iPhone apps and XCode on a Linux Livecd

[steve_s]

A friend of mine that is a code writer and knows that I'm a linux livecd nut asked if there was Apple on a livecd.

I told him I didn't think so (I know that Apple is originated from BSD and that there are a couple of BSD livecd's out there, but that it isn't easy to do a remaster with BSD stuff. My experiences with FreeBSD were good but indicate that an easy remaster isn't likely).

Anyway, since I'm always looking for new projects, I told him I would see what I could do with Puppy.

Here is what he wants:

The main goal is for me to be able to write IPhone apps on my computer. However, to do that I need to have Xcode which only lives
on Apple products.

and

OK, so I think that it is all based on the Mac OS Version 10.5 I think. Then I believe I need:

Xcode IDE
Instruments
UIKit
Iphone simulator
Interface builder

The main Apple development page is at:

http://developer.apple.com/phone/index.action

So, first of all, can this be done on a Linux base.

Secondly, if so, are the items he wants installable/available on Puppy.

Thirdly, if the other two are possible, is there a Puplet that is preferred that already looks like Mac that y'all recomend? Or can you recomend pet tools that can be used.

I figure this may be yet another way to let Puppy shine, if it is possible in the first place..

[steve_s]

I saw this thread by MU...it talks about Eclipse which I saw on some Google searching is a way to write Xcode? I'm out of my league here when it comes to devlopment code...anyone that can give advice on possible ways to pull this off would be appreciated...

[steve_s]

Uh, oh, no responses. That's bad on this forum as responses are almost always so quick...

Ok, I see here that there is already a Puppy that can look like Mac OS: MacPup.

But is it at all possible for my friend to be able to work on these apps via livecd? Anyone?

[Lobster]

I believe there is an Open Darwin project - but much of Apple code is proprietary (the BSD license allows that - Boo!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_(operating_system)

There may be some hacked run from CD / DVD Apple OS
but they would be illegal (didn't Steve Jobs used to be a phone jacker? - sure he would approve)

[TheBlackSheep]

I don't think you'd be able to use the Puppy Live CD as it won't have the development tools installed (the devx_xxx.sfs needs to be loaded to get access to various utilities to compile programs - C/C++ compiler, make, linkers etc.). These are deliberately taken out of the Puppy ISO's to save space.

However, there is a development puppy version available although I'm not sure whether it's out of BETA (i.e. a live-cd with all the tools built in), see the following topic;

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=33366

Shouldn't all software always be considered BETA anyway?

It almost certainly won't have the iPhone SDK installed so you'd need to add it yourself (presumably available from Apple's site) and remaster your own version if what you want has to run from a live-cd, else doa frugal install and add the libraries manually. To master your own live CD just do a search on the forums here - I've never needed to do this so can't help on that one.

The Free Pascal Compiler project has recently announced that it has written it's own interface to the iPhone SDK see;

http://wiki.freepascal.org/iPhone/iPod_development

so it must be available for other compilers, languages.

Xcode is almost certainly proprietary to Apple OS-X - according to Wikipedia it looks like it's a modified suite of tools that's available via a development licence to OS-X developers so not sure it would ever work directly on Linux. I'd imagine there will be equivalents of most the tools in the development puppy version mentioned above, i.e. things like the CODEBLOCKS IDE, relevant compilers, linkers etc.

Although there are puppy versions that try to look like a Mac (WinXP/Vista etc) they aren't. IMHO I can never understand why you'd want to make Puppy look like something it's not, especially when the whole reason for Puppy is it's different from the rest, i.e. if you want a Mac, buy one! On the other hand, if all you really want is a really snazzy looking desktop just run Compiz-Fusion - see the Puppy derivative Ripple - it's excellent but you will need a decent graphics card to get the best out of it!

Best of Luck

Chris

[steve_s]

BlackSheep: thanks so much! I knew it wasn't a simple answer, but that was very thorough..

Yeah, having it look like Mac is secondary; Puppy is hugely versatile in what it can look like. I've done many remasters so that isn't a problem.

Lobster: yeah, thinking about it yesterday, I realize that Linux is adaptive to many types of hardware while the BSD branch, a la Apple, is more restricted to it's own hardware, thus livecd's are much less likely. Neil Stephenson said something like, "Microsoft sells software, while Apple sells hardware."

Alright, now the question is whether or not my friend could put this version to good use if I put it together for him...I'll ask.

Thanks again...