FM6 on Windows 7?

Report · Dec 23, 2011

I am still using FrameMaker 6 (version 6.0p405) on Windows XP. I plan to get a laptop with Windows 7. Has anyone run FM6 on Windows 7? It will have Windows 7 Pro so that it can run XP Mode.

Does it matter if the laptop has the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7? I have heard of people having problems running some applications written for 32-bit Windows, but maybe this is not a factor when running XP Mode.

Any help appreciated.

PaulF

Report · Dec 23, 2011

Yes, you'll definitely have to run this within the XP VM. I don't think 32 or 64 has any impact on how the XP virtual machine operates.

Report · Dec 23, 2011

Here are some recent threads, and some guesses:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3939369#3939369

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4030181#4030181

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3339045#3339045

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3231380#3231380

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3459362#3459362

In general, these threads rarely end with "we got it working perfectly - here's how".

My guesses are:

Frame6 itself is likely to install and run in the Win7 XPM.
What probably either won't install, or won't run, in Win7 or XPM, is the Distiller bundled with FM6. You are probably going to need to invest in Acrobat X Standard or Pro. Whether you have to install AX in both Win7 and XPM is not known to me (nor can I speculate about licensing for that).
Even with Acro X, Save-As-PDF probably won't work (assuming FM6 had that - I don't recall).
Print-to-PDF will work, if it works for any XPM app to native Win7 Acrobat; which is to say, it might not.
Print-to-Ps and Distill separately probably will work. You might need the ADISTIL.PPD file from FM6's Acrobat, to set up a suitable Ps driver in XPM.

FM6 is not Unicode-aware. You will need your legacy fonts, and might have to install them separately in both Win7 and XPM. If any are the same font name as native Win7 Unicode .OTF fonts, expect issues.

My inclination would be to buy a used XP laptop. Might be cheaper than upgrading to FM10, assuming that's the main reason for staying with FM6.