What Mac for compiling?

On 02/02/2013 at 04:17, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:    
Platform:      
Language(s) :

---------
I am totally unexperienced with Mac, never really used one for more than just browsing the
internet. I want to be able to compile plugins for Mac and came to the conclusion that it would
be the best to buy a second-hand machine that is just good enough to compile plugins.

May some experienced Mac user please tell me what requirements I have to set to the Mac
machine I need? My requirements are

• Compile plugins for R12-R14 and upcoming releases (so I don't have to buy a new Mac
  because R15 requires a new XCode version which in turn relies on a new OSX version
  which does not run on the mac.. :nauseated_face:)
• Cheap: I'm not interested in the speed of the compilation process, it should actually just
  do. I want to buy a second-hand machine therefore.

For example, would this machine run the required OSX and XCode version?

On 02/02/2013 at 07:29, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi,

you can use any Mac. Since your plugins are probably not that huge projects, the compile times will always be acceptable.

The only problem is that for R12 - R13, you need XCode 3.2.6 and for R14 you need XCode 4.5/4.6. On newer OS X versions, XCode 3.2.6 won't install anymore (even though it is in fact possible to run it, that's just weird Apple policy) and the later XCode versions won't run on older OS X versions. Additionally, the newer OS X version are missing the frameworks needed to compile for earlier CINEMA 4D API versions.

Things were easier when everybody still thought, plugins built for R13 would run in R14 without problems. But after we discovered the problem with the symbol stripping, it became obvious that plugins on Mac actually have to recompiled for R14.

Either you do quite a lot of research and find a wicked way to make it all work on a new OS X version, or you get a big hard drive and install two different OS X versions (don't even know if that's possible). Or you get two Macs ;-) Or you just decide not to support older CINEMA 4D versions anymore.

It's a huge topic... further reading is recommended, for example here:
Xcode 3.2.6 on OS X 10.7 or 10.8
Plugin crashes on Mac in R13 and R14

On 02/02/2013 at 07:49, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

<ADDRESS>
User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:    
Platform:      
Language(s) :

---------
</ADDRESS> I am totally unexperienced with Mac, never really used one for more than just browsing the
internet. I want to be able to compile plugins for Mac and came to the conclusion that it would
be the best to buy a second-hand machine that is just good enough to compile plugins.
May some experienced Mac user please tell me what requirements I have to set to the Mac
machine I need? My requirements are

• Compile plugins for R12-R14 and upcoming releases (so I don't have to buy a new Macbecause R15 requires a new XCode version which in turn relies on a new OSX versionwhich does not run on the mac.. :nauseated_face:)
• Cheap: I'm not interested in the speed of the compilation process, it should actually justdo. I want to buy a second-hand machine therefore.

For example, would this machine run the required OSX and XCode version?

If you want to use the latest XCode version (4.6 which contains an exellent C++11 support) on a current OS (10.8), the machine in your link is the wrong one, as it doesn't support OS X 10.8. For system requirements of OS X 10.8 see:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5444?viewlocale=en_US

Using the latest Xcode version for R12 could be problematic, as the r12 SDK was build for an older gcc version (and Xcode environment) and the latest Xcode versions don't support the Power PC chip anymore (if you don't want/need to support PPC cpus, you might be able to adapt to the old SDK, if you're willing to do the job of modifying the projects for XCode 4.x on your own).

Best regards,

Wilfried

On 03/02/2013 at 16:48, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Howdy,

The Mac OS upgrades used to install updated "firmware" that usually wouldn't let you down grade an OS, even if you added another HD. I don't know if the intel Macs still do that or not.

Since I have 4 machines, each one has a different OS version on it. One of them (G4 iMac) is still running Tiger. :joy:

Adios,
Cactus Dan

On 04/02/2013 at 00:07, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

Howdy,
The Mac OS upgrades used to install updated "firmware" that usually wouldn't let you down grade an OS, even if you added another HD. I don't know if the intel Macs still do that or not.
Since I have 4 machines, each one has a different OS version on it. One of them (G4 iMac) is still running Tiger. :joy:
Adios,
Cactus Dan

You don't have to add additional hard discs - contrary to Windows you can create a lot of additional, new bootable partitions on single hard disc - you need to have an ISO file, a dmg or an installation DVD to install the OS (and of course the hw need to be in range of the required system specs).

If you want to downgrade on the same partition, you have to format it first (and backup your data before) though - but I would do that on a Windows system too, as you can't risk mixing drivers and DLLs from different OS versions and installs.

Best regards,

Wilfried