Wild speculation on new Modular Mac Pro

[goMac]

I would be surprised if they didn't run every build on ARM (and continue to run every build on PPC, and maybe even on SPARC).

If you want to prevent architecture-specific stuff from creeping into your codebase, regular multi-architecture builds are your best insurance.

I’d be surprised if it was that wide a net, not really because the kernel couldn’t do it, but because the drivers just aren’t there.

With ARM they could at least borrow the kexts that ship with iOS and even get stuff like Metal because they’d have drivers for everything.

I suppose they could throw together some PowerPC box with modern hardware... but I’d kind of be surprised if they were focusing on anything but ARM.

It’s less exciting, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if they have AMD boxes internally and have had them for the
last decade or two. But that’s a whole different thing than them switching.

 

[AidenShaw]

... but I’d kind of be surprised if they were focusing on anything but ARM.

My point is exactly that you don't focus on where you think the puck might go. You CYA by keeping things working with where the puck has been.

You build and test the OS against any realistic target. Today, that's probably "x64 ARM64 PPC SPARC". Forget x86 (dead) and POWER8 (far, far too expensive). Keeping the old PPC builds alive will be useful in case POWER comes back in the future.

 

[ssgbryan]

You would be looking at 1 Jul 2020 at the latest for many with an 18 month cycle, not earliest. Changes can arrive within the cycle (they need to, there is always new hardware to support). But many have left that mode anyway as they move to subscription.

Also for such a big change, Apple are likely to give advance notice, so that shortens the period from release to full support.

That isn't how it went down for the PowerPC to Intel transition. It was over 3 years before I got as much native support as I was going to get. Lost a lot of software to that transition.

Apple likely to give advance notice........

Now I know you weren't paying attention to the PowerPC to Intel transition.

Ask Apple software developers about 64-bit Carbon sometime. Just make sure you are standing away from them when you do.

 

[Moonjumper]

That isn't how it went down for the PowerPC to Intel transition. It was over 3 years before I got as much native support as I was going to get. Lost a lot of software to that transition.

Apple likely to give advance notice........

Now I know you weren't paying attention to the PowerPC to Intel transition.

Ask Apple software developers about 64-bit Carbon sometime. Just make sure you are standing away from them when you do.

I was paying attention, and had software on Rosetta for a long time (mainly Adobe, who are not known for their speed of reaction), but that doesn't mean they didn't give notice.

PowerPC to Intel was 7 months notice (although they initially said 1 year (I don't think they will make the same mistake again)), which is more than a third of the 18 month cycle you mentioned.