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Beginners > What options are available to a Mac user?

#8788 - shaktool - Sun Jul 20, 2003 2:40 am

I've seen some stuff about Linux users here, but what about Macs? Do I have any choice besides getting a new comp?

#8803 - crossraleigh - Sun Jul 20, 2003 4:53 pm

Have you bothered searching these forums? Ya, you can use your Mac, if you have OS X. I use my iBook and it works fine. I think Touchstone, Darkcloud, I.M. Weasel, and maybe others on these forums all use a Mac.

The easiest way to get started is to download the GBASDK from http://gnufoo.org. It comes packaged with the SGADE library which makes getting started with the GBA a lot easier.

There are a few emulators for the Mac. I recommend VisualBoyAdvance.

To convert images, you can use SealFin's GBA Image Conversion Tools: download

You can use this little Perl script to fix the ROM headers.

As far as flashing carts/multibooting on OS X, ecurtz from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gbadev/ has announced that he has "been porting Ulrich Hecht's Linux F2A linker code to OS X", and is "about to the point where" he needs "some other people to look at it." But since I don't have an F2A, I still use my x86 box to flash carts.

That should pretty much have you covered.

#8805 - shaktool - Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:28 pm

Awesome! Thanks! :) Yeah, I think that covers it.

#8819 - shaktool - Sun Jul 20, 2003 10:59 pm

I'm getting the impression that I need OS X 10.2, as opposed to 10.1...
I'm not getting SGADE to show up in the Project Builder templates after installing GBA-SDK0.4.2.pkg. Instead, I get a bunch of files that I don't have sufficient privileges to delete, even though I'm the administrator...

Too bad Jaguar isn't free. Hmm...

#8824 - crossraleigh - Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:34 am

I don't know; I have 10.2

There is a separate link for 10.1 on gnufoo.org.

But, you don't need the Project Builder templates. As long as the cross compiler is in /usr/local/gbasdk/ you can start from there. In the worst case, you would just have to download and setup DevKitAdvance for yourself.

Quote:
I don't have sufficient privileges to delete, even though I'm the administrator...

There is no real Unix administrator (the 'root' user) enabled by default in OS X. Use `sudo` (from a shell).

#8836 - Touchstone - Mon Jul 21, 2003 10:29 am

I've found the following three GCC builds that can be used for GBA development.
    GBASDK http://gnufoo.org/gbasdk/ Targeted at GBA development. A good startingpoint for beginners I think. No C++ support to my knowledge. GCC 3.0.4
    GNUDE http://gnude.sourceforge.net/ C++ support but no Thumb support. Not specifically targetted at GBA programming, it's just a crosscompiler generating ARM7 code. No GBA headers/libraries. GCC 3.1
    GP32 SDK http://www.deadcoderssociety.tk/ Can be used for GBA programming. No GBA headers/libraries. GCC 3.2.2 (direct link to GCC here)


When it comes to emulators I recommend Boycott Advance.

It would be groovy with an macosx.gbadev.org with info on OS X related stuff only. *wink* :)
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#8853 - shaktool - Mon Jul 21, 2003 7:40 pm

[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]
Having limited programming experience, this is not something I'm used to dealing with. I'm gradually getting the hang of some things, but I still don't know what to do with the stuff in my urs/local folder or even if it got installed correctly. Time to start tinkering and searching the web for info...