Mac OS X Setup

Get X11 for Mac OS X from apple before doing anything. it's an X-window environment, essential for running ROOT, and other Unix-based software, in a graphical mode.

set up terminal:
  • edit shell init file (e.g., .cshrc) in your home directory and add this line
    setenv DISPLAY :0.0
  • connect to remote server via ssh by: ssh -X -A some.server.address to authenticate and forward XWindow.
  • If you move around a lot (changing IP addresses), under X11 preferences, uncheck the "Authenticate connections".
  • if connecting via router, make sure to forward port 6000 to the local machine.

fink

I find fink to be a very useful tool in getting some unix software to run on my Macintosh OS. This page is meant to be a reference, or reminder, of how to use fink to install some applications on mac os x.

There are three functionalities I need:
  1. write documents in tex - latex
  2. convert between different graphic formats - imagemagick
  3. write and run analysis codes - ROOT
here's how to get going:
  • download fink and install it
  • open Terminal.app
  • tetex and imagemagick can be installed similarly by typing
    fink
    install [package]
    
    where [package] is the package name (tetex or imagemagick). fink will automatically download and install the packages
  • as of this moment (3 nov 2003), to install ROOT, must first edit /sw/etc/fink.conf. add "/sw/fink/10.2-gcc3.3/stable/main" and "/sw/fink/10.2-gcc3.3/stable/crypto" to the line begins with "Trees." then do
    sudo apt-get install root3
notes:
  • Latex: tetex install will take very long, but will enable latex processing. it also installs revtex4 package, which allows you to format papers in APS physical review formats. it also installs pdftex, which can be used with Equation Service to easily generate scientific equations.
  • relating to the root3 install. generally if you try to install something but fink says package not found, go to fink homepage and look up the package. it will say under what tree the package is in. then you just have to add this path to the "Trees" in fink.conf

tex problems

this is a self-reference in case this problem comes up again in the future.

this morning (17 nov 2003) after i used fink to upgrade all my installed packages, i had trouble with dvips when doing my usual postscript creation.

latex (.tex --> .dvi) process went fine. but dvips (.dvi --> .ps) gave me this error:

dvips: ! Couldn't find header file texc.pro

just do

sudo texhash

should solve the problem.

back to main page