Using XTools, you would first compile a copy for the processor you
already have. Then, you *could* compile the program on an intel
based mac if you had one) then copy the resulting executable back,
then combine them with a tool Apple has for this purpose. This is
the simplest solution from what I've read in the developer site,
however, you can compile a cross platform version (I think) but I
don't remember the details, as I recall though, it wasn't as simple
as compiling on the intel mac and copying the binary image over. I
didn't read the document eplaining how it's done completely, since I
do not have an intel based mac, and didn't think I'd get one anytime
soon, it didn't interest me at the time the document was produced
several months ago. I could go look it up if you're curious. I'm
seriously thinking of getting myself one of the intel based minis,
just so I could play around with it, but unfortunately, funds are
much more of a problem now than they were last year at this time. <sigh>
Oh well.
Eventually.
On Mar 5, 2006, at 10:45 PM, Jacob Schmude wrote:
Hi
So, though this is a little off topic, I have a further question.
When a new universal Mac binary is compiled, does the development
tools--Xcode, most likely--simply cross-compile for the processor
that it isn't running on? That is, if you're running on a PowerPC
and you build a program, does Xcode cross-compile an Intel version
as well? That's the only way I could think of doing it without
having to have both a ppc and an Intel based Mac to develop on.
I'll have to try to embed the zip and gif files together, never
thought of trying that. Maybe I'll play around and see what other
file types this works for. Is that how they get the song lyrics
embeded into an mp3 file sometimes? This'll be fun to play around
with, should entertain me for at least a few hours--grin.
On Mar 5, 2006, at 8:04 PM, Travis Siegel wrote:
Universal binaries are files that physically have two copies of
the program in them. The ppc and the intel progrram are both
present in the executable file. When you click on the program to
execute it, the os determins which processor you have, and selects
the appropriate image of the binary, loads it, and executes that
copy. It's actually quite a slick little solution.
Very similar to the way some folks imbed zip files into gif files
(or vice versa) since zip files have the signature info at the
beginning, and the gif files have it at the end. Go ahead and try
it, append a gif picture to a small zip file. You'll be able to
unzip the file, or load it into a gif viewer, and it will work as
it should (assuming your gif viewer behaves of course)
On Mar 5, 2006, at 8:25 PM, Jacob Schmude wrote:
I doubt that PowerPC will be unsupported very soon--think of all
the Macs out there that're still running that processor and most
of the average joe Mac users don't care what proessor's in it.
Apple is certainly smart enough to realize this--and actually the
Apple stores still sell PowerPC-based machines--so I doubt
they're going to drop support. If they were, why did they not
just start creating Intel-specific development tools rather than
their Universal binaries which run natively on both processors?
Still not sure how they pulled that one off effectively. Anyway,
I've got an iBook G4 as my notebook and it gets about 5 and a
half hours of battery life with the wireless turned on--I've
gotten up to 8 with it turned off. And currently, if you want to
run Virtual PC a PowerPC system is your only option--though I
believe there are other PC emulators that do work on the new
Intel Macs. Regardless of what processor you get in it, if you're
going to be doing PC emulation, you'll want to max out the ram
and I'm not kidding about that--the iBook G4 has a max of 1.5 gb
and I believe the Powerbook G4 has a max of 2 gigs. I'm not sure
what the max on the new Macbook Pro is.
On Mar 5, 2006, at 3:18 PM, Justin Harford wrote:
I am still in the market for a mac. I want a note book that
would have around 5 hours of battery life, play music and DVDs.
I was also thinking that I might like to run some sort of PC
simulator on it later on too. Of course using office type
programs like Mariner Write and Calc later on are also wanted.
So, what do you guys recomend that I do. I was originally
thinking about a mac book pro, but I have been hearing all this
stuff about the intels and it's duel processors sucking up
battery life. Is there an alternative that would better suit
me, to the intel, mac book, or both?
Justin Harford
