All fair points, and I accept that Mono has mirrored the .NET framework libraries with near exact compatibility (better than .NET Core), however I'm still pretty sure that you have to re-compile it for Mono. Not saying you have to change a line of code, just change the project references etc. to use the Mono libraries. Not 100% on this, but I don't think you can drop a .NET compiled exe onto a mac and run it, Mono or not.

I still think that .NET Core is the wisest approach, Mono is no longer relevant as Core renders it nearly redundant.

Just to clarify, when you say ".net code" do you mean ".net core"? I'm not trying to nitpick, but just making sure that we're talking about the same thing. And I'm not sure what ".net cli" is. I can't use javascript or other stuff like that for it because it needs to be able to run completely offline.

It's several GB to download? Well the SDK that I got and any other installers are all much less than that. Are you implying that it downloads during installation? Like I said, I intend to install it on an air-gapped computer, meaning one that is completely disconnected from any network including the Internet. I don't know about all of this xcopy stuff, because I was just going to select the .EXE file and possibly a folder to go with it, and copy it onto a thumb drive for distribution. I don't want an installer because it needs to remain on the thumb drive.

Well it's not WPF. It's about the most basic, regular, non-ASP or any other alternative thing - just a plain Windows application. And thanks for the link.

Yes for the installer, there's no alternative that I know of other than contacting MS for a standalone installer. They don't provide them by default anymore. SDKs will not be enough, you'll need the whole thing.

For xcopy stuff, that's exactly what I mean, it's just the exe and a load of files in the folders below.

The TV-application is a windows application I downloaded from the website and I made run just by using one command line in Terminal, nothing on the application itself was changed. It's an old .NET 2 application that helps me to program my TV-shows out of my electronic TV guide application (native mac applciation) on my online tv recorder service. Fiddler (mac versio) I tried to run the windows executable in my Windows 10 VM and got an error message that Mono.Posix was not found, so that's indeed seems to be adjusted to run with mono. It's a .NET 4 application.

So for easier and older stuff Mono still seems be an option, except there is that problem with the missing 32bit support in the upcoming MacOS 10.15 Catalina. For newer and more complicated stuff it seems the application itself more likely needs adjustment.

I don't know what I should recommend here, except I really would take a closer look on 32bit support if he wants to update in fall or soon after MacOS to the newest version. Apple supports the newest and the last two older OSes, which means he could stay for maybe 2 years with his current OS that supports 32bit.

nightcraw1er.488: Yes, the vs2019 is a stub from which you can install many components. .net code sounds like the best option for you. .net cli is not on Mac so you need some sort of layer for that to work. What code is it you want to move across, for more important projects perhaps a good idea to build a pipeline for it. Perhaps a web process or javascript version?
Vs2019 is all you need and would not recommend earlier versions.

Just to clarify, when you say ".net code" do you mean ".net core"? I'm not trying to nitpick, but just making sure that we're talking about the same thing. And I'm not sure what ".net cli" is. I can't use javascript or other stuff like that for it because it needs to be able to run completely offline.

Yes, .net core.
Not cli, clr. Flipping autocorrect. It’s the common language runtime which is needed for standard .net.
“Can’t use JavaScript”, electron is an option: https://electronjs.org/

Or if for any reason there's a problem doing it that way then wouldn't it be possible to install it on this computer, copy the files to the other computer and then perhaps tweak the registry to make it think that it was installed on that computer the way that it normally would be?

MacOS itself is since the move from PowerPC to Intel in 2007 64bit. 64bit is not a problem, 32bit only if he wants to upgrade macOS in fall.

https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/05/macos-mojave-32-bit-support/

Unless the Mac is one of the very first Intel-based machines (with an "Intel Core Solo" or "Intel Core Duo" processor) it's a 64-bit machine. The next iteration ("Core 2 Duo" and "Core 2 Quad", I don't think any Mac was released with "Core 2 Solo") were 64-bit processors. And those were used in 2007 or 2008. Everything later is 64-bit.

Well that's one less thing to worry about I guess. Good.

to download and install .Net on a Mac you need Windows and the best option is a V-copy of Windows 10 installed inside VMware workstation *... if they happen to have a students licence then they can get for free

why VMWare (which is older) instead of Hyper-V (which is new and better) = because Hyper-v doesn't read the host Gcard and Microsoft thinks Gaming is for kids so if you install Fusion on the Mac, then install Windows 10 to a V-harddrive that lives inside Fusion, then you turn on legacy mode to enable older Versions of Net to install and then you install and run your game

its almost always better to stop kidding yourself that Mac is good for anything which needs a Gcard like rendors, gaming or vid editing and just pay $300-600 for a cheap Windows laptop that has at least a Gforce to play your games

* on Mac this software is called Fusion and its called workstation on Windows

First of all, I don't know what most of that stuff is. But additionally, this question has nothing to do with games specifically, there's no student license involved, no money can be spent (it's not running it on my computer which I'm worried about), I don't have Windows 10, nor does the other person, and ultimately I think you may have misunderstood the purpose of my post. Either that or I very much misunderstood your reply.

I might have just found exactly the answer that I've been looking for!

But I'm not entirely sure. It's slightly complicated but I think that I understand it - it's just that I haven't really ever done anything like this before. Anyway, I found this page:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/create-an-offline-installation-of-visual-studio?view=vs-2019

It explains how to create an offline installation of Visual Studio. However, at the beginning of step 2, there's a blue box which says, "If you install Visual Studio Community, you must activate it within 30 days of installation. This requires an internet connection." I must use the community version because if I'm not mistaken, that's the only free one, right?

So that implies that I must have an Internet connection simply to register/activate the damn thing!

However, I also found this page about installing certificates:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/install-certificates-for-visual-studio-offline?view=vs-2019

Does that have the same effect of registering/activating, in that it would no longer have an expiration date after a month, or am I mistaken?


EDIT: also, I don't understand why the free version would need to be activated, because it's not a trial period, so it doesn't make sense why it would expire. And the line that I put above specifically says that the community (free) version is the one which must be activated, implying that it's the only one which requires activation! That makes no sense at all, because the other ones should definitely require it, lest they expire since they're trial periods! Does this make any sense to anyone? Here's the text again for reference:

"If you install Visual Studio Community, you must activate it within 30 days of installation. This requires an internet connection."

you asked how to get .net working on a Mac

Yes but you were talking about a bunch of other specific details which didn't seem relevant to my situation. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but I just wanted to get an answer that will work for what I'm trying to do, so I hope you understand. In any case, please read my previous post (number 28), because that's the newest information on this dilemma, and I think that I may possibly have almost found the solution, but I'm not certain.