Ask HN: Possible to write iPhone apps on a PC?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=366447

by jmtame • 18 years ago

10 16 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'd like to start writing an iPhone app with a few friends while I'm a college student, I've always been a PC though. I don't really switch to something because it's more trendy, although I am a fan of Steve Jobs and have an iPhone. Can I develop iPhone apps on my PC, or do I need a Macbook?

pmjordan• 18 years ago

As far as I know, the SDK will only work on an Intel Mac running OSX. (10.5?) Cheapest option is to go for a Mac Mini, or ask to be allowed to use someone's mac remotely to use the SDK. As there are a few of you, you could share the cost. (although you should probably work out who keeps it when you're done/in case you give up)

jdg2• 18 years ago

For what it's worth, while the SDK claims to be Intel only, I managed to get it mostly working on an old PPC powerbook.

The only piece that did not work was code signing.

In any case, just splurge for a Mac Mini if you're not ready to make a bigger financial commitment.

DenisM• 18 years ago

If nothing else mac mini doubles as a nice litle media center or a file server.

Zev2• 18 years ago

A recent version of the SDK or one of the old beta versions?

jdg2• 18 years ago

The latest version of the SDK that isn't under NDA. :-)

Just do a Google search for iPhone SDK PPC. There are a few blog posts about how to get it working -- and it was relatively straightforward.

charlesju• 18 years ago

Nope, you need a Mac. I have a mac mini and it runs the xcode SDK perfectly.

there• 18 years ago

i recently had to be the middle-man for a pc user with an iphone that paid someone a few hundred dollars to have his idea transformed into an actual iphone app. i had to do all of the work as far as generating the certificates, managing all the stuff on apple's iphone developer site, building new releases, and e-mailing him binaries so he could try them on his phone.

the entire process is laborious enough with a mac and xcode, i can't imagine how any of it could be done on windows. if nothing else, you will need xcode just to be able to cross-compile and sign your app with the necessary certificates to be able to transfer and run the app on your phone.

however, the integrated debugging with gdb that xcode offers is invaluable. being able to use your computer to step through the code running on your iphone while it's running is very useful and was required to fix some problems with this app i was dealing with. without it, all you get is your iphone closing the app with no error or warning. xcode also allows you to watch the console of the iphone and see errors/debugging info that is being printed that you wouldn't normally be able to access from the phone.

that said, you don't really have to switch to a mac to do this. buy a used macbook or mac mini just to do your development on it, while still using your pc to do everything else.

scumola• 18 years ago

There are some pirate half-assed ports of OSX for the PC that I've heard about floating around on the net somewhere. I heard that you can get OSX marginally working on a stock PC, so I'm guessing that if you can get that far, the SDK probably won't know the difference.

xtrimsky_2• 18 years ago

you can install Mac OS X on some PC's, my Dell laptop Inspiron 1420 can run Mac OS X perfectly

darjen• 18 years ago

If you don't want to install it directly you could always try using vmware. May or may not be legal...

xtrimsky_2• 18 years ago

well its always illegal, but using it only to develope iphone app you should not feel bad about it, you're doing a favor to apple. And its not like you'll get arrested for doing so.

Zev2• 18 years ago

The only version of OS X that can be run in a VM is Leopard Server. And even that requires Leopard Server to be running on the host machine (according to the EULA). So unless you want to delve into osx86, the option of running OS X in a VM is out. And if you're messing with osx86, you might as well go all the way and do a native install.

gay2006• 18 years ago

HI, I try to install in my Dell laptop Inspiron 1420 but in stack and cannot see the apple logo screen....

can you show me the way to installl my email: chyechye83@gmail.com

bjclark• 18 years ago

Macs aren't "trendy", they are better.

silencio• 18 years ago

It's possible, but whether you actually want to and have the know-how is a different matter. I would assume that the cost of a used MacBook or Mac mini would end up being more cost-effective in the long run than finding any other way to develop apps for the iPhone in terms of the time it will consume. For what it's worth, I have some friends who bought a Mac expressly for iPhone development but when they're not doing that, they use their prior computers and run Windows in bootcamp. If you are really dead set on not buying a Mac, then http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/11/11/develop...

There is also osx86, but if you run into any problems either with the above suggestion or a hacked version of OS X to run on non-apple hardware, you're pretty much screwed, especially if it doesn't happen on "legit" installs. Apple won't support it (you do get a couple of opportunities to get code-level help from apple engineers with the iPhone dev program), and neither will most people you encounter on forums/mailing lists due to all the little complexities of running an OS on unsupported hardware.

Lastly, what's up with the "trendy"? I just use whatever works for what I need. For the iPhone, that is a mac. Getting a mac for iPhone development only makes me trendy in being an iPhone developer, but still I'd be getting it because I needed it. There is no shame in that :)

inklesspen• 18 years ago

I recently read about a guy who developed an iPhone game in Visual Studio, but even there he had parts of the job (such as compilation) that had to be done on a Mac, so I'm going to join the others here and say you'll have to bite the bullet.

Ask HN: Possible to write iPhone apps on a PC?

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