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iOS and MacOS / VMWare or VM VirtualBox setup for iOS and OSx deployment

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Naphier
13
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Joined: 2nd Oct 2010
Location: St Petersburg, Florida
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 19:45
Hi folks. I'm ready to deploy my game for iOS and OSx, but I don't have a Mac. I'm willing to purchase Mountain Lion and VMWare Workstation up to version 8, but I do not have the funds to buy a Mac or iOS device at the moment.
I'm wondering if any of you out there deploy your projects for iOS/OSx using virtualization.
If so what is your setup?
I'd love to only have to use Virtualbox, but it doesn't look like it is solid enough. Also, I'd prefer to run on my AMD rig, but am having a difficult time doing so. I do have an Intel laptop if I need to use it.
Suggestions are most welcome.
Thanks!

Ancient Lady
Valued Member
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Joined: 17th Mar 2004
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 20:14 Edited at: 26th Mar 2013 20:15
You can only do a virtual Mac on a Mac.

Apple does not allow you to do virtual Apple on Linux or Windows Virtual Machines.

You might find that getting a Mac Mini for about $600 with Mountain Lion is worth the investment.

Then you can slap any keyboard, mouse and monitor on it that you have at hand to use it.

I use a Mac Mini and am quite happy with it.

Cheers,
Ancient Lady
AGK Community Tester and AppGameKit Master
Naphier
13
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Joined: 2nd Oct 2010
Location: St Petersburg, Florida
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 20:29 Edited at: 26th Mar 2013 20:36
Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately I don't have an extra $600 for a Mac Mini right now.

There's many guides to setting up Mountain Lion on PC via VMWare and I'm aware of how to do it. I had Snow Leopard running on Windows not long ago, but I want to use newer version of XCode.

I'd really like to hear about folks who have this type of setup for AppGameKit, but I do appreciate your suggestion.

EDIT:
I see some Mac Minis on Ebay for under $200, but I'm not sure if they could run Mountain Lion. It is 1.5GHz single core, with 512MB RAM and 60GB drive. Not sure if that is enough for Mountain Lion. What specs do you have on you mini?
Thx
Nevermind, looks like it needs at least 2GB of memory.

Ancient Lady
Valued Member
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Joined: 17th Mar 2004
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 21:00
It's not a matter of whether it is possible to run Mountain Lion on a PC via VMWare.

You are only allowed to run OS X (any flavor) in VMWare on Mac hardware. It is part of the EULA.

So, if you did set up that environment and tried to publish in Xcode from it, you would not be 'legal' as far as Apple is concerned.

The Apple iOS Developer's license requires that iOS apps are compiled and packaged in Xcode on Mac hardware.

Cheers,
Ancient Lady
AGK Community Tester and AppGameKit Master
Naphier
13
Years of Service
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Joined: 2nd Oct 2010
Location: St Petersburg, Florida
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 21:16 Edited at: 26th Mar 2013 21:19
Well... I don't want to incriminate anyone here for violating Apple's almighty EULA.

So consider the question closed I guess.

Maybe after I buy a Mac I'll offer a service to compile games for folks who have AppGameKit, but don't have a Mac.

Thanks for the input Ancient Lady.

Can you tell me what minimum requirements I'll need for a Mac?
I.e. what version of OSx and XCode?
Thanks

Ancient Lady
Valued Member
20
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Joined: 17th Mar 2004
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 21:39
To give yourself the widest iOS market, you want the most recent version of Xcode (otherwise it won't talk 'best' to newer devices).

I'd also recommend the current X OS. But it has to be Snow Leopard or higher.

You should get at least the dual-core and as much memory as possible (affordable). But I wouldn't recommend anything less than 2GB (and that might be very slow).

And it MUST be an Intel based box.

I have an 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 (dual-core) with 8GB RAM and it appears to be suitable.

Cheers,
Ancient Lady
AGK Community Tester and AppGameKit Master
Naphier
13
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Oct 2010
Location: St Petersburg, Florida
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 21:52
Good to know.
Thank you.

Ancient Lady
Valued Member
20
Years of Service
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Joined: 17th Mar 2004
Location: Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Posted: 26th Mar 2013 21:54
Some additional research suggests nothing less than 4GB RAM is your best bet.

And don't forget to budget for $99/year for the iOS Developer's License. And it needs to be maintained as long as you want your apps to stay in the App Store. And, if you want to publish for Macs, you will need an addition $99/year for the Mac Developer's License.

Good Luck!

Cheers,
Ancient Lady
AGK Community Tester and AppGameKit Master

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