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I'm starting Xamarin development, but I don't own a Mac to connect to Xcode to compile.

A friend is selling me a cheap Imac 2009 core 2 duo.

I have a few questions.

  • It will work with Xcode?

  • Can be software / hardware upgraded?

  • He doesn't have the root password anymore do you think it is Icloud locked like the IPhones.

Thank you.

menendeze
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  • An 11-year-old Mac with a Core2Duo CPU is going to be terribly slow for development. And as mentioned, you'll be developing using 4-year-old OS versions. – benwiggy Dec 20 '20 at 20:28

3 Answers3

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A lot of questions here, but let's just breifly run through them…

  1. It won't work with current Xcode out of the box. Without current Xcode you can't publish your app.

  2. You would have to use a hack ('legal' but at your own risk) in order for it to run a reasonably recent macOS, Catalina, in order to run current Xcode - see http://dosdude1.com/software.html for patches.

  3. Older Macs can't be locked solid like an iPhone. Even Firmware lock on an old Mac can be bypassed - Here's a guide from OSXDaily - Forgot a Mac Firmware Password? Don’t Panic, Here’s What To Do This wouldn't work on a new Mac but it will on old ones.
    To completely wipe & start afresh you would need a USB boot stick - 2009 Macs can't use Internet Recovery for this. See How do I make a bootable USB OS X installer on a Mac? for a guide.

Last point, reflecting bmike's answer. Even if you achieve all this it's going to be dog-slow. Doing this for free/cheap requires patience.

Tetsujin
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One question per question is best here.

  • yes
  • yes to a point / not really
  • not a concern for this old mac

I recommend you buy a Mac mini that will run Catalina for $300 or less or a new mini that runs Big Sur. You will never get your time back using old gear. Rent a mini for a week if you’re not sure what you need.

bmike
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Operating system

The Early 2009 iMacs ship with OS X 10.5.6 Leopard, and they are compatible with OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Although it is not officially supported, the Early 2009 iMac can run macOS Sierra using Colin Mistr's Sierra Patch Tool.

https://lowendmac.com/2009/imac-early-2009/

Xcode

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/ to download a version of Xcode you want. Specifically, get 9.2. This is the recent version that works with mac OS Sierra.

https://stackoverflow.com/a/51405911/1549818

Xcode 9.2 includes Swift 4 and SDKs for iOS 11.2

https://developer.apple.com/xcode/whats-new/

So you will be limited to compiling up to iOS 11.2 with Xcode 9.2, providing you use the unofficial patch to install Sierra.

Activation lock

Upgrade your Mac to macOS Catalina.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT208987

This Mac can’t run Catalina as discussed above so there cannot be any activation lock active.

grg
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