.

On the licensing page, you will have to hit F8 to agree to the license agreement. This may not work on your Mac. Try holding the fn key (just above the arrow keys on an extended keyboard) while pressing F8.

On the next screen, you will be asked if you want to partition your hard disk. Accept the default, single partition by pressing ENTER.

You will then be prompted with options for the format type of the partition. Accept the default by pressing ENTER.

The installer will then format the virtual hard disk and start copying files.

When the installation is done, the VM should reboot. You will get the message about mouse integration. Click Ok to continue.

The standard Windows install sequence will now take place. Answer the questions regarding language and region. Enter a username and organization. You will then be prompted for the product key, which is five groups of five alphanumerical characters. Give your virtual computer a name and enter (and verify) a password.

Check the date, time, and time zone settings, and then proceed. Accept the default standard installation for the network. Accept the default working group name on the next screen.

At this point, the lengthy install process should take place. You can get an estimate of the time remaining in the left panel (image). This is only an estimate and may not reflect the speed improvements brought by solid state disk drives and multi-core processors. For me, the 33 minute estimated install time actually took less than two minutes.

The VM should reboot into Windows. You will probably again see annoying messages about mouse capture, etc. You can disable this "feature".

You now have a working version of Windows!

Click on the green arrow at the lower right to continue (image). Select options for virus protection and then click Continue.

The computer will attempt to establish an internet connection. If it works, fine. Otherwise, click the double green arrow at the bottom to skip this step (you can set it up later).

Follow the prompts, including registration at Microsoft, user names, etc.

A final click should bring you to that friendly green meadow (image). Doesn't it look nice splashed across the Mountain Lion Galaxy?

If you look in your MacOS dock, you should notice that there are actually two new programs running, VirtualBox and VirtualBox VM (image). The first is VirtualBox Manager, the wrapper program you saw earlier (image) and from which you could in principle launch multiple guest operating systems. VirtualBox VM is the WinXP virtual machine itself.

Setting up Shared Folders with MacOS

You will want to set up a shared folder to allow file exchange between the WinXP machine and your host Mac. Although not strictly necessary, doing so will create a directory that appears on both the host operating system and the guest OS. Any files placed there will be visible to both MacOS and WinXP. This is so useful that I essentially always work in the shared directory when using VirtualBox.

To set up a shared folder, begin by selecting “Install Guest Additions...” from the Devices menu of Virtual Box (image).

You will be presented with a standard Windows installer. Click continue to begin and accept all default options. After a few moments, you may get several compatibility warnings (image). Instruct the installer to continue with the process. Eventually, the software will inform you that the installation was successful and that a restart is necessary. Click Finish to restart the VM.

In the meantime, you should set up a folder to share within your Mac environment. For example, I created "WinXP_Shared" in my home directory. When you see the nice meadow again, you can continue the process of setting up a shared folder. Within VirtualBox, select Shared Folders from the Devices menu. Click the +folder button on the right (image) and then navigate to and Choose your folder. Set the options for AutoMount and Make Permanent. Click Ok to complete the process.

You now have to make Windows aware of this shared folder. Start Explorer (If you cannot find it, you can type "explorer" into the Run box of the Start menu of Windows). Navigate to My Networking Places > Entire Network > VirtualBox Shared Folders on the left side. Open up folders as necessary to see your WinXP_Shared folder (image - note again that my WinXP system is in German...your screen will probably look different). Right click on it and select "Map network drive". Assign a letter, for example X: and click "Finish" to continue.

The shared folder should appear (image). Any files placed there are accessible from both the host and guest OS.

Installing and Using BOG

At this point, you can download GemCAD, BOG, etc. and install them as with any real world PC. Here are some brief instructions for BOG. Full details appear here.

Back in MacOS, you should download BOG 1.00 Full and BOG 1.20 from www.boghome.com. Place the zip files in your WinXP_Shared folder and navigate within Windows to the same place. Alternatively, if your network connection works within WinXP, you can do everything with a web browser from there.

Within WinXP, double click on BOG_Full_1.00. This should open a window with a Setup application. Execute the application to install BOG as described here. You might want to place BOG in a different folder than Program Files for the next steps. For instance, I like to put everything in the Shared folder for ease of use.

Place your copy of DOS GemRay 1.43 somewhere accessible (easiest: Same directory)

Run BOG, setting up the BOGWork directory, etc. to make sure it works. Then quit.

Place BOG_1.20.zip in the same directory, and then unzip it in place to update to 1.20. You may have to give permission to over-write the older, smaller version of BOG. Double click on the BOG application icon and check the version number to make sure (it should be 1.20).

Note that BOG 1.2 ships with GemRayX as the default ray tracer. If you don't have GemRayX, select About BOG -> BOG Preferences and then select GemRay (image).

It all should work. At this point, you can install some of your other favourite Windows programs, such as GemCAD (image). Yes, that really is BOG and GemCAD running in a window on MacOS!

To quit the VM, just select quit from the VirtualBox menu. The default (Send the shutdown signal) is fine. This will exit VirtualBox VM; you have to quit VirtualBox Manager separately.

Enjoy!