Is OSX (mac) FRC Friendly?

[Domenic Rodriguez]

Originally Posted by mkaa00x

...So anyways both of this team's programmers use a Mac... I was wondering if it's possible to program and upload and control etc the robot in Java on a Mac. Which means I'd need Labview control and DriverStation and wireless utility and the rest etc. I know I can get NetBeans although the disk I have for Labview says Windows on it. We never got any other CD for Macs so, is there a mac version? Is FRC even Mac friendly? If it is FRC Friendly, where to get the drivers and FRC tools?

You can indeed run NetBeans on OS X for Java development (setup instructions can be found on the documentation site). This allows you to write and deploy code to the robot from OS X. SmartDashboard, being Java based, is also available. However, the Driver Station and (most of) the other FIRST utilities are Windows only at this point. When it comes time to image the cRIO or drive the robot, you are going to need a copy of Windows (unless you try something like Wine). Your best bet is probably to use Windows 7 under Boot Camp.