[HN Gopher] Provenance: iOS and tvOS multi-emulator front end
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Provenance: iOS and tvOS multi-emulator front end
Author : tosh
Score : 51 points
Date : 2021-09-16 08:52 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| amelius wrote:
| I was hoping this was about an iOS emulator for Linux, so I could
| finally debug my websites in Safari or develop apps for the
| AppStore without owning Apple hardware.
| watermelon0 wrote:
| You can run macOS in a virtual machine, and since iOS emulators
| are not using virtualization, there is no requirement for
| nested virtualization.
|
| I've had decent experience using Xcode and iOS emulators via
| KVM virtual machine in the past, however there is no graphics
| acceleration.
|
| But be aware that according to macOS EULA (might not be
| enforceable outside of the USA) you can only run macOS guests
| when host is running on Apple hardware.
| gradschool wrote:
| Yes, and another alternative is this project using
| VirtualBox.
|
| https://github.com/myspaghetti/macos-virtualbox
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Perhaps one day.
|
| > Do you have plans for supporting iOS apps? > > Yes, in the
| long run, we'd like to be able to run iOS apps on ARM devices
| (like most Android phones). A significant challenge here would
| be to write our own implementation of UIKit. Come talk to us if
| you're interested in working on this!
|
| https://www.darlinghq.org/
| [deleted]
| lights0123 wrote:
| > finally debug my websites in Safari
|
| GNOME Web uses WebKit and is officially recommended by Apple to
| test websites on WebKit.
| mattnewton wrote:
| It's really not a substitute for mobile safari at all,
| especially not mobile safari at a specific iOS version. The
| state of the art there afaik is still to have a drawer full
| of iOS devices you hold off on updating for a couple years,
| or else you can never reproduce the bug that your users on
| older iPhones see.
|
| There are too many bugs with things like the collapsible url
| bar / jank when changing orientation / or just plain bugs
| unique to their cut that won't reproduce on arbitrary WebKit
| browsers. I've had to fix layering bugs 100% reproducible on
| mobile safari on device but not in the emulator or beta for
| the new iOS at the time.
| karottenreibe wrote:
| That's never gonna happen.
| lostgame wrote:
| The irony is that this is happening in QEMU; and was only
| about five posts above this one on HN:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28551264
| https://github.com/alephsecurity/xnu-qemu-arm64
| amelius wrote:
| Why not? E.g. you can use Wine for Windows development.
| Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
| Forbidden by the license.
| amelius wrote:
| I guess the question is whether or not you can copyright
| an API. The existence of Wine tells me you can't.
| Kipters wrote:
| It's hardly useful when you want to test how your apps
| behave under a specific implementation of such API
| saagarjha wrote:
| WebKit builds for Linux, if you're doing web testing.
| pulkitsh1234 wrote:
| Use BrowserStack ?
|
| PS: I work at BrowserStack.
| trackofalljades wrote:
| I don't recommend this, sadly. It's a very neat project, but once
| you manage to navigate the "signing" and get it onto your Apple
| TV, the cache which contains all the games and saved states can
| be purged at any time after a couple days and there's really no
| way to make it stick. It works admirably well, but is definitely
| no replacement for something like a dedicated emu box.
| unicornfinder wrote:
| Indeed. I was interested in something like this for iOS but in
| the end decided to buy an Android phone.
|
| Not saying Android is magically perfect but if emulation is
| your thing it's clearly the superior platform.
| JoeMattiello wrote:
| Hi, dev here. That's ununfortuante of the side effect of Apple
| TV not having "permanent storage" from an SDK standpoint every
| thing is a cache.
|
| Commercial apps can use iCloud sync on tvOS, I tried adding
| that support and Apple banned my Apple ID without really
| telling me why but I think it was testing that feature.
|
| I'm working on code to sync roms and saves with a desktop app
| (I just ported the whole app to native macOS Catalyst) or
| another cloud sync to workaround that limitation.
|
| The tvOS page indicates this already and there is a way to
| manually backup and restore save states until automation comes.
|
| This is not an issue on iOS or iPad OS and all other EMUs for
| Apple TV have the same issue unless they have their own cloud
| sync which I've yet to come across.
| deeblering4 wrote:
| My current emulation setup is built on an raspberry pi 4 running
| retropie, and using the wired 8bitdo controllers that look like
| SNES controllers with analog sticks and l1 l2, r1 r2 buttons.
|
| It can handle systems up to Dreamcast well, and I even put it in
| a nice retroflag case that looks like a NES. The case is really
| nice actually, it bulks up the system and adds a sata breakout to
| insert a 2.5" disk in the cartridge slot.
|
| So while this looks interesting I think I'll stick with retropie
| for now. I'd be quick to upgrade to something that supports newer
| consoles like the xbox and ps2. AFAIK right now that would
| require essentially a gaming PC attached to the TV though.
| dkdbejwi383 wrote:
| I've seen a handful of sideloadable apps for iOS/tvOS which
| depend on alt-store. I'd like to try them out but it's a shame
| you need a Mac or Windows PC in order to run the server.
|
| I have a MacBook but it's a work machine so probably best to
| avoid running alt-server there.
|
| The only other computers I have for personal use are a Linux
| laptop and a Raspberry Pi.
|
| I understand why (iTunes is a requirement and not available on
| Linux), but it's a shame. Maybe I could run Windows in a VM and
| run it there, but my gut-feeling is that it won't be that
| straightforward. Plus, I'd need to start the VM once a week or
| whatever to re-sign the certificates which would get annoying.
|
| While I am mostly comfortable with the convenience of the App
| Store, it would be nice to be able to sideload on apple operating
| systems other than macOS.
| mhh__ wrote:
| The prevalence of the word "sideload" to mean using software of
| your choice on hardware you own is a little bit mad. Thanks
| apple!
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| Thanks also to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo.
| mhh__ wrote:
| True. When I get Stallman-y about "sideloading" someone
| usually says, "well games consoles aren't computers either"
| but my opinion of the matter is the same.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| > games consoles aren't computers either
|
| In which sense? As far as I'm aware current consoles are
| pretty much general computing devices with closed down
| operating systems. That's essentially the same as an
| iPhone.
| mhh__ wrote:
| Can you run word on an Xbox?
|
| Obviously they are computers I just couldn't be bothered
| to fit the argument in the quotation.
| smoldesu wrote:
| > Can you run word on an Xbox?
|
| Not natively, but you can run pretty much any signed UWP
| text editor on it without any fuss. If you're willing to
| pay a $20 developer fee, they'll even let you load
| unsigned software for a real party.
| unicornfinder wrote:
| Indeed, I genuinely think the best thing that Microsoft
| did to combat piracy on the Xbox was by making it so easy
| to join the developer programme and build / install your
| own apps on the Xbox.
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| That's actually worse than Apple though - at least Apple
| lets you download Xcode and install self-signed apps for
| 7 days between updates without a developer account or a
| fee.
| jsjohnst wrote:
| > Can you run word on an Xbox?
|
| You could if Microsoft ported it to it. The only reason
| Word runs on ~handheld computers~ phones is because
| Microsoft ported it to it.
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| Not even ported to it. An Xbox is a nonstandard PC - it
| runs the NT Kernel, with Windows Drivers, on a custom AMD
| Zen processor, it's just got hardware root of trust, a
| different frontend, and software signature enforcement.
| That's about it.
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