The motion code is not released yet. Probably tomorrow
can you reasearch the earliest iPad and or iOS this will run on. a user writes
...
Here's the research summary:
*iPad 6 (A1893) — Yes, it will work.*
- iPad 6 has an A10 Fusion (arm64) and supports up to iPadOS 17
- Our deployment target is iOS/iPadOS 15.0, so it's well within range
- It won't get iPadOS 18+, but iPadOS 17 is fine for us
*Minimum* *supported* *devices* *(iOS* *15.0* *deployment* *target):*
iPads: iPad 5th gen (2017) and newer, iPad Air 2 (2014), iPad mini 4
(2015)
iPhones: iPhone 6s / 6s Plus (2015), iPhone SE 1st gen (2016)
*Storage* *requirements:*
* * *App* *itself* *(debug* *build):* *~15* *MB*
* * *Pharo* *13* *image:* *~56* *MB*
* * *Pharo* *sources* *file:* *~43* *MB*
* * *Changes* *file:* *~20* *KB*
* * *TestFlight* *app:* *~30* *MB* *(from* *App* *Store)*
Total: ~150 MB for everything
So even a 32 GB iPad 6 has plenty of room.
*Re:* *TestFlight* *instructions* — that's a good idea for the README. *Re:*
*Core* *Motion* *binding* — that would be a fun Pharo FFI
project (accelerometer, gyroscope, compass on iPad).
Want me to update the README with TestFlight install instructions?
...
Added the following:
| data |
│
│ "Start motion updates"
│
│ <primitive: 'primitiveMotionStart' module: 'CoreMotionPlugin'>.
│
│
│
│ "Read latest sample — Float64Array of 13 elements"
│
│ data := <primitive: 'primitiveMotionData' module: 'CoreMotionPlugin'>.
│
│ "Elements: accelX,Y,Z (1-3), gyroX,Y,Z (4-6), magX,Y,Z (7-9),
│
│ roll,pitch,yaw (10-12), timestamp (13)"
│
│
│
│ "Stop updates"
│
│ <primitive: 'primitiveMotionStop' module: 'CoreMotionPlugin'>.
│
----- Original message -----
From: Richard O'Keefe <[email protected]>
To: Any question about pharo is welcome <[email protected]>
Cc: Aaron Wohl <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Pharo-users] iPad Pharo test release
Date: Sunday, March 01, 2026 7:10 PM
I have an iPad 6 (model A1893 if anyone cares).
Will Pharo run on that device?
How much storage do I need to install Pharo on this iPad?
(And TestFlight itself.)
I've never heard of the test store before; could the README in GitHub
be extended with instructions about how to install the beta?
If you had infinite time and I had money to pay for it ...
it would be nice to have a binding for Core Motion.
But having Pharo on the iPad? Huge thanks.
On Thu, 26 Feb 2026 at 02:19, Aaron Wohl via Pharo-users
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Pharo 13 for iPad in the test Apple Store (open in the Apple TestFlight app);
> Phone or Mac https://testflight.apple.com/join/kGmPQFr9
> Due to Apple’s no JIT, it's not snappy. But maybe it's still useful?
> Source https://github.com/avwohl/iospharo about 100K lines of new source code.
>
> This is my first venture into using Pharo. I could use advice on where this
> project fits in Pharo/Smalltalk land. In the early 80s, I used the Xerox
> Parc Alto at Carnegie Mellon to run Smalltalk. I got laid off, went on a
> cruise, sat down in a beach chair with LEARN PHARO and an iPad. But, no
> Pharo for iPad. So I did the natural thing and told Claude Code to port
> Pharo to iPad. 54 days and 1347 commits later, out popped a usable iPad app.
> I do have a background in compilers, working on the Production Quality
> Compiler project at CMU in the early 1980s, mostly on lexers. But I didn’t
> write any code for this. I mostly told CLAUDE a few times a day stop doing
> workarounds, do what the real VM does, and that’s a workaround. CLAUDE would
> never have succeeded I think if I hadn’t started insisting a focus on getting
> the test suite to pass rather than the app to work.
>
> The main snag using the real VM was encoding the encoding of type info in the
> high bits of pointers for immediate types. It seemed simple to me to shift
> the type info to the low 3 bits. But Claude could not get the real VM to
> stop looking in the high bits; perhaps I should have pushed harder on that.
> But I had always heard how easy it was to port Smalltalk, so I just went with
> a new VM with the type info in the low bits. Loading a standard image
> translates the addresses.
> The other issue was that Apple forbids JIT on iPad. So this new VM has no
> JIT.
> Issues:
> - Should this be a separate VM? Should I push harder on getting the standard
> VM to work with type info in the low bits and no JIT? Even if that would be
> better, is it worth the bother now that this works?
>
> - I don’t want to suck up the PharoSmalltalk name in the Apple stores if it
> causes offense. I can call it VibeTalk or something to leave the name free
> for a hand-coded version. Or move off the name if a real contender ever
> shows.
>
> - Without JIT, is it too slow to bother releasing? Is there some other
> optimization that could bridge the gap if it is too slow?
>
> - Are there any users who can give the iPad version a really good workout in
> real work? The VM passes the test suite. But it just started working on the
> iPad today. There will be UI issues.
>
> - On the iphone the menu bar is cut off, and the welcome window is mostly off
> the screen. The menu bar layout is in the image, not the VM. I am not sure
> the VM should work around it. Should these be fixed in the image to have a
> multi-line menu bar as needed, and reshape initial window layouts on phones?
> If so is anyone willing to do the Smalltalk side or help me do it (I have
> written mostly other languages)
