Programming for PowerPc Macs?

[The_DarkFire]

Hello! This may be a newbie question, but I only just got my IBook G4 1.5 gigs of ram from eBay, and once it comes in the mail I'm going to also be able to use my IBook G3 Clamshell. Anyway here is what I want to know:
What kind of software is there to program in C or C++ on Mac OS X tiger, and Mac OS 9.1?
Also it possible to write "Drivers" for newer graphics cards on older PowerPc desktops?

 

[throAU]

1. older version of xcode or you can likely install clang or GCC from third party repositories.
2. in theory you could write drivers for new hardware including video cards, but the documentation is difficult to get, the cards are extremely complicated and you won't get any real support form the gpu vendor as PPC hasn't been a supported architecture for many years now. the open source driver guys are finding it difficult enough to write open source drivers for intel on linux etc. ppc will add a whole new level of difficulty for you.

 

[The_DarkFire]

1. older version of xcode or you can likely install clang or GCC from third party repositories.
2. in theory you could write drivers for new hardware including video cards, but the documentation is difficult to get, the cards are extremely complicated and you won't get any real support form the gpu vendor as PPC hasn't been a supported architecture for many years now. the open source driver guys are finding it difficult enough to write open source drivers for intel on linux etc. ppc will add a whole new level of difficulty for you.

Ah Thanks so much! I just enjoy really learning Programming languages in interesting ways, so I understand its a challenge. That's what I want! Even if I fail I'll still learn. Do you know of a place were I can learn more about these repositories? or find some documentation on the older XCode version?

 

[KawaiiAurora]

Ah Thanks so much! I just enjoy really learning Programming languages in interesting ways, so I understand its a challenge. That's what I want! Even if I fail I'll still learn. Do you know of a place were I can learn more about these repositories? or find some documentation on the older XCode version?

As for xCode, look in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/for-new-users-the-starter-thread.2059173/

If you want a newer and simpler to use (if you used Windows/Linux IDEs before) development environment, look at Ubutu MATE 16.04 as it works pretty well on PPC Macs.

As for developing drivers, don't waste your time as it's not worthit and I doubt you'd get very far unless you delve into PowerPC assembly.

For C/C++ learning resources, I'd suggest you grab a copy of C/C++ Primer Plus as that book's pretty decent. Don't give up but don't waste too much time haha

 

[CooperBox]

If and when you get up to speed with PPC code etc, read through THIS thread, and try and make an uninstaller for it. It will certainly get you an additional 'like' from me, and no doubt from others.........

 

[0248294]

An easy fix for using more modern GPUs on PPC Macs is to simply run Linux. From what I have gathered, while Open Firmware and OS X/OS 9 won't work with them, if you boot Linux, it will most likely have the right drivers and can make use of the GPU correctly. That said, if you go this route, be sure to keep around a compatible card for when you need to dive into OF/OS X/OS 9!

 

[The_DarkFire]

Thank you all for your answers! I just got my Ibook G4 to have os x tiger completely installed a couple minutes ago so i for sure will try these things. Thank you for your time ^U^!

 

[AphoticD]

Xcode 2.5 is the version for Tiger. This will install the Xcode IDE and GCC for compiling C, C++ and Objective-C. Interface Builder is included for Cocoa/GUI apps. There are also older versions of Java and Python/MacPython for building Mac-looking apps/applets.

All of the documentation is included in the /Developer/ADC Reference Library/ folder, but I would recommend getting started with a dedicated Objective-C or Cocoa programming book.

If you want something easier to start with, try RealBasic v5.5.5 (Available from the PPCAppStore). This is a quick way of learning the ropes with drag and drop interface building and a VisualBasic-like language for scripting communicating between UI objects. RealBasic 5.x will compile Carbon apps for both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9. If you like the simplicity of the language, you can continue using RB skills in modern app development with Xojo, for "Rapid development" of macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux and Android apps.

If you want a really obscure challenge and would like to write apps and drivers for Mac OS 9 in Pascal, C or C++, download MPW GM 3.5 (made free by Apple) and/or CodeWarrior (v7.1). With enough googling and archeological digging through old software archives, you will find the software, documentation and useful sample programs to get you started.

 

[throAU]

An easy fix for using more modern GPUs on PPC Macs is to simply run Linux. From what I have gathered, while Open Firmware and OS X/OS 9 won't work with them, if you boot Linux, it will most likely have the right drivers and can make use of the GPU correctly. That said, if you go this route, be sure to keep around a compatible card for when you need to dive into OF/OS X/OS 9!

Not really (depends what you mean by modern), nvidia do not provide binary drivers for PPC (so no nvidia under ppc linux other than maybe the open source nouveau driver which is crap) and the AMD driver is still new and likely written in intel x64 assembly in large part (i.e., not ppc compatible).

There are entire teams of people struggling to keep up with video drivers on Linux for intel platform.

Driver development, and in particular GPU driver development is probably one of the most complex development tasks in software engineering at the moment, and even if you get it done the PPC CPU won't be able to feed the modern GPU fast enough anyway.