Minimum OSX requirements to run LC8

[KimD]

I've got my first LC Android app up and running on the Google Play Store Now I want to create an IOS equivalent

I wrote my LC Android app on a Windows 7 PC. My understanding is that I MUST have an OSX device to create an IOS app. I'm on a tight budget, so I purchased an old mini Mac (Intel Core Duo 2.0) running OSX 10.6.8. I've started my way through the LC "How do I build an IOS application" tutorial.
- I've downloaded LC 8.0.1 onto my mini Mac
- I've signed up for the Apple developer programme
- I tried to download XCode. First problem - it won't download because it says I need OSX 10.11 or later.
- Then I did some more looking on the LC web pages and found:
--- The minimum system requirements for LC (version unspecified) includes "10.6.x (Snow Leopard) on Intel"
--- What iosxcode version matches which version of livecode includes "LiveCode 7.1.2 – Xcode 7.2 -Mac OS 10.10/10.11 – iOS 9.2"

I'm a complete newbie to OSX & IOS. If I want to use LC8 to develop IOS apps, am I going to need to get an OSX 10.11 machine? Have I wasted my $100

Regards

[hpsh]

not really sure my self, as far i understand a mac mini early 2009 should be able to run osx 10.11, think maybe the only thing you need is a older xcode, think it should be on the install cd, or that you can get it from apple developer site.

[KimD]

Thanks for replying. I've checked and the highest version of OSX my mini Mac can run is 10.7, and most people seem to be recommending 10.6.8.

My 10.6.8 mini Mac:
- Can load and run LC8
- Can load and run XCode 4.2; but nothing higher

And, according to the release notes, the minimum version of XCode supported by LC8 is XCode 4.6.

So I think I've spent my $100 on a machine that can run LC8, but can't be used to develop IOS apps.

DOH!!!

[dave.kilroy]

Hi KimD - the Platform Support section of the Release Notes (available here: http://downloads.livecode.com/livecode/) shows which versions of Linux/Windows/Mac that Livecode supports, and from that which versions of Xcode can be installed. In short, try installing an earlier version of Xcode to suit your version of OS X, then see the latest version of LiveCode that will support that earlier version of Xcode... Basically LiveCode is good at backward compatibility and Apple is famed at not really caring about it.

Mac

The Mac engine supports:
10.6.x (Snow Leopard) on Intel 10.7.x (Lion) on Intel
10.8.x (Mountain Lion) on Intel 10.9.x (Mavericks) on Intel 10.10.x (Yosemite) on Intel 10.11.x (El Capitan) on Intel

iOS

iOS deployment is possible when running LiveCode IDE on a Mac, and provided Xcode is installed and has been set in LiveCode Preferences (in the Mobile Support pane).

Currently, the supported versions of Xcode are:
Xcode 4.6 on MacOS X 10.7
Xcode 5.1 on MacOS X 10.8
Xcode 6.2 on MacOS X 10.9
Xcode 6.2 and 7.2 on Mac OS X 10.10 Xcode 7.3 on MacOS X 10.11

It is also possible to set other versions of Xcode, to allow testing on a wider range of iOS simulators. For instance, on Yosemite, you can add Xcode 5.1 in the Mobile Support preferences, to let you test your stack on the iOS Simulator 7.1.

We currently support the following iOS Simulators:
6.1
7.1
8.2
9.2
9.3

[KimD]

Thanks Dave. Livecode is encouraging me to upgrade to 8.0; because they think that this will solve 2 bugs that I'm encountering. I think that I'm a bit stuck. If I want to avoid the bugs that I'm encountering with LC7.1, then I need to upgrade to LC8. If I want to develop IOS apps on LC 8, then a need a machine running at least OSX 10.7.

I suppose that I could try and upgrade my current OSX 10.6.8 machine to OSX 10.7, and then use XCode 4.6. But it feels like it will be a lot of effort for something that is the lowest spec currently being supported. I suspect that in 6 months time XCode 4.6 will also be on the "unsupported" list. I might just spend the money and buy a second hand machine running OSX 10.11. At least I should get a couple of years out of it.

Thanks again

[FourthWorld]

I suppose that I could try and upgrade my current OSX 10.6.8 machine to OSX 10.7, and then use XCode 4.6. But it feels like it will be a lot of effort for something that is the lowest spec currently being supported. I suspect that in 6 months time XCode 4.6 will also be on the "unsupported" list. I might just spend the money and buy a second hand machine running OSX 10.11. At least I should get a couple of years out of it.

Second-hand Macs can be a good buy. And since both 10.6.8 and 10.7 are no longer receiving security updates, moving up would be a safe move.

[hpsh]

ok well think anyway to make something good you will need some time anyway, it is a lot to learn, and probably best thing to be younger then me

the most "pro" thing i has made with livecode to day is a program to count colorpages in pdf, and that really look shit, and since it need ghostcript it is really slow.

[KimD]

Thanks all. I will buy a second hand Mac running OSX 10.11. It should pay for itself after my first 100,000 downloads