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A nice guide explaing what Boot Camp is and how to use it.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/colu...c/bootcamp.ars

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Heading off to Boot Camp

By Jacqui Cheng

Monday, April 10, 2006
Introduction

Last week when Apple announced Boot Camp—a free public beta utility straight from above allowing users of Intel-based Macs to easily install WindowsXP alongside OS X—people came out in droves to try it out. There were so many different reasons to want to dual boot, ranging from simply wanting to do it for geek points to wanting to play Eve Online to running proprietary Windows software for work while still keeping around the wonderful hardware and software goodness that we've grown to love from Apple in the first place. Boot Camp, by its mere existence, instantaneously made a lot of people's lives a lot easier.

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In true Apple fashion, Apple made the process as seamless and simple as possible so that nearly any end-user could be able to do it. Unlike the somewhat contorted process thrown together by some dedicated hackers, there are only a couple of steps, a couple of clicks, and some time required to install Windows.

We downloaded Boot Camp early on and installed Windows XP on a couple of our Intel Macs. What follows is some reflects on Boot Camp, a tale of our experiences using Windows on our Macs, and some tips on how to get the most out of Windows on your Mac. We'll also talk about how to install Windows Media Center Edition on your Intel-based Mac if you have a burning desire to do so. This, however, is not a "review" of Windows, or even a "review" of Boot Camp. This is taking a look at the ups, downs, and workarounds of running Windows on what used to be Mac-only hardware.

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Installation

After updating your Mac to Mac OS X 10.4.6 though Software Update and making sure that you're running the most current firmware for your Intel Mac, the first part of the process requires the user to partition his or her hard drive so that Windows may be installed. The beautiful thing about this process is that Apple has made it easy for the user to partition the hard drive without having to back up or lose any data (a decidedly limiting factor in partitioning a hard disk from most average users' perspectives). Not only that, but Apple provides a simplistic, graphical slider for the user to create the partition with. Hallelujah!

The second part of the process involves burning a disc of Apple drivers so that you can install them after you have installed Windows. These drivers are necessary in order for you to use most of the Apple hardware inside of your Mac, such as (on the MacBook Pro) the display, AirPort Extreme card, Bluetooth, and various keyboard functions such as the eject key. Finally, the third part of the process is to simply stick in the WindowsXP SP2 disc and get to installing. After about 45 minutes or so of an average WindowsXP installation, you're in! Pop in that burned CD of Apple drivers (if you have more than one Intel Mac in the house and end up using Boot Camp on more than one, they can share the same driver CD even if they are different types of Macs), install them, and you're good to go... mostly.

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File systems

The first stumbling block mentioned by the denizens of Macintoshian Achaia is the file system that the newly-created Windows partition is formatted with. To many of us who have existed in separate Windows and Mac hardware worlds for so long, it seems intuitive to format the Windows partition as NTFS since we would (probably) be using it with WindowsXP, and well, some of us just hate being told that we have to comply to volume size and file number limits.

What is problematic is that Mac OS X cannot write to NTFS partitions—it can see the partition and read the files on it, but cannot copy files to it—and this defeats much of the purpose for some people to be dual-booting in the first place. The solution to this appeared to be to format the drive as FAT32, which is commonly done with removable hard drives that are used to shuttle or store data for both platforms.

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"But isn't FAT32 crappier than NTFS?" Well, yes. However, the ability of Mac OS X to read and write from a FAT32 drive practically makes it the winner (that is, if you want to do such a thing) in the case of Boot Camp for most Mac users.

There are two things to keep in mind if you decide to go the FAT32 route, though. FAT32 has no support for permissions as is the case with modern file systems like NTFS, HFS+, and XFS. All you get are read-only, system, and hidden flags. In addition, FAT32 partitions are a bit more prone to malware.

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But what about when you're under Windows? Regardless of which file system you format your Windows partition in, WindowsXP still can't read the dandy little HFS+ partition that you have your OS X installation on. This is both good and bad for most people. The good is that there is absolutely no way for those nasty Windows viruses and whatnot that "plague the Windows world" to get anywhere near your Mac partition and, in turn, your precious, precious files. The bad? Well, you'll never be able to read or save anything to your Mac partition directly from Windows (those of us who instinctively formatted the Windows partition as NTFS are all smacking our foreheads right about now).

So, what is one who really would love to use his or her Mac partition under Windows to do? Luckly, the software company Mediafour has a product available called MacDrive (US$49.95 or 30-day free trial) that allows Windows to use HFS+ hard disks and partitions, in addition to burning Mac-formatted CDs or DVDs, floppies (eew), and partitioning a Mac disk. What's nice about MacDrive is that you can change the settings so that Windows can only read (not write) from the HFS+ drive if you please, thus still protecting your OS X partition from any malware infestations that may occur. I, however, choose to live life on the wild side and am letting Windows read and write to my OS X partition! Knock on wood...

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Usage

So what is using WindowsXP on Mac hardware like? It's just like anyone who has used WindowsXP before would expect... mostly. According to Apple's Boot Camp FAQ, the drivers inlcuded on the Macintosh Driver CD that you burned are:

* Intel Chip Set Software (6.2.1)
* ATI Graphics (8.24.0.0)
* Intel Integrated Graphics (6.14.10.4512)
* Marvel Yukon Ethernet (8.49.2.3)
* SigmaTel Audio (1.0.4889.0 nd375 cp1)
* SigmaTel Audio proto_A2 (1.0.4889.0 nd375 cp1)
* Atheros 802.11 wireless (AirPort) (4.2.2.4)
* Broadcom Wireless (4.10.40.0)
* Apple Bluetooth module (1.0.0.1)
* Apple Keyboard Eject Key (1.0.0.1)
* Apple Keyboard Brightness (for computers with built-in displays) (1.0.0.1)
* Startup Disk Control Panel for Windows XP (1.0.0.1)

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Additionally, Apple makes it clear that even after the above drivers are installed in WindowsXP, there are some things that will not work under Windows. From the documentation:

The Apple Remote Control (IR), Apple Wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard or mouse, Apple USB Modem, MacBook Pro's sudden motion sensor, MacBook Pro's ambient light sensor, and built-in iSight camera will not function correctly when running Windows.

In addition to that, there are a few quirks here and there on various Macintels that the user may find annoying, or at the very least confusing, upon first (or second, or third) use. Almost all of the idiosyncrasies that I personally experienced, however, were specific to the MacBook Pro as Windows functioned exactly as expected on the Mac mini that I installed it on, save the fact that installation on the mini required hooking up a regular monitor to the mini as opposed to producing video output through the DVI to Composite converter that we had hooked up to the TV.

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Where's my right click?

As most Mac users, particularly Mac laptop users, know by now, "right" clicking is recognized in OS X when you hold down the Ctrl button and click on a single-button mouse. Most of us, however, have already adapted our lifestyles (at least on our desktop Macs) for the wonders of the multibutton mouse, which both Mac OS X and Windows often recognize and are able to use immediately. Laptops, though, are usually a different matter for many of us who insist on staying as mobile as possible and often do not use external peripherals on our MacBook Pros, so we're accustomed to having to control-click when we need contextual menus in OS X.

Unfortunately, due to some oversight on the part of Apple, the drivers included for the Apple keyboard to recognize the eject key and brightness controls under Windows did not take this common usage of the Control button on Macs into consideration. And, sadly enough, most of us have used Windows enough in our lives to know that it's near impossible to exist in a Windows world without the ability to right click. Apple's own Boot Camp FAQ simply gives us the brush-off by stating that right-click support is "not available in Windows." Wow, thanks Apple. Now what?