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DECEMBER 31, 2002 Bring Out The GIMP
Plus, OroborOSX adds drag-and-drop functionality to XWindows, making it possible to open native Unix files in their corresponding applications just by dropping them onto the OroborOSX Dock icon. Even better, you can create little Unix program applets that can live in the OS X environment and can launch Unix programs right from Aqua like any native OS X program. Basically, all this is a roundabout way of saying that OroborOSX integrates XWindows into the native OS X environment really well, and XWindows on OS X a lot more seamless to work with alongside everything else you're doing natively. Anyway, head on over to the OroborOSX site and get the latest version. This installation is nothing more than unpacking an archive, so you're safe dragging the OroborOSX folder wherever you want it to go on your system. Once OroborOSX is where you like it, go ahead and launch it to check and see if everything is working OK. If you checked out if XDarwin was working in the last step, you'll notice the difference right away (fig. 5). [an error occurred while processing this directive]  Fig. 5: Before and after: XDarwin's terminal at the top, and the same program under OroborOSX on the bottom. Go ahead and quit OroborOSX for now, and we'll be ready for Fink. Step 5: Think Fink Normally, installing Unix programs can be a real drag. You have to download source code for the program you want, make sure you have any other software package that the program you want relies on to work, compile the source, yadda yadda yadda. Fortunately, Fink ends all of that for Mac users. Fink is a program that runs in the terminal that makes it really, really easy to download and install Unix programs. Many of the most popular Unix programs, the GIMP included, have been precompiled into Mac-compatible binaries, ready and waiting for Fink to come and get 'em. Even if the binaries for a particular program haven't been compiled for OS X, Fink lets you at the source code and goes through the process of compiling and installing the packages for you. Long story longer, Fink reduces the process of installing Unix apps (plus any dependencies) on OS X to just couple of commands in the Terminal. So head over to the Fink site and download the latest version. You know the drill: it's a native installer, so I'll see you back here after you're done installing it. Ah, but there's a snag here. Fink won't work unless you manually add a line to the config file of your shell. I'm not sure why this part isn't handled during the Fink installation, but we're going to need to do this ourselves. Open up the Terminal, and enter the following command: pico .cshrc [return] "Pico" is a command-line text editor, ".cshrc" is the configuration file we're going to mess with, and then press [return] to enter the command. For me, the .cshrc file didn't have anything in it; your mileage may vary here. Add the following: source /sw/bin/init.csh I'd explain what this does except for the small fact that I don't really know. I assume it's telling the Terminal how to access something in the sw directory Fink added to your hard drive during the install so that Fink can work correctly, but I could be wrong. Anyway, once that text has been entered, press ctrl-o (the Pico equivalent of Save), press Return, and then press ctrl-x (Pico's Exit command). Quit the Terminal, and then launch it again so your changes can be read by the shell. Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Related sites: • Creative Mac • Digital Media Designer • Digital Producer • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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