So for fun I wrote a Mac application that uses the normal programming cable to show the various cortex sensors, motors, lcd screen and a few other things. I’m assuming it only works for RobotC programmed systems as most of the serial communication is based on RobotC opcodes. It doesn’t give any more info than RobotC will but I wanted something for testing that didn’t need Parallels Desktop and RobotC fired up. There is also a PC version but that’s presumably of less interest as it’s no more convenient that using RobotC. It does not upload code but you can examine flash memory. There’s also no ability to develop software or compile.
I have no further plans for it, it was just one of those “do it because I can” type projects.
Here’s a screenshot
Another screenshot attached showing some of the extra communication and debug windows opened.
Any chance someone is going to develop RobotC for mac? Something that I can just write code in and compile? Doesn’t even need to download, but it just needs to be able to compile the files correctly.
There’s no technical (IMO) reason why it can’t be done. RobotC uses a virtual machine to execute the compiled code so it should be easier to port the compiler to other architectures. However, I’m sure that there’s no good business reason to do it as we have the ability to run the existing application in environments such as Parallels Desktop.
I may make it available if there is interest, I posted it up here to see what the reaction was. There are a few loose ends that need tidying up before I would release it and I don’t want to go into the tech support business which is always a danger with a public release.
I also don’t know if the software is even that useful, I wrote it as part of an exercise in understanding the details of how RobotC and the cortex were working, looking for undocumented features, trying to find a way of accessing the flash memory from code etc.
those are some of the least helpful things i have ever heard. Of course i know I can run windows on a mac! That wasn’t the question i was asking was it? First of all, I don’t want to have to boot into windows every time i want to do some stuff in robotc, and I also don’t want to get windows from [DELETED BY MODERATOR]. Lots of viruses and also illegal and very, VERY sketchy
There is good reason to run Windows in a VM such as parallels, but I’m glad to see a responsible attitude to acquiring the means to do this. Although I doubt we’ll ever see RobotC on the Mac, I do think we will see a viable solution for development via the openvex project. Whether this is competition legal I have no idea and it’s probably not going to be any time soon, but I think it will happen.
well there are a few reasons i don’t run windows but one of the main reasons is that i don’t have enough hard drive space lol. stupid macbook pro and u’re 140 GB hard drive
