The OS X version
10.3 and 10.4 installer CDs each gives you the (non-default)
option of installing Apple's Xwindows. Otherwise, you will need to
manually install an X-windows system. There are several options,
both free and commercial. Probably the easiest option is to install
Apple's version of X11, and it has the added advantage of having
Quartz acceleration, which means that high-demand molecular
graphics display programs like coot will behave better. Here's how
to install Apple's X-windows and have it function as transparently
as is if it were simply part of the operating system.
Return to Crystallography
on OS X
Making OS X a
viable Unix Platform
Installing X Windows
Installing Developer Tools
Installing Fink
OS X Unix Links
OS X Unix Advice
Board
Crystallography
Programs
Use Fink to Install Crystal Software
Installing CCP4
Installing CNS-1.2
Installing Solve
Installing Data Processing Software
Installing Eden
Installing Molecular Display Packages
Other Links of
Interest
Various Useful OS X Programs
Backups
Screenshots
Biophysics on OS X
NMR on OS X
W. G. Scott Research Group
Return to Crystallography on OS X
Summary of
my recommended installation:
1. Install
Apple's X-windows programs. To do so, you must do BOTH of the
following:
a. Install Apple's X11.app. This
comes as a non-default component on the OS X installation DVD or
CD, so you have to do a "custom install." If you bought a new Mac,
such as a new Intel-iMac, put in the first install DVD and find the
optional packages installer, open it, check the X11 box, and
install from that. If you didn't do this and can't locate it, you
can grab the backup copies I made for my PPC X11.app components
(look to the right column).The
startup utility (the double-clickable X icon) now winds up in
/Applications/Utilities (Discard any old ones in
/Applications; they don't work.)
b. Install Apple's X11 SDK. On
10.4, this gets installed by default when you install the Xcode developer tools. On 10.3, it does not
get installed by default, so if you didn't remember to do it, grab
the download from the column on the right. On 10.2, you have
to install everything by default. These put header files in
/usr/X11R6/include that you will need to compile X11
programs. If fink doesn't find these, it goes
nuts.
a. Add the shell script commands appropriate for
your default unix shell:
You can set the DISPLAY environment variable to
let you run X-windows applications from your non-X terminal windows
by putting commands in your login file file (eg: ~/.cshrc for tcsh;
or ~/.bash_profile and ~/.bashrc for bash; or ~/.zshrc for zsh. The
following table has links to examples for each of these files. The
commands are written to handle the case of multiple simultaneous
X11.app users which occurs when Fast User Switching is
enabled.
You might instead want to try a
cheesy little program I wrote called Xterminator to assist you in configuring
X11.app the way you want it, including setting up the
$DISPLAY variable for each of the shells.
The first two of these get rid of the annoying, non-canonical
click-to-focus property, and the third gets rid of a warning window
that pops up and prevents you from logging out if X11 is
running.
You can also issue the commands
man Xquartz; man quartz-wm
for more information and other possibilities.
I tell OS X to start the X11.app when I log in by adding X11.app to
my startup items in my Accounts System Preferences. I run all
my x-windows programs by invoking them from the terminal in the
standard unix way. Therefore I have no need for the X icon in the
Dock or the menu bar.
Here's
how I got rid of the dock icon (it also removes the
menu bar):
a. Edit
the Info.plist file in /Applications/Utilities/X11.app/Contents
b. Put in the lines just above the penultimate line that reads
</dict>:
<key>LSUIElement</key> <string>1</string>
c. Save the changes. Then issue the following (1 line)
command:
d. Enjoy the illusion of a fully integrated X11 display.
One bug I
ran into in the beta days was being unable to get X11.app to start
in any user account other than the one used to install it. I
posted a
bug fix here, but this is supposedly fixed in the 0.3 release
and the 1.0 release.
Why do you need to install
X-windows?
In order to do
anything scientifically useful,you will have
to install X-windowson your
Mac. You are probably used to Linux, SGI, etc, all of whose
interfaces are X-windows based, so there is nothing to think about.
However the Mac doesn't use this by default, so we have to install
it. (Why they have you install support for 10 Languages,
including Japanese, by default, but can't give you the option of
installing this, is beyond my comprehension. But I
digress...) The Mac Aqua interface essentially "replaces" the
X-windows based interface on conventional unix machines, but it
lacks the functionality required by all of the unix programs that
are x-windows based. In addition, these programs expect you
to have it by default, as well as all the libraries and stuff that
comes with them. Hence you will have to install this even if
you never compile anything but just import binaries from someone
else. That is why I recommend that this be the very first
thing you do.