[Vm-dev] macintosh cocoa 32/64bit & 64/64bit VM goes BETA

[John M McIntosh]

Ok, it's time for the community to do some testing. 

ESUG provided me with some funding to take the existing iPhone VM source and extend that to 
build a new hosting platform using Cocoa on the macintosh and to enable the VM to run in 32 or 64 bit 
mode and work with a 32 or 64bit image. 

I have placed two Alpha test VM s in the experimental folder  sub-folder COCOA
found in the usual places via 

http://smalltalkconsulting.com/squeak.html

There are two VM's 

(a) a 32/64 bit VM that runs 32bit squeak images in 32bit (powerpc, intel) or 64bit (intel) mode. 
(b) a 64/64 bit VM that runs 64bit squeak images in 64bit (intel).


The VM currently runs on 10.5.x and 10.6.x  Support for 10.4.x might happen, we will see. 

Until I sort out the re-integration of the source code into the squeakvm.org SVN tree you will 
find the source at isqueak.org

Issues, Oh lots. It's a fairly high mountain of material that needs to be tested. 

Things that should work.

(a) access to files and directories UTF8 support only.
(b) Full screen support
(c) Sockets
(d) Basic Sound (better than in the 3.x/4.x VMs)
(e) jpegplugin2 
(f) cut/copy/paste of text data (from/to) squeak and respect UTF8 chars
(g) drag and drop of files into squeak

Right now it does not: 

(a) Support a internet browser as a browser plugin. 
(b) The 64bit VM has no plugins at the moment. 
(b2) I've not included any plugins with the 32/64bit VM.  
	Existing plugins might work if the VM is running as "Open in 32bit mode"
	someone can confirm that.

(c) No macintosh host menus, or serial port support
(d) No Areithfa Ffenestri multiple-window support
(e) No 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 bit appearance support. 

Things I know about.
(a) double clicking *.images when the 5.x VM is running sometimes does not open a new VM. 
(b) tossing a 32 image at the 64/64 bit VM or a 64 image at the 32/64 VM doesn't give visual feedback that it won't open the image.
(c) Full screen grabs all the screens, yes that will change

Thoughts on internal plugins. Hint we should have TEST cases so we can confirm if all this stuff works.
It would be extremely helpful if someone wanted to work on that.   No doubt someone *could* run all the 
current tests for a 32bit image and see what breaks.  However you'll need to explain where and what, versus 
Oh it just crashed...

	ADPCMCodecPlugin, untested.
	Squeak3D,	Likely busted due to use of (int) data types in 64bit mode. 
	B2DPlugin, untested.
	BitBltPlugin, untested.
	BMPReadWriterPlugin, untested.
	ZipPlugin, untested.
	DSAPrims, untested.
	SqueakFFIPrims, untested.
	FFTPlugin, untested.
	FloatArrayPlugin, untested.
	GeniePlugin, untested.
	HostWindowPlugin,  No support yet
	JPEGReaderPlugin,  untested.
	Klatt, untested.
	LargeIntegers, untested.
	Matrix2x3Plugin, untested.
	MiscPrimitivePlugin, untested.
	ObjectiveCPlugin, untested.
	RePlugin,	Likely busted due to use of (int) data types in 64bit mode. 
	SecurityPlugin, untested.
	SoundCodecPrims, Likely busted due to use of (int) data types in 64bit mode. 
	SoundGenerationPlugin, Likely busted due to use of (int) data types in 64bit mode. 
	StarSqueakPlugin, untested.
	SurfacePlugin, untested.
	UUIDPlugin untested.

Possibly Large Integers may have a problem in 64bit image mode, but we have to have some 
discussion if the (unsigned int *) used by one routine is on purpose or an oversight. 

64 bit images. 

We need to built a 64bit Closure image. **** I've no time to do that. *** 

David T Lewis provided a somewhat current Squeak.image which you'll find on the ftp site. 

If you build a 64bit image you need to do that on a PowerPC, or make a copy of  your VM on macIntel 
and flip the  "Open in 32-bit mode" and the "Open in Rosetta" to on. You will only see the "Open in 32bit mode" if it's a 64bit VM, 
and the "Open in Rosetta on os-x for 10.5 or 10.6 (if you installed it)
Follow the obvious instructions. 

No doubt some is required to take the code and build a MC change set for Pharo or Squeak Thrunk use so that 
anyone can convert an existing image. 

Also see 
 http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=5239
 http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=5240

Building your own VM? 

Hopefully someone will attempt this so I can see if I checked in all the changes. 

32bit image VM pick SqueakPureObjc and set
#define SQ_VI_BYTES_PER_WORD 4
for a 
64bit image reading VM  pick SqueakPureObjc64*64 and set
#define SQ_VI_BYTES_PER_WORD 8
in the required places. 

PS You'll find that building a 32/64 VM using GNU's tool chain will give you lousy performance
when running as a 64bit VM, more on this later. 

----------------------------------------------
Oh and lastly I'm looking for some paid work (smalltalk or objective-c (mac/iPhone) If anyone 
requires a Smalltalk consultant, or an iPhone app built, please email me. 

--
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John M. McIntosh <johnmci at smalltalkconsulting.com>   Twitter:  squeaker68882
Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd.  http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com
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