All Starpath products can be run on a Mac using a PC emulator such as Parallels, Bootcamp, VM-ware, or Virtual Box. Prices vary from freeware (Virtual Box) to about $80; each solution also requires owning a copy of Windows. Windows XP, for example, which is cheap these days as it has been replaced multiple times already by MS and is probably still the OS of choice for a PC. This whole project, however, is a very good investment for mariners, since 99.5% of all maritime software is in the Windows platform. Another, even more attractive and practical solution in many cases is just to purchase a PC Netbook. There are multiple options available for under $400 at Costco and other discount outlets. Then you can run and maintain all of your Windows maritime software on these super portable machines. (Think of them as an iPad that does not look as nice, but does tremendous more for you, and costs 50 to 70% less.) Add to your netbook a Bluetooth GPS and you have a super portable complete nav station, with echarts, satellite email, weather services, and tons of maritime training tools and applications. Almost all Starpath software will run on any MS supported version of Windows. (The only exception is Weather Trainer and Chart Trainer, which will not yet run on 64-bit systems. Vista and Win7 32-bit is OK.) For the online courses, you could do them with just a Mac, since most interactions are online or pdfs, and the courses include printed textbooks. However, the best experience of the courses would be to have a PC solution as well, primarily because our ebook system does not work on a Mac, and there is much virtue to the ebooks for seaching and bookmarking as you proceed.
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