SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

Hi, I sell only a few of my apps to MAC users, therefore I have a old MAC MINI (late 2012) with OsX 10.9.5 on it. I develope the apps on windows, then move the error free code to MAC and compile with BlitzMax.

Today one of these MAC customers with a complete new MAC tells me that the installation of my app...

AURIS Ear-Training: http://www.midimaster.de/download/Auris.app.zip
(download is free)

... stops, with the reason (something like: ) "This app is too old for this OsX. Tell the developer to update the app to the newest Xcode."

So this would mean to buy a new MAC. I need to stay on OsX 10.9 because I use the FireWire connectors for 24-track-music recording with PRESONUS.

But 800,oo EUR for only a handful of customers? So I checked, whether there are other possibilities to compile BlitzMax code for MAC.
I found these rent-a-mac-in-a-cloud solutions:


This sounds good for me and I want to know if somebody has already experiences with this?
Or do you know an second alternative?

What would you suggest?

I bought an old mac mini (late mac mini I think) last year for 80 eur or so (with adapters, ssd, shipping ..). Installed latest OS X for it.

if your mac is no longer supported - check out this:
http://dosdude1.com/software.html

eg. to install catalina:
http://dosdude1.com/catalina/

Worked a charm here.



So ... you mentioned you wont update your mini as you need it for audio recording. Maybe it would be an option to buy another old mac mini - and install the current OSX on it. Cheaper than 800 - and maybe cheaper than the 30 dollar per 30hrs which you "might" need more of.


Another option is to: place your current Mac OSX of your mini on an usb stick (mine had one provided by the former user) so you could always reinstall. Then try out the newer OS X - if they still support your firewire thing.
Why do you think it is no longer working, an issue with "kext" files? (here maybe Xerra or Qube - as Mac users could shed some light).



bye
Ron

I use a extrem good digital recording mixer with build in 24tracks-recording without any latency. But the manual says, that 10.9 is the last working OS for this mixer model and its software. So I have to stay at 10.9. ("Never change a running system")

but as you say it could be a good opportunity to buy another old MAc, as I now knwo that the MAX MINI 2014 can be combined with OsX upto MacOs 10.15 Catalina. yesterday I have seen some at ebay for 150,oo EUR - 250,oo EUR, but not 80,oo EUR. This may be related with Corona.

Only for BigSur 11.0 you would need a MAC MINI 2020. but this costs a lot. 

big sur will run on older mac mini's - only the M1 version need a 2020arm mac

Seems I did not buy a mini 2011 but even older ... early 2009


(it runs headless and input less ... connecting via Remmina/VNC). But could attach usb and hdmi (via mini displayport to hdmi adapter for 5 eur) and a kvm switch.

Yes it is not superfast - but it just should reliable compile some stuff on original hardware and with a legal OS (...not as on my old hackintosh ...). And it runs my game at 60fps ... so seems ok for my needs.


bye
Ron

Oh, I also still have a second mac mini from 2009. That could be a second chance...

But before I start to install a new OS on it, I want to get sure, that you really use a complete OsX Catalina...

Are you sure, that you can compile 64bit apps on it?
Do you really use Xcode that came with Catalina?

This all is only helpful for me, if also nativel Catalina-MACs and BigSure-MACs from unexperienced user can run my apps immediately.

Did you already distribute software made on this MAC 2009 to people who use a MacOs 11.0 BigSure?

I compiled 64bit (tvtower.org). Mac reports no "updates available / already up to date".

Am not sure if one uses "bigsure". But got a complaint by a user this weeks - about bugs in my game. Think on Mac some stuff "defaults" differently to my windows/linux things - so I needed to fix things. But of course they most probably are based on "laziness". That user used a prior version (compiled on my "lion"-hackintosh) without remarkable bugs (and on windows he was able to play without trouble too).

Here in the forums xerra and qube seem to have "started" the game ... but they might not run 11.0 . Dunno if IWasAdam tried it out too.


If you do not use the mac mini of 2009 now - then do not be too shy. Just install a new OSX on it and if it does NOT work, reinstall the old version and let the mac mini settle dust again .
PS: do NOT forget to use the link I gave in post #2 here  - the catalina patcher (there are extensive guides on how to use it - rather easy to follow   -> download the patcher, use the patcher which downloads the current catalina image from apple and prepares stuff for you - install, and "done"). And that dosdude1 ... he is doing this for years now, so I would almost call him a trustworthy source.


If you cannot find German tutorials or are having problems with the english youtube video - you can always direct message me on discord (in German).


bye
Ron

A while ago I purchased a Mac cloud, in the aim of compiling Bmax code (not NG), and althought I have a good internet (optic fiber), it was a nightmare to work with.
One very annoying limitation for my purpose was that the virtual Mac was unable to handle real full screen display mode. Each time I ran a full screen mode, I had to contact the administrator to reset the virtual Mac because the mouse pointer disappeared.
Even without that hassle in mind, working with it was extremly slow. That was not a pleasant experience, but maybe it improved since few years...

Sorry for this long break. But finally now I bought a (used) Mac Mini 2018 with Big Sur. Now I want to start compiling my BlitzMax projects on this Mac. I need BlitzMax 1.50 for a lot of old code and I also want to start with BlitzMax NG on this MAC.

Do you know any (step-by-step) tutorial here in forum, where I can learn what is necessary to prepare the MAC for BlitzMax? My last experience with this is 10 years ago and I do not remember.

My first step was to create a apple ID for the AppleStore
My second step was to download XCode.

What is the next step?

checkout the release notes of NG

https://github.com/bmx-ng/bmx-ng/releases/tag/v0.129.3.45.macos.x64


Should be almost all needed.

bye
Ron

I found this yesterday too. but what does this mean:

QuoteBlitzMax for macOS does not currently ship with any compiled binaries (bcc, bmk, MaxIDE) due to security restrictions applied to downloaded executables. Binaries are automatically sandboxed so that it is prohibited from access the local BlitzMax folders (bin, mod, etc).

Does this also mean, that my MAC-app's would not run on users computer if I send them? ( I do not sell them on Mac-Store)

exactly... they have to execute a certain command before - to make it execute.

Qube
https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,4568.msg347048076.html#msg347048076
and Xerra
https://www.syntaxbomb.com/index.php/topic,4568.msg347048082.html#msg347048082

gave the commands to issue into a terminal.


but if you pay for being an apple developer (~100 Euro a year) you can hand in your application to be "approved" - of course this needs to be done for each build. So no rapid "can you check if this fixes your bug" thing.


bye
Ron

It looks like there is no chance anymore to distribute osx apps without having this registration.

But as I understand, I have to pay only once a year 99$ as developer and then there are no more additional fees for each app?

Who of us does use this? Who has experiences?

I did not needed to subscribe to the apple dev (I just have a apple id). But our apps are distributed thru a portal that handle the user's permissions.
Without that, the final user have to tweak his computer to execute your binairies, which vastly reduce your target but it really depends of your aims.