X11 and Tiger
One of the beauties of Mac OS X is its Unix base and, therefore, its ability to run open source software. Apple's windowing interface between the operating system and the open source application is (since Panther, OS 10.3) called X11. With Panther, it worked beautifully, providing a nice Aqua interface that ran with GIMP, the best-known, open-source, graphics editor. But when my son Tim installed Tiger last night, he found that GIMP would no longer properly run.
I suspected that Tiger had its own version of X11, but I had no clue where it was. No download of a Tiger compatible version was on the Apple website, and a Google search turned up nothing. However, I did find the solution to the problem in the Apple support forums. It turns out that a version of X11 is on the Tiger installation DVD. It is not installed by default, however. According to the folks in the forum, there are two ways to get it. The first is to run a custom installation (in this case after the original Tiger installation) and deselect everything but X11 before running the install. The other is to use Finder’s Go menu, choose “Go to Folder”, and type: “/volumes/(name of your DVD)/System/Installation/Packages”.
The latter didn’t work for me, however, which caused me to go back into the Apple support forums again. There, I found the following link:
http://chemistry.ucsc.edu/%7Ewgscott/xtal/page1.html.
This page is dedicated running X-Windows on a Mac. (X-Windows is the Unix windowing interface.) It’s a bit technical, but that won’t be anything new for those of you choosing to run open-source software.
I did test selecting X11 using the Custom Installation method, and that is indeed the easiest. To get there, simply insert your Tiger DVD and double-click on the Installer when it’s presented. Once the machine reboots on the DVD, step through the Installation process; and when you get to Installation Type, click the Customize button at the lower left. A window will pop up the lets you selcet components you want to install, including X11. Just select what you want and press on.
One note here for those of you who have not yet installed Tiger and are thinking about it. If you don’t want all the languages or printer files Tiger nominally installs, a Custom Installation is where you want to go anyway. You can select or deselect all that stuff there.
Too bad I hadn't realized before doing my own installation. I bet I could have saved myself at least 500MB of disk space.
I suspected that Tiger had its own version of X11, but I had no clue where it was. No download of a Tiger compatible version was on the Apple website, and a Google search turned up nothing. However, I did find the solution to the problem in the Apple support forums. It turns out that a version of X11 is on the Tiger installation DVD. It is not installed by default, however. According to the folks in the forum, there are two ways to get it. The first is to run a custom installation (in this case after the original Tiger installation) and deselect everything but X11 before running the install. The other is to use Finder’s Go menu, choose “Go to Folder”, and type: “/volumes/(name of your DVD)/System/Installation/Packages”.
The latter didn’t work for me, however, which caused me to go back into the Apple support forums again. There, I found the following link:
http://chemistry.ucsc.edu/%7Ewgscott/xtal/page1.html.
This page is dedicated running X-Windows on a Mac. (X-Windows is the Unix windowing interface.) It’s a bit technical, but that won’t be anything new for those of you choosing to run open-source software.
I did test selecting X11 using the Custom Installation method, and that is indeed the easiest. To get there, simply insert your Tiger DVD and double-click on the Installer when it’s presented. Once the machine reboots on the DVD, step through the Installation process; and when you get to Installation Type, click the Customize button at the lower left. A window will pop up the lets you selcet components you want to install, including X11. Just select what you want and press on.
One note here for those of you who have not yet installed Tiger and are thinking about it. If you don’t want all the languages or printer files Tiger nominally installs, a Custom Installation is where you want to go anyway. You can select or deselect all that stuff there.
Too bad I hadn't realized before doing my own installation. I bet I could have saved myself at least 500MB of disk space.
posted by Andy Foster at
9:21 PM
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