GCA on Mac? 2023 version

[ashareem]

Does anyone know if GCA will now run on the current M1 or M2 chips for Macbook Pro/Air?

In February, "Microsoft published a support page (Opens in a new window) that shows how Mac users can run Windows 11 on their Apple silicon M1- and M2-powered Macs" with the caveat that "... only work if they specifically support Windows 11 on Arm. Games that require DirectX 12 or OpenGL3.3 also won't run."

My Surface Book 3 is dying on me, and I've about had it with Microsoft in general, and would like a computer that actually works with my iPad and my iPhone, rather than buying another Windows machine.

[Armin]

As far as I'm aware, the approved methods are either 'cloud PC' or Parallels Desktop. The cheapest version of Parallels is a hundred bucks, plus the cost of Windows, so that's a fair bit if GCA is the only thing you want it for.

I don't believe I've heard from anyone running GCA5 on Parallels. I would think it should run there, but I don't know for certain, and have no way to test it myself. If the program really has to be written with ARM in mind, then definitely NO, since GCA is not.

I wish I could just sit down and write a cross-platform version of GCA. Unfortunately I don't think the money's there to do it in any kind of timely fashion, and if I don't have the time to do it, what time I have gets spent on current GCA.

(If my recollection is spotty, and there's actually an ARM version of Windows that now runs natively on the M chips, then I'm even less sure if GCA will run. The last step of compilation for GCA happens when you run it the first time on a machine after installation, but I don't know how the many support libraries are handled, so I wouldn't be optimistic about it.)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Armin

(If my recollection is spotty, and there's actually an ARM version of Windows that now runs natively on the M chips, then I'm even less sure if GCA will run. The last step of compilation for GCA happens when you run it the first time on a machine after installation, but I don't know how the many support libraries are handled, so I wouldn't be optimistic about it.)

There is an ARM version of Windows. It does not run on Apple Silicon bare-metal, but it will run under Parallels.

There is .NET Framework and .NET 6 and 7 for ARM Windows 11 nowadays.

If GCA is all .NET code with no native libraries, it should work. If there are native libraries, it's possible to get them to run in the x64 emulator as part of an application that is otherwise running as ARM, and the keyword is "ARM64EC", but it's a bit more complicated.

If you want to work on this, you really need an ARM Windows machine. The best bet is the Microsoft Devkit 2023, which is $600.

[Armin]

Originally Posted by johndallman

There is an ARM version of Windows. It does not run on Apple Silicon bare-metal, but it will run under Parallels.

There is .NET Framework and .NET 6 and 7 for ARM Windows 11 nowadays.

If GCA is all .NET code with no native libraries, it should work. If there are native libraries, it's possible to get them to run in the x64 emulator as part of an application that is otherwise running as ARM, and the keyword is "ARM64EC", but it's a bit more complicated.

If you want to work on this, you really need an ARM Windows machine. The best bet is the Microsoft Devkit 2023, which is $600.

Thanks. GCA5 is currently Framework 4, so :shrug:. My understanding is that it should work, but I don't know what the heck is being done inside my support libraries (used for the print/preview engine and the grids and a few other things).

I don't have the money (or desire, really) to work on this; there is no budget for a Windows ARM machine. If I'm going to spend money, it'll be to buy a Mac and work on the cross-platform version of GCA well away from Microsoft. There is simply no money from GCA to pay for this stuff, though.

That's pretty much all I know. If someone has Parallels and tries it, and lets us know, then we'll know for sure.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Armin

If someone has Parallels and tries it, and lets us know, then we'll know for sure.

A step towards it, if someone feels keen: Microsoft's "Azure" cloud services offer ARM Windows VMs, so trying out GCA in one of those is probably possible with Azure free trials.

[ashareem]

Thank you all for the above. I can get a Win PC for gaming purposes that will run GCA for much less than Parallels. :/ I just didn't want to have to have multiple computers to upkeep.