using and compiling for older macbooks and xcode
Monkey Forums/Monkey Programming/using and compiling for older macbooks and xcode
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| Hi guys, I have a 2007 macbook running os x 10.6.8 and have xcode 3 installed. I'm considering upgrading to 10.7.x Lion so I can use a newer xcode version, but my main concern is, without having to buy a new Mac laptop, will this configuration allow me to create iOS and Mac games that'll run on new macs, tablets and phones with me using monkey 74a? |
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| If I understand correctly, I think you'd be ok with that setup for a while, but not that long. xcode5 (for ios7) was only just released, you'd be 'stuck' with xcode4.6/Lion, and sdk 6. I'm assuming you cant put mountain lion on that machine. This is fine whilst monkey supports both xcode versions. I tested some monkey xcode projects, they moved from xcode4 to xcode5 with no issues (aside from a base sdk setting), so I'd hope monkey can continue to support both, but obviously its not for me to say. You'd not be able to use or test any ios7 features, you'd have to build/test against ios6. But, using the latest sdk is not a requirement (yet..). sdk6/ios6 became a requirement indirectly, since it added support for the new wider screen iphones. My mac isnt much newer than yours, and I expect its at the end of the road, since I know its too old to run Mavericks. So, in a year or so, it wont get an xcode update, then I'm screwed :/ |
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| Quick question about this since I dont own a mac,and never have, when they release these new versions of xcode, and their os, do people who have apps already on their market need to release updates as well ? or does it just effect people writing new apps, if you know what I mean. |
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| You dont have to rush to update apps to a new sdk -- apps are never removed because they are linked against 'old' sdk versions. But, when you do need to update an old app, the app store requirements may require you use a newer sdk (not necessarily the latest). There is very occasionally a bug related to a new ios version or device, this happened a couple of times when I used cocos2d, so this might force you to update. There does seem to be a rush to 'support' a new sdk, but it only really makes sense if you're using some new sdk feature (which you can be testing using the beta releases). Then, you can time your update to coincide with a new sdk or device release, and maybe gain some attention by being early to support it. I dont see anything vital in ios7 (?!), I guess 64-bit builds will become mandatory for new apps at some point. |
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| Thanks for the update and helpful information bazmonkey. At least with mac games, you don't "have" to put it on the apple store/game center/whatever. You could just provide it for purchase and download via your own/other website. So it really just comes down to the ipads and iphones. I don't feel having to spend £1000+ just to keep developing for hardware that will go out of date in a year or so is worth that expense :) Also Taiphoz, AFAIK your app will also only stay on the store while you have a valid dev licence, so if you let it expire, your apps become unavailable. I wonder if a similar thing happens on the Android marketplace? |
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| Android dev licenses do not expire. |
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| Your Macbook can handle the latest system 10.8 Mountain Lion. You could also wait for 10.9, which will come out in around a month or so. Here you can see that even 10.9 will support Macbooks Mid 2007 or later: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS_X_Mavericks Edit: I would wait for 10.9, because you are eligible to upgrade even if you now only have 10.6. I guess they will price it for around 15-20$ again. |
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| Depends which specific macbook model it is. Could be in luck, but I assumed from the original post that it could only go to Lion. Edit - I hope the supported list for Mavericks stays the same, that would be great. The last I read was that Core 2 Duos were being dropped, which would leave out my mac mini. |
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| I have a 2006 MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo and Lion (10.7.5) is the end of the road for it. I think I fared quite well with the $2,400 purchase I made back then. It was fresh on the market at the time, and really it still performs quite well despite the fact it no longer can get updated Mac OS releases. I replaced the battery once, upgraded the HDD from 120GB to 500GB, and maxed the memory from 1GB to 3GB, and replaced the power brick, as the cord was nibbled on by my cats. All else works fine with the exception that just recently in the past couple of weeks, I noticed a couple of keys on my keyboard are not as responsive. 7 years with only those few issues is not bad for ANY computer. I use XCode 4.6.3 on this even and it runs just fine. I can tell its aging though as my work Windows laptop smokes it in many ways :( I'm upgrading around Christmas time to the new MacBook Pro 15" with Retina. I'm gonna grab the better of the options because its gonna be 5 years before I upgrade again :) I might see if XCode 5 will even work on this. If not, oh well. I only have a few months before my new machine will be in my hands :) I hope you can upgrade to Mavericks, bazmonkey! Get all the life you can out of it before you gotta upgrade :) |
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| Thanks for the information guys. I am considering getting a ipad mini for testing/dev purposes, but having to get a new macbook or similar is just crazy. AFAIK I can only install Lion on my hardware. I have seen some stuff on the interwebz talking about getting a newer version of OS X on the older macbooks (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1404548 being one) Shinkori1, it doesn't support it from what I can tell. (I have the Macbook 3,1 as reported by the hardware) Not sure it's worth the hassle, but the itunes market does seem to be worth it, so hmm.. |
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| You do have another option. There is a hosted service called macincloud.com where you pay monthly for use of a mac and access via RDP. Might be a more cost effective option? I made the switch to Mac several years ago and now just virtualise (using Parallels) if I need to drop back to Windows, which is rarely but gives me the best of both. One other key thing to note is residuals on Macs are way higher than windows PCs. I sold a 7 year old powerbook (pre macbook days) and got more for it than a 3 year old windows laptop so the total cost of ownership was actually *less*. Gary |
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| Thanks for that info Gary! I'm a user of several bits of hardware, but I do have a special love for my macbook. It just annoys me that the ecosystem forces you to update the hardware. If it were cheaper it wouldn't be that much of a sting. But you are correct, mac hardware seems to hold value better. Since I contract, finances are a bit unpredictable, but if things go well, I may flog this macbook and get someting new. I might even opt for a cheaper mac mini instead of a mac laptop as my android tablet has pretty much replaced the need for a laptop. On the other hand, having just installed a dual boot Ubuntu 13.04 on the macbook, it makes for a bloody nice 'nix environment, which is meant for linux game testing on Monkey. |
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| Ok, based on a mate's suggestion, I am installing Mountain Lion on my 2007 macbook using Parallels Desktop 7. The only thing it asked for was 2gb Ram. It's making me wonder if I should try install it for real, replacing Snow Leopard, but for now, I'll play it safe and mess about with it in Parallels to see how it manages. |
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