iPhone Dev on VirtualBox OSX PC?

Hi community,

i starting iPhone dev and have some hardware questions.
First, at the mom i run Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on a win7 x64 VirtualBox.
Well my pc is an Q6600@ 3,2Ghz with 4GB Ram and a Gigabyte DQ6.
I reserve for OSX: 2 cores and 2GB Ram. It works and i can work with it but its not really delight with this system.
Now my company will buy me some Hardware for iPhone dev too.
I like the option to use OSX as vdi.
Sure the best solution is to buy an mac, but i think about an very good intel pc system for running OSX.
I think about the follow components:

i7 870 (4x 2,933GHz)
4x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
Gigabyte GA-P55-USB3, Sockel 1156
Raid0 SATA300

Anyone have experience with an virtual OSX on Win7?
Is it an option against a Mac?
The idea is to have an strong PC with option for OSX.
I can work with my system at the mom, but you feel that virtualBox need more power for OSX. And well the price for the new system is under an mac...
I only need OSX for Xcode iOS.
Any suggestions?

 

I'm not sure about the compatibility of your computer, but probably the best option would be making an OSX native installation with a Hackintosh disc instead of using Virtualbox, if your machine is fully supported and you have the patience to do it you'll have almost the same performance you would have with a real Mac.

And if you decide to get a new PC to run OSX via Hackintosh, I would stick with Core 2 processors for the moment, I've heard that many i3, i5 and i7-compatible motherboards still have troubles running Hackintosh...

 

Or since work is willing to buy you a mac anyways, just get a decent mac. Then you can either dual-boot it with no problem, or run windows in virtualbox

 

Get the new Mac Pro with 12-core processing power

 

I wouldn't consider any from of Hackintosh if this is work related. Get the company to pay for a nice new 27" iMac or low end Mac Pro (4 or 6 core Xeon) if they're feeling rich. Install Windows 7 alongside OS X using Boot Camp, but you can also use Parallels to access your Win 7 whilst in OS X.

If they're not willing to splash that much cash then get a cheap second-hand/NOS 2009 Mac Mini just for Xcode and iPhone dev.

 

What he said.

Just let your employer do the math: Employee salary over time versus the one-time cost of a Mac. Most of the time, getting a proper Mac comes out cheaper than wasting lots of time on setting up a Hackintosh or a VM, not to mention maintenance (like system updates nuking non-genuine installations etc.). Play your cards right (especially the "slow machine equals slow work progress" one) and you'll be the proud owner of a nice Macbook real soon.

 

After long search i got an OS X for VMware and its awesome. Running Snow Leo 10.6.x on Win7 like an real mac perfect :-0.

 

Do some dev on the iPhone and tell us how it worked out please ;-)

 

I test some iPhone dev on SL 10.6.4 with Virtual box and VMware Workstation 7. Both work but Virtual Box have problems with USB emulation and dont run very well.
VMware do an very good job, and work without problems!
An Big point to use VMware with SL, your Intel CPU musst have VT-X.
Or your AMD-VM. Without this option you cant run OSX over VMware.
Here the List for Intel: http://ark.intel.com/VTList.aspx
You can also use CPU-Z to show if your CPU is compatible. :thumbsup:

 

Good to know, thank you!

 

Another info, i run Geekbench with my old system and have 6895 points.
I think not bad for an VM, i see an MacBook Pro with i7 there with 5442 points ;-).

 

Did you find any good hackintoshing tutorials along the way? I tried to set up a VM some time ago too, but couldn't get the install DVD to boot at all on my Turion64-based laptop, and on my PIII it booted but then hang when selecting a language. Tried it with VirtualBox and QEMU - does it have to be VMware?

 

Like i say before, you have to check the cpu first. P3 has no VT-x? With AMD i have no experience, sorry. I think VMware is the best solution for OSX.

I read something about your problems, use an VT-x intel cpu and you will see it runs great ;-). I test it also on a E7500 at work. Without VT-x i have serval problems like fsb error, freeze and so far. But on every VT-x maschine i tryed, i have great performance.

 

P3 is too old. So is a P4.
Some core duo 1s will work, some core duo 2s will work.

And why install it? Buy the disc from apple for the license and get it preinstalled on a VMWare image off TPB!

 

The problem is you musst using an bootloader like darwin.iso to get it working. After booting this, it switch to the virtual HDD and startup OSX.
I have to install Leopard 10.5 in the next days on a Q8400 system. Well "Snow" Leopard is only availible as upgrade. I will tell you guys how it works and write an small tutorial if wanted.
But yes i read the tutorial with an preinstall, and upgrade it with license. I will see

 

I support the Mac Mini idea. You don't need a powerhouse for iPhone Dev, just a huge screen to juggle between Xcode and Interface builder.

That said I managed just fine on my 2008 13" Macbook for 2 years until some bitch stole it.

 

I talk with my company and we buy now first an VMware intel system for testing with complete software. I think when it goes on, an mac pro is np.
The new Mac Pro 4 systems are awesome :-0. Real calling workstation. But sure Xcode need an big screen more than else.
The point is, running VMware OSX is better as using an mac book pro?
Here an screen of my system geekbench VMware:

Q6600@ 3,2GHz (8x400MHz) , Gigabyte DQ6 @ 1600MHz FSB, 4GB DDR2 @ 800MHz Ram, Raptor sys Hdd, HD4870 512MB :fresh:



Im not sure an mini mac got better performance at all. Of corse my system is two years old! Gigabyte :love2:

 

Well it depends what you mean really, I'm unsure of how VMware and virtual box do address lookups, but for console emulators; the consoles read the data and perform it: 1 CPU cycle.
Emulating them:
Read data
Compare it with a list of lookup instructions
Change the lookup to run on the CPU
Run the line
Change it back to something the emulator will understand
Which would take at a bare minimum 4 CPU cycles.

So overall, running mac OSx natively on crap hardware (eg. my 2006 macbook) will always be more 'reponsive' than running it through vmware.

 

Sure benchmarks and working with are different at all. But its feel really well! I never think before that can be realistic. Virtual box give me an bad feeling, but VMware is really great!
I use Seven and OSX in one, without hotkeys and have great performence at all. I really like it. Gigabyte :Rock:

 

Just for your info. I install 10.6.3 native with dual boot win7/OSx on my pc. Great performence with Xcode and unity iphone :thumbsup:. Everything works great.