Minimum requirement for a Mac to get started with Lazarus on OS/X?

[ap3000]

As Delphi developer and fairly new to Lazarus and completely new to the Mac I would like to get started with programming on the OS/x platform. What would be the minimum requirement for the Mac hardware?
I'm looking into buying second hand Mac(it have to fairly cheap) - Where do get the most bang for my money, a Max Mini, Power Mac, etc.

Please advice - Thanks

Anders Pedersen

[Phil]

I'm looking into buying second hand Mac(it have to fairly cheap) - Where do get the most bang for my money, a Max Mini, Power Mac, etc.

Take a look at this long exchange, particularly Michael Swindell's post:

https://forums.embarcadero.com/thread.jspa?threadID=58716&tstart=30

If you upgrade to Lion, you can then download Xcode 4.1 free from the Mac App Store. Lion is a $US 29 upgrade from Snow Leopard.

Thanks.

-Phil

[jwdietrich]

An old G3 Mac or iBook with Mac OS 10.4 should be sufficient to run Lazarus (however not too fast).

[felipemdc]

An old G3 Mac or iBook with Mac OS 10.4 should be sufficient to run Lazarus (however not too fast).

I don't think that this is a good idea. ap3000 asked for a computer to write Mac software, and yes, your answer indeed fulfulls that, but I think that ap3000 will want to write Mac software which other people can use, not just any Mac software.

PowerPC is a dead platform for Mac development. Rosetta was removed from the latest Mac OS X, so I would strongly recommend anyone that wants to program for Macs to buy an x86 Intel based Mac, not a PowerPC Mac.

So my answer would be: Buy whatever you want, but make sure it has a x86 Intel processor. And also make sure it has at least Mac OS X 10.4 installed, because that's the minimum requirement for Carbon-based Lazarus.

If you want to do iPhone development too, then I'd even buy something newer, because Apple does not keep a very long backwards compatibility.

[ap3000]

Thanks felipemdc. This is very valuable information. It will be a mac with a intell :-)
 

[marcov]

PowerPC is a dead platform for Mac development. Rosetta was removed from the latest Mac OS X, so I would strongly recommend anyone that wants to program for Macs to buy an x86 Intel based Mac, not a PowerPC Mac.

Everything you say is true, BUT bear in mind that 2nd hand PPC mac minis (10.4 capable) can be had for Eur 100.  Second hand intel macs that are not Core Solo are still in the range of three times that price at least. I would not touch core solo since it is pretty much dead already too, unless they are in the same, very low pricecategory and just to test the waters.

Deprecated hardware (PPC, core solo) can be a good way to cheaply testdrive the mac experience and FPC development on it. Keep in mind you'll might have to buy something other at a later time though.

If you have money to spend, and a strict timetable, just buy something modern

[jwdietrich]

PowerPC is a dead platform for Mac development. Rosetta was removed from the latest Mac OS X, so I would strongly recommend anyone that wants to program for Macs to buy an x86 Intel based Mac, not a PowerPC Mac.

It depends. PowerPC may be dead, but Intel may be dead, too (see http://www.macrumors.com/2011/05/06/apple-to-move-from-intel-to-arm-processors-in-future-laptops/ and http://architosh.com/2011/05/more-apple-mac-arm-rumors-this-time-macair/). Furthermore, it is not bad to develop also for old platforms, because there are still millions in use.

However, you are right insofar, as you can run PPC applications on certain intel computers, but not vice versa (provided you are using Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 and have downloaded Rosetta via automatic software update). Therefore you should be able to test both PPC and intel versions on an Intel based Mac.

Therefore, the best option might be to buy a used Intel Mac and run it with Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 (in the latter case using the hint at http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/OS_X_Programming_Tips#Compiling_under_10.5_for_10.4_and_below). Additionally, you might want to build a universal binary to make your application compatible with both PPC and Intel processors (see http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Target_Darwin#Universal_binaries).

Considering these hints may ensure maximum compatibility of your applications.