My thoughts on the Mac side question:

I think a Mac-side application would be best. Though it would require
moving code around (from unix to mac), it conforms more to the MacOS
guidelines. Also (more importantly), while you're working on the UNIX
install, you have a full operating system under your feet, complete with
fileshareing & networking. So if you realize you forgot/lost/overwrote
something important (like / ), you have the ability to go out & get the pieces.
You don't have to fight around the parts of the OS which are broken.

That said, I like the idea of shipping a minimal system which comes up & then
gets everything else off of the net. Though this setup would be a longer-term
solution. Linux does things well. They now have a CD, and you install right
off of it. Plus, if you are short of disk space, it sets most things up to
just run off the CD (lots of symlinks to the CD mount). It is slow, but
is great for getting started.



About Andrew Cagney's comments about a MacApp: a MacOS installer would be
able to install running on a PowerPC. Getting MacBSD to run on a PowerPC,
though, is a different story. Also, be careful about "MacApp". "MacApp" is
the name for Apple's class library for building a Macintosh App. It contains
all the elements needed to impliment a mac application easily.


Which brings up a good question: the fastest way to get a Mac application
running is to use one of the class libraries. THINK 7.0.4 has a Visual
Architect (I think that's the name) that allows you to quickly get the
interface of a program going, then worry just about the program-specific
bits. The problem is that to compile these programs, you have to have that
particular class library around. So which one would be good?

I think TCL (the THINK Class Library, not tcl a la tcl/tk & X) would be
best, just because most people would have access to it. I haven't seen
PowerPlant (the library that comes with CodeWarior), but will have it soon.
Everything I've seen about CodeWarior looks good, but it is not wide-spread
as of yet. Also, I saw on the net someone ported TCL to compile under
CodeWarior. MacApp is good too, but it is a seperate product which I doubt most
folks will have for home.

Thoughts?

Take care,

Bill