grab vm ware for personal use
install windows and run b4j in the vm
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Yup, what Norm said, works perfectly.
I can now even go for days before windows makes me too nauseous.
Iāve been wanting to try a Linux box for dev for a while. Iām excited to give this a try! Iām guessing I canāt totally abandon my Windows box, though. Iād still it for Steam gamesā¦ right? PUBG. CivVI. Terraforming Mars. Etc. 
Anyway, at this point, I still canāt imagine any good reason to use Xojo instead of B4X. Iāve heard some say because the IDE is Windows-only, but the IDE (with its amazing UI designer) is literally exponentially better than the Xojo IDE that itās worth it. Buy Windows and put it in a VMWare box on your Mac or Linux box.
I would encourage anyone here to start a new project with B4X and test it out. You will not go back.
Besides being able to build legitimate, robust mobile and desktop platform apps, right now, thereās also an amazing web product (or two) from @Alwaysbusy. (I havenāt started using it myself, but I expect to when I need to.)
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Does anyone have a recommendation for an on-laptop Android emulator which B4A likes?
I was getting along with B4A pretty well until I lost the entire machine.
But I struggled with having to use a plugged in device for testing -( didnt lend itself to coding in front of the telly)
This has made me put off re-installing and trying again
Havenāt tried it myself, but how about https://www.bluestacks.com/? I suppose you will have to install b4a-bridge on it first.
Why not just grab android studioās emulator ?
Whats Android Studio ? (genuinely never heard of itā¦ :> )
Google android developer tool suite
And it includes android emulators that I think can be used standalone and separate from Studio
You can install it from within B4A I think (GUI SDK Manager for newer versions of Android tools | B4X Programming Forum) but frankly, if you have an old Android Device laying around, the experience with it and b4a-bridge is so much better than any emulator.
I do, and it works pretty well.
But Iām an armchair coder, and juggling two devices while I unit test is just fiddly.
Iāll look these up- thanks for the input, all.
I have used Genymotion for ages, it uses a x86 architecture, so it is really fast, and it has many many options for testing hardware features
Dont ever use the b4a bridge, it is useful if you want to make a wireless test in a device, but it is better a direct connection.
The first time I used B4A (which was only recently), I was amazed at how easy it was to get an app running on my Android phone (hmmm, now I canāt remember if it was connected by USB to the PC or notā¦). I literally thought, āIt canāt be that easy.ā It is. 
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It is easy to write Android and IOS Apps, Desktop and Web Apps. So what. Where is xojo needed for, if using B4J? Rock solid language platform. Rock solid obfuscating for the Åesulting Java files. Rock solid running Apps. Under IOS and Android it is NOT Java but a native App. How? Because B4J is genius! The best is: it is one Language construct. Copy and paste your Source code between Android and Ios and Desktop. Copy your UI elements and refactor them in your Gui. From Desktop, Ios to android and all vice versa.
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I have tried B4J with CrossOver and Iām having weird behavior of the IDE.
Here is short video.
(open video in new tab or new window for bigger view)
I try to get this error byself so I can give a setup for you to work with B4J. I am using it on Mac and Linux without problems. Maybe it is behaving so because of the graphic setting, maybe something else. We will see. Tomorrow in the evening I can take care of this problem to get the error on my Mac system byself.
Best solution is parallels with a windows install by the way this is also possible or Virtualbox with Windows install is also working without problems.
I personally do not use parallels, I have used VMWare Fusion since version 3 and it has been consistently flawless in every aspect of my use.
it works with B4x in Unity mode very well, to the point one forgets its a windows program (apart from it looking kind of windows crappy), VMWare 12 is now free to use, so you can get onboard without any layout and, for most part free use forever.
very definitely at least worth trying it as the experience is now completely cost free and completely professional.