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- The Lone Wolf Development Team
Mac OS?
- Thread starter Sannos
- Start date
chiefweasel
Well-known member
Don't know but cant you run Windows applications on the Mac?
smalenberg
Member
License plan for Mac?
So, will I need to buy a separate license for my Macbook, or since I'm only using 1 Windows license, will I be able to install it on my Mac with the second license?
So, will I need to buy a separate license for my Macbook, or since I'm only using 1 Windows license, will I be able to install it on my Mac with the second license?
The goal is to have both Mac and Windows licenses be interchangeable, and that's theoretically possible with how everything works. However, we haven't reached the point in the porting process where we can verify this will work in practice. That's going to occur late in the overall process.
Running Windows programs is quite possible on a Mac (via a virtual machine such as VMWare or Parallels) or perhaps an emulator.
But no matter how many times that is said, there's no substitute in my opinion for native applications, and for that reason I'm very excited about a 'pure' Mac version.
But no matter how many times that is said, there's no substitute in my opinion for native applications, and for that reason I'm very excited about a 'pure' Mac version.
Any word on when more details on this will be available? Hero Lab is THE only Windows platform program that I use and I can't justify dropping more money on a virtual desktop program.
My Crossover free trial just expired so I'm more interested in this now than ever. Any information would be fantastic.
-Cal
My Crossover free trial just expired so I'm more interested in this now than ever. Any information would be fantastic.
-Cal
FifthWanderer
Well-known member
I can't speak for LW, but as someone who's trained in software development...
The problem is, depending on what language HL is written in, porting it to a Mac may involve literally recreating the code from scratch! Applications like Hero Lab can be very dependent on the system architecture they're written on. LWD is faced with the problem of a) learning the Mac OS; b) maybe learning another programming language c) porting the code over to that OS & language. This on top of their already crowded development schedule.
They're a small shop and have a lot on their plate. Have patience, everyone.
Side note, Colen: Have you looked at a RealBasic? It's a tool for cross-platform development that compiles to native code on Windows, Mac and Linux. I haven't used it myself, but I've heard good things about it.
The problem is, depending on what language HL is written in, porting it to a Mac may involve literally recreating the code from scratch! Applications like Hero Lab can be very dependent on the system architecture they're written on. LWD is faced with the problem of a) learning the Mac OS; b) maybe learning another programming language c) porting the code over to that OS & language. This on top of their already crowded development schedule.
They're a small shop and have a lot on their plate. Have patience, everyone.
Side note, Colen: Have you looked at a RealBasic? It's a tool for cross-platform development that compiles to native code on Windows, Mac and Linux. I haven't used it myself, but I've heard good things about it.
Quick update....
We've got a veteran Mac developer working on the port. He's currently working on the nastiest part of the overall process. We're a little behind where we wanted to be, but it looks like we'll have something ready for Beta testing in early 2011. A formal release depends on how smoothly the Beta goes.
Both Hero Lab and Army Builder are written entirely in C++. However, from the very beginning, we isolated all platform-specific code into a few modules, so the rest of the product is entirely platform-neutral. Those few modules are what are currently being ported, and we're at about the half-way point in the overall process. The gotcha is that the differences between Windows and Mac and major, so those modules have to be essentially re-written from scratch, and that's a big chunk of work.
For those of you who are experienced developers, Hero Lab and Army Builder share a significant amount of code, but there are more than 500,000 lines of source code between the two. So this is quite an undertaking.
We've got a veteran Mac developer working on the port. He's currently working on the nastiest part of the overall process. We're a little behind where we wanted to be, but it looks like we'll have something ready for Beta testing in early 2011. A formal release depends on how smoothly the Beta goes.
Both Hero Lab and Army Builder are written entirely in C++. However, from the very beginning, we isolated all platform-specific code into a few modules, so the rest of the product is entirely platform-neutral. Those few modules are what are currently being ported, and we're at about the half-way point in the overall process. The gotcha is that the differences between Windows and Mac and major, so those modules have to be essentially re-written from scratch, and that's a big chunk of work.
For those of you who are experienced developers, Hero Lab and Army Builder share a significant amount of code, but there are more than 500,000 lines of source code between the two. So this is quite an undertaking.
If money is tight, you might consider trying VirtualBox - it's apparently free. I haven't used it myself, but I've heard good things about it, and there are at least a couple Mac users leveraging it.
FifthWanderer
Well-known member
It's not so much as an issue of money being tight as it is that quite frankly, Hero Lab is the ONLY program I use that I need an emulator for. I'll look into VirtualBox though and see how it goes.
But don't let this dissuade you from doing a Mac OS version!
-Cal
PS: On the other hand, I have about two laptops here and a desktop, but my license is set to the Mac and one laptop that my father borrowed (indefinitely). I'll have to read up on the licensing agreement more...
I assume your father isn't using Hero Lab right now on that laptop. If that's correct, just move the license on that laptop to a different computer you have access to. You can do this by simply activating that license number on a different computer. If it's been at least 4 months since you last activated the license on the other laptop, you can do this automatically. If it's been less than 4 months, you'll be sent to a form where you can request to have the waiting period waived. Nancy (support) usually gets those requests sorted out in 24 hours.
Heh, I've had Hero Lab for a month or so, not sure exactly. I had the license activated on my Mac the day I got it. The kicker is, I had no idea I was getting the Macbook and had just downloaded and purchased Hero Lab a few days before. I'll see about explaining my situation and sending an email off to the aforementioned Nancy.
Fantastic program by the way. Kudos to your team. I love the customizability of it.
-Cal
If it's an intel Mac, you don't even need Virtualization/Emulation... just cross boot into Windows using Boot Camp.
quixoticparadigm
Active member
Any update on how this is going? I'm very interested in HL being ported to Mac!
Of course, but what a drag! Booting a computer to just use one program and then booting the machine again to get back into the native OS. Not for me I'm afraid. (FYI I've used VMWare and currently use Parallels.
) I want to dump Windows as a 2nd OS. Period!