IT IS SWEET. I won’t lie, had there been a way to use the iphone simulator using the winchain toolkit or even get a debugger on windows for objc + apple libs, I would have done it. But there really isnt s’far as I could figre it out.

So here’s what I did

-dell.com , bought me a real basic unit mini 9

-bought RAM, SSD upgrade (going to), external keyboard mouse 2nd hand or from third party sides (dirt cheap)

-bought student edition OS X (i study)

-got an ISO and burned the DellEFI Bootloader

-vga cable for external monitor

Now, I have a fully functional mini-dell mac, everything works including sleep, XCode runs well, iphone simulator is excellent, and i am set to learn without impediments. Total cost.. approximately 400, but including upgrades.

My goal was to focus on code development/debug/deploy/and eventual release into appstore, just was not able to get that fully going with the toolchain. especially the debug and deploy portion. Meanwhile I updated my iphone firmware to 2.2.1 (by no choice of mine, I screwed it up by doing something so had to upgrade).

I will continue to post things as I learn how to use XCode, I would still like to learn with other newbies out there.

How can i get the compiler to print out path to the libs its using during compiling process (including headers it needs).. more verbose the better?

For those of us who cannot compile on the iphone 2.0 toolchain on the iphone itself, this would be the nail in the coffin to this issue… please comment if you have suggestions.. i have a few examples of stuff i tried out id like to put up but not everyone is able to compile yet! ridiculous & id like to try and help fix this!

COMPILING / RUN ISSUES

- arm-apple-darwin9-gcc.exe doesnt work on the iphone winchain build :   requires repository svn download and rebuild using OS 2.0 headers, instructions still to be posted when i get some good amount of time or someone volunteers…

- code here does not build : probably missing some includes or frameworks. Solution? Look at whats failing, usually can be solved by pulling includes and frameworks from cygwin toolchain directory. Some people still cant compile , getting missing interface errors. we are still trying to figure out whats different between my install and theirs. stay posted.

-code here does not build even after including appropriate libraries: Are you compiling code meant for iphone OS less than 2.0 ? I found this out the hard way – graphics examples wouldnt compile. Solution? you need OS 2.0 + specific code, a lot of stuff from < 2.0 doesnt compile anymore.

-code does not run even after OK build: did you chmod 775 your Info and binary? did you ldid -S your binary? Did you point your Info to your binarys executable name? Is your binary compiled without referencing stuff that your OS 2.0 doesnt support? Solution: all of the above

-code still doesnt run!: so youve done all the obvious, your code still kicks off and after the initial splash screen, just dies? Solution? time to debug, throw in a few NSLog statements, recompile and run from within putty, see where the failure is occurring. This is how I figured out that LKLayer (LayerKit framework) wasnt cooperating. From there I discovered apples newer OS 2.0 build doesnt even have LayerKit (which you’ll see a lot of examples on the web use … meaning they were build pre-2.0 ).

-some code project i downloaded from the web built on xcode along with NIBs wont run :  seems like gotta convert from original interface mapping file into an XCode specific  NIB and throw into your project once you compile – i got a few missing interface problems due to this one to. Solution? Until figure out how to get the NIB converted , stay clear of projects that use them?

TOOLCHAIN ISSUES:

I think previous posts are sufficient.

1.5) These are the sources I’ve added, you may or may not need them; i don’t think adding them will hurt (tx Jeff for suggestion):

-Telesphoreo Tangelo, http://apt.saurik.com
-ZodTTD, http://www.zodttd.com/repo/cydia
-Ste Packaging, http://repo.smxy.org/cydia/apt
-ModMyi.com, http://apt.modmyi.com/
-iSPazio, http://cydia.ispazio.net/
-BigBoss & Planet-iPhones, http://apt.bigboss.us.com/repofiles/cydia
-apt9.yellowsn0w.com, http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com
-Hackulo.us, http://cydia.hackulo.us
-www.iphone.org.hk , http://www.iphone.org.hk/apt (seems to be at some sort of limit )

2) search for  following items, download & install:

-”GNU C Compiler”
-”iphone toolchain”
-”Make” ( browse till you see the one from Telesphoreo )
-”Link Identity Editor” this is what we refer to as LDID in other posts
-Respring (find a suitable one)

5) go to the Makefile post to get full app kit (make file for the iphone, sample program that will compile)

6) Extract the code folder and push it onto your iphone using WinSCP or putty

7) Putty into your iphone, browse into the code folder

type in make -f [makefile name]

9) if you see no errors, good job

10) there should be a new “.app” folder now that the compilation process created. cd into it through putty

11) sign your binary , type in “ldid -s  [binary name]“

11.5) in your .app folder, do an “ls -larth” to look at the execution privileges of the binary and the Info.plist – modify with “chmod 775 {filename}” if necessary

12) Winscp or putty for this step – move the .app folder into your root /Applications directory (i think mobile/Applications might work too but I havent tried this)

13) respring your iphone

14) you should now have an icon on springboard, try it out

I think this post along with the local toolchain  setup post should be sufficient in getting anyone up and running (although the local toolchain setup is sadly lacking the follow since I lost my cygwin install after i posted that entry).

compile location:   *** Directly on iphone ***

what it is: single helloworld.m file, displays background image that is orientation sensitive;  how to use it: rename extension to .zip, expand into a folder, copy folder onto the iphone, and run command   make -f Makefile.iphone ; DOWNLOAD LINK : helloworldzip

<update> unfortunately ive gotten real tied up past few weeks, i apologize if you were waiting on this one. anyone care to help out, i just havent had the couple of hours i need to recreate this and post.

My new focus will be running through a series of ObjC lessons, learning the cocoa framework, and integrating with core graphics and finally with opengl. This way, the learning curve will be incremental and useful.

If you’d like to see sample code as I move along tutorials that are available, please let me know I can certainly oblige.

That being said, the goals are now as follows (Ill update this post as i go along):

1) a c file that implements a triangle render using openGLES

2) a makefile that successfully compiles

3) demonstrated execution.

I am trying to work on 1) by converting openGL example to openGLES 1.1.

Meanwhile, ive been thinking about this facebook app i myself would use – a tool for people who want to beat a habit.  how difficult is it to build a FB app?