[Visualpython-users] installing under Mac OS X

[Joe H. <hea...@vn...>]

Hi.
I finally took the plunge and installed VPython on my dual USB iBook running OS 10.1.5 (256MB RAM, 8MB VRAM). I thought I'd share my experience and pose some questions.

First, of course, I had to install Fink. That went extremely well using the preprint version of Fun With Fink (<http://www.funwithfink.com>). I also installed Fink Commander, which give a nice Aqua front end to Fink. I then left my iBook overnight to download the ~47MB XFree86 packages and install them. This too went off without a single hitch. I downloaded Window Maker rather than Oroborus and installed it, again with no problems.

Regarding Fink, I would like to point out that it is not absolutely necessary to enable the root account under OS X. If the machine is a single user machine, the very first user created at OS X install time has admin privileges, but is not root. The Fun With Fink book points out that when root access is required, one can merely preface the command with "sudo" and then provide the admin (not necessarily root) password and all will still work. This is precisely what I did and it worked perfectly.

Installing the rest of the required packages and their dependencies too another several hours of download time (I have dial-up ISP access) but it worked.

I have encountered only three problems so far.

1) Under XFree86, how can I get custom icons for my .py Python program files?

2) When I hit "F1" to bring up help, I get an error telling me that no browser can be found. I presume I must install some browser under X so IDLE can find it. Is this correct?

3) The program gyro.py (in /VPython/Programs/Demos/) will not work for me. I get the output window and no errors are shown, but I get no graphics window. So far this is the only program that will not run. Any suggestions?

Now I can finally leave MS Windows completely behind!


Cheers,
Joe Heafner - Instructional Astronomy and Physics
Home Page http://users.vnet.net/heafnerj/index.html
I don't have a Lexus, but I do have a Mac. Same thing.