The Icon Bar: RPCEmu_updated_for_MacOS: The Icon Bar: RPCEmu updated for MacOS

Posted by Mark Stephens on 07:50, 14/10/2020 | News

In a previous post, we were very excited about the new release of RPCEmu for Linux and Windows. The good news is that Mac owners can now get equally excited as 0.9.3 has been ported onto the Mac by Timothy Coltman.

On Linux, you would compile the code from source. On Mac, there are several version of the software supplied as ready to run executables. You just need to download the RISC OS bundles of RISC OS from here and you have a fully operating RISC OS emulator on your modern Mac.

I installed the software, and found all the networking just worked! I ran the update on PackMan and there was no need to configure anything.

Have you tried the new release on your Mac?

Mac version on GitHub

RPCEmu updated for MacOS

Philip52 (09:06 15/10/2020)
  dchen (09:55 15/10/2020)
    Philip52 (13:37 15/10/2020)
      Bucksboy (13:52 15/10/2020)
        arawnsley (21:27 15/10/2020)
        helpful (01:43 16/10/2020)
          arawnsley (12:30 16/10/2020)
            dchen (16:40 17/10/2020)
        dchen (09:35 16/10/2020)

Philip Green

Message #124956, posted by Philip52 at 09:06, 15/10/2020

Member
Posts: 8

I would quite like to use this on my Mac but they lost me at "Compile or install RPCEmu in the usual manner for your platform".
I shall continue excavations when I have a bit more (hopefully) uninterrupted spare time.

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David Chen

Message #124957, posted by dchen at 09:55, 15/10/2020, in reply to message #124956

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Posts: 5

You don't need to compile anything. The linked page (https://github.com/Septercius/rpcemu-dev/releases) contains binary releases in DMG and ZIP format. Download and open them up, and there's a runnable RPCEmu waiting for you.

The only thing you will need to do is copy the "Data" folder out of the DMG or ZIP into a suitable place and tell RPCEmu where that place is when you first run the program.

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Philip Green

Message #124958, posted by Philip52 at 13:37, 15/10/2020, in reply to message #124957

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Posts: 8

Thank you very much, David Chen.
I'll get stuck into that in just a few minutes.
Philip.

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George Greenfield

Message #124959, posted by Bucksboy at 13:52, 15/10/2020, in reply to message #124958

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Posts: 87

0.9.3 has been ported onto the Mac.

What (if anything) happens when Apple switch to ARM chips for the Mac/iMac range?

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Andrew Rawnsley

Message #124960, posted by arawnsley at 21:27, 15/10/2020, in reply to message #124959

R-Comp chap
Posts: 583

Probably Arm (v3?) emulated in x86/x64 emulated on ARM64. And it'll still be faster than real RiscPC

But maybe not by that much...!

[Edited by arawnsley at 22:27, 15/10/2020]

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Bryan Hogan

Message #124961, posted by helpful at 01:43, 16/10/2020, in reply to message #124959

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Posts: 239

The RPCEmu interpreter version should work on any cpu type, but slower than the recompiler. We had it running on the Raspberry Pi prototype way back at the London Show in 2011, although it took about 15 minutes to get to the desktop!

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David Chen

Message #124962, posted by dchen at 09:35, 16/10/2020, in reply to message #124959

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Posts: 5

0.9.3 has been ported onto the Mac.
What (if anything) happens when Apple switch to ARM chips for the Mac/iMac range?

It just needs to be recompiled as a "universal binary", which includes both x64 and ARM 64-bit., It'll work then on both Intel and ARM Macs.

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Andrew Rawnsley

Message #124963, posted by arawnsley at 12:30, 16/10/2020, in reply to message #124961

R-Comp chap
Posts: 583

Ah OK, I'd forgotten that mode. I was thinking that any type of JIT was/is probably coded to be architecture-specific.

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David Chen

Message #124964, posted by dchen at 16:40, 17/10/2020, in reply to message #124963

Member
Posts: 5

Ah OK, I'd forgotten that mode. I was thinking that any type of JIT was/is probably coded to be architecture-specific.

Yes, you're right about the JIT. Running RPCEmu as an interpreter will be fine if it's a universal binary, but if the JIT code emits any x86 instructions, it'll need changing to run natively. Apple does have an emulation layer ("Rosetta 2") that will supposedly convert instructions on the fly.

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