I’d like to get a MacOS virtual private server for use by dev team members. This would enable us to test SITL, mavproxy and ArduPilot builds on MacOS. We could access via ssh and RDP.
The one I think fits best is:
https://www.hostmyapple.com/macvps.html
for US$24.99/month.
It gives root access and RDP for remote desktop. Note that there are cheaper options, but they don’t give full root access, which we definitely need.
We would give remote ssh access to members of the dev team on application.
Please forgive my curiosity but is there a large demand for native Mac apps? I love my Macbook and I run Mission Planner and everything else drone related in a Windows 7 virtual machine. I’ve never had an issue. Sometimes companies will make both a Mac and Windows version of an app (for calibrating a gimbal, etc) and the Windows version running in my VM works better than the Mac version.
I’m not a huge fan of Windows though so it would be great if I could run all of my apps natively. I will say though that Apple has been problematic lately. I had to switch back to El Capitan recently because of too many issues that hurt my business productivity.
I guess $300/year for the Apple VPS would be cheaper than finding an old Mac with a decent amount of memory, throwing an SSD in it, and installing XCode.
Given Linux and Windows have received the lion’s share of Ardupilot’s attention when it comes to builds I am all for this. I doubt developers using Macs as their main platform will disagree 
1 Like
I’d like to make using MacOS good for developers, and for log analysis. It has been frustrating trying to make our tools work on MacOS as I don’t have a box to test on.
I don’t really want an old mac locally as it will bitrot quite quickly, whereas a VPS can be more easily updated.
Cheers, Tridge
1 Like
That is much better than the CI instance for MacOS that I saw lately, so I think I will be worth it !
I will ask that funding comittee for a vote
I’ve used MAC Stadium for years, it’s not a VPS, instead it’s a full Mac hosted on a server farm. A bit more expensive so consider this a secondary option, but It has worked great for me.
Super excited about this though I am really missing good tools for MacOS
Thank you!
Is 2GB of RAM in the VPS sufficient to run SITL with mavproxy?
I don’t know enough about Macs to know … does anyone else know?
Depends on the working set of SITL+mavproxy, which presumably could be measured on Linux and assumed to be roughly the same on macOS.
The SITL instructions for a Linux VM recommend 3GB.
FWIW macOS 10.13 in a 2GB VMware VM at idle reports approximately 1.25GB in use.
that is quite tight. I wonder if we can find an affordable VPS with 3G ram?
Approved by funding committee, thanks! We are adding some flexibility, approving for up to $40/month ~$500/year, to adjust for more RAM or any additional functionality if needed.
thanks very much for the approval, but it now looks like we can save the money.
Grant Morphett dropped by my house yesterday with a MacMini under his arm which he has given to me to use with ArduPilot. I have put it on my network and I’d be happy to arrange for access for other dev team members (if you don’t mind the latency to Australia).
Cheers, Tridge
1 Like
Cool …