I'm trying to learn to code in Objective C, but I am not ready to commit to purchasing a Mac for just this purpose, seeing as I have a good Dell laptop. My computer has VMware installed on it, but I do not know how to actually go through the steps, and I do not know what I need to install or purchase(if absolutely necessary). Eventually, I hope to get a Mac, so this won't be needed, but until then, I want to find a way to compile Objective C so I can actually learn how to use it. Thanks.
While it is technically possible, I'll tell you from experience:
To run Xcode and the iOS Simulator, you will need to have MacOS running. Oficially it only runs on Apple Hardware, buuut, you can always use virtualizers and Hackintosh. There are plenty of good tutorials online if you choose this method.
My advice: DON'T do it!
When I started to develop iOS apps, I had a Windows PC, but after trying lots of different approaches to virtualize MacOS, with none I had great results. I bought a MacBook on a sale, and it's just a better iOS development experience overall. It's priceless not to have to deal with driver searching and compatibility issues.
First virtualize MacOS X, inside then iOS with XCode. See http://www.macbreaker.com/2012/07/mountain-lion-virtualbox.html
Yes you can, you need to virtualize OSX inside you Windows, and then use XCode as the other stated, however it doesen't work with nearly all AMD CPU's but i think Dell uses mostly Intel. And a Mac costs alot. For example i don't have money for one, the cheapest one costs $1,600 where i come from, but if you are going to get a Mac, i would wait for that.
But they really are expensive, and i only need a Macbook for debugging.
[Assuming you already have the mac installation image or vmware file]
Sadly Vmware does not include support for mac in it's latest versions
So you'll have to patch(aka Vmware Unlocker for OS X) it.
Follow this link http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/20-vmware-unlocker-for-os-x/ (you'll be required to set up an account)
Or alternatively you can download the VirtualBox(https://www.virtualbox.org/)
Happy Coding
Use virtualbox instead of VMWare. If it does'nt work, install the extension pack for virtualbox.
Related
What are the disadvantage of working with Xcode on Windows? What problems do I encounter from the beginning to the end (upload to the market) of the application development process?
I wasn’t aware you could run Xcode natively on Windows. There are a number of ways of creating the code in Xamarin for example, but I think you still need a Mac to do the code signing/uploading to the App Store. Have you read https://codewithchris.com/xcode-for-windows/ ? Some good ideas on there to try, although I ended up buying a secondhand MBP as it worked out just as easy...
You could try using Virtual Box and Hackintosh to Virtualize a mac.
I don't know if it helps but you could try it.
https://www.virtualbox.org/
https://hackintosh.com/
We're getting into iOS development with MonoTouch. All of our machines are Mac Pros with Windows 7 installed via BootCamp. I'm not crazy about rebooting into OS X just to access the MonoTouch IDE. I'm wondering if it's legal and possible to install OS X on a VM within Windows (if I'm already on Apple hardware, it should be ok, right?). Any other issues with Apple's SDK in a VM (I heard they do some hardware checking of some sort). Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
You can't really run OSX on a VM under windows without going the hacking route. The only way to properly virtualize OSX is to run OSX Server under OSX itself, which is not what you want.
The best option for you is to do what I do: run OSX on your Mac, then use something like VMWare or Parallels to run the Windows you have on your BootCamp as a VM. Works beautifully.
Yup, Eduardo is right, running OSX under non-apple hardware is considered illegal according to apple's license. Moreover, you may run into some issues when creating your developer's account or sumbitting apps.
However, if you still want go the hack way, you can refer to osx86project or just search google for "how to create a hackintosh".
Is it possible to install it on VirtualBox or other virtualization solution? If yes, how fast it works?
I don't see any problem running MonoTouch frameworks/IDEs in a virtualized Mac.
I can expect a lot of problems transferring across the USB cable the compiled applications to a real iPhone/iPad to test it. iTunes and XCode tend to be very picky about the configurations.
Buying a cheapest Mac might be easier and less costly if you consider the time you might waste, but your mileage may vary.
The evaluation version of MonoTouch will run, but the SDK tools used on the production version wont.
We were able to develop and deploy apps to real devices under VMWare Player and WMWare workstation. The problem we have is MonoTouch activations. It would activate and randomly need reactivation. It would work for a while then it would fail to activate.
Each time it failed we would need to contact support and reset the key so we could continue working. They do not support virtualized hardware and do not plan to fix the activation issue.
In the end we purchased real hardware.
Via VMWare Workstation I have it running quite nicely. Installing apps to iOS devices is fine, but creating a network for softdebug to find the iphone (or vice versa) is the only problem I've seen.
I'm trying to figure that out right now - I'll try and update this thread with the solution.
We are a Microsoft shop with C++ experience looking to get into some iPhone/iPad development.
Before we make a large investment in individual development machines, we would like to test our abilities with a modest investment.
Can we use one Mac Mini Snow Leopard Server as a development machine for 2-3 concurrent users? We would want them to remote from their PCs into the Mac Mini server and develop remotely.
Is this possible?
It sounds like you're about to break Joel's "Don't torture your developers" rule.
Skimping on hardware is a good way to waste expensive developer time, which will lead to unhappy developers and failed projects.
Since a Mac with a Windows license can be turned into a Windows development machine, you could buy Macs instead of generic Windows PCs as your existing development hardware hits its replacement dates, and have the flexibility to do either Windows or Mac development.
I think it's worth re-evaluating this initiative as to whether there's enough commitment behind it to make it succeed.
Not out of the box. Mac OS X server is not designed for multiple concurrent desktop access users like a Windows Terminal Server. Edit Here is a product that will do that. http://www.aquaconnect.net/
The Mac Mini is not any major power house either. Emulating the iPhone would not be feasible either since (at last I knew) all Mac Mini's were dual core.
That is a very interesting question which I do not know the answer to, but I will still be cheeky and post a reply. The cheapest Mac Mini is $599 and Mac OS X Server costs $499 so it might be worth just buying two Mac Minis for an additional cost of $100.
I do hope someone here has experience of a similar setup to what you have in mind.
A Mac Mini isn't enough oomph to do that; it's basically a low-end laptop, after all. You could do it with aquaconnect and an XServe, but it might be cheaper just to buy some KVMs and a few Mac Minis and give the developers one each.
I need to test a site with a dynamic menu in Mac Firefox, but I'm running in Windows. A simple browsershot.com test won't help; I need to actually use the site.
How can I acquire a method of doing Mac emulation without physically having a Mac? Is there some kind of remote VM product out there?
We use BrowserCam for exactly that.
I realize that the original question asked for a virtual solution, however, as of this time there isn't a legal way to emulate a Mac on non-Apple hardware.
A service like BrowserCam is the best bet if you are entirely opposed to purchasing a Mac. Remote access from BrowserCam is about $400 a year and they have cheaper packages that may suit.
Depending on how often (and on what browsers/platforms) you need to test, you may want to consider purchasing a Mac Mini. A refurbished Mini runs between $500 and $600 and may be cheaper over the long run.
If cross-platform testing is central to your company's business, a full size Intel-based Mac running both OS X and Windows (with Parallels, BootCamp or VMWare) for testing may be a better option.
Check out the OSx86 Project. I've used this before, it works quite well and is pretty easy to understand.