[Jim_MDP]

Over the past couple months I've installed- X11, XFree86, OpenOffice, AbiSuite, Fink, Fink Cmdr, OroborOSX, etc. Not much works, in fact it's Oroboros not launching Darwin that has me wanting to reformat and start over (well, time to get the burner working). I don't know what is needed and what is conflicting or redundant.

Then there's Linux.

Am I right that I need a (several?) partition dedicated to a Linux install? How small can I keep it?

What X Window apps should I re-install and in what order? I suspect most of my problems center around my putting apps/packages wherever I like just like Mac apps and not knowing how to set paths.

This should be fun.

[Kristoff]

Apple's X11 works fine. Not quite sure what your problem is.

I use Ethereal daily, and the Gimp quite frequenly. I have used Open Office and others as well. Perhaps a more detailed explanation of your problems is in order?

[Jim_MDP]

I'll backtrack a bit...

This started with a 'Going Linux' thread (not mine) in the OS X room. Reading that and checking out the links posted lead me to Gentoo's site. Wanting to see Gnome, I grabbed their 'LiveCD' image and started playing with it. As I said there, I'm a *nix newb/Luser, so mnuch hilarity ensued.


Pushing on, I reinstalled free86 and suddenly Oroboros was able to run (though not if X was already launched).

So I thought I would start this new thread with my specific questions. Last night it occurred to me...do I even need a linux distro? Having found theat Gnome, KDE etc and many WMs are ported to unix or Darwin specifically, I guess the answer is ...no.

So my questions stand...

-Are Apple's X11 and Free86 redundant?

-Since I don't know how to safely clean out the crap I've installed, if I erase and start over (likely) what should I reinstall and in what order?

-I wanted to check out various DEs and WMs. How hard is it to juggle several setups?

I'll stop here for now.

[Jim_MDP]

What the hell...btt.

[K++]

UNIX newbs should not be try to mess with the countless idiosyncracies of X11. Just install Apple's X11 and enjoy a fast, well implemented X implementation.

As to all the stuff you wanna try, its easy enough to set your WM and DE if you know how they launch, by adding the DE's launcher or the path to the WM to your ~/.xinitrc, anything more complex and you will surely cry and end up hitting your head to walls trying to get it to work for you.

[Detrius]

I would like to take a moment to extol the virtues of the nested X server. Using the Xnest server in conjunction with Apple's X11 is a rather amazing approach. Through Apple's X11, GL support is included. Through Xnest, a user can load multiple window manager sessions with a windowed X11 server, much like with VPC. I consider this one of the best-kept secrets of X11. As such, I'm not going to tell you how I do it. I'm only going to point you towards the "xinit" command and give you a hint that multiple .xinitrc files are needed.

[dumkwestchun]

Originally posted by K++:
UNIX newbs should not be try to mess with the countless idiosyncracies of X11. Just install Apple's X11 and enjoy a fast, well implemented X implementation.

As to all the stuff you wanna try, its easy enough to set your WM and DE if you know how they launch, by adding the DE's launcher or the path to the WM to your ~/.xinitrc, anything more complex and you will surely cry and end up hitting your head to walls trying to get it to work for you.

IMO This guy is right.

Fink and Apple's X11 seem to fight a bit.

While I've been able to apt-get install or use dselect (with less success) a few things (gimp, bluefish, joe, etc, windowmaker, sawfish, kde.) and get them going, the initial window is stuck in the upper left hand corner and immovable.
KDE in particular, all windows are stuck in position. No luck installing Orobor either. Well I'll start again with Panther, Finkless this time.

----------
chdir: /Users/phil/Desktop/OroborOSX-v0.8.5-src/build/OroborOSX.app
[1] 26797
CheckForArchives info: unarchiving XDarwin application...
LaunchList Info: unarchiving Launch Menu Items folder
ThemeList Info: unarchiving Themes folder...
Got the following list of folders...
New Eau
New Greyphyte
Nextish
New Eau
New Greyphyte
Nextish
startx info: OROBOROSX_RANDOMID = 0xd3e76a0
2003-09-01 21:47:07.075 defaults[26833]
The domain/default pair of (org.xfree86.XDarwin, Display) does not exist
startx warning: failed to get DISPLAY from XDarwin's prefs - assuming zero
startx info: removing :0 from /Users/phil/.Xauthority...
startx info: added :0 to xauth file /Users/phil/.Xauthority
startx info: clientargs set to /tmp/oroborosx-0xd3e76a0.dir/xinitrc
2003-09-01 21:47:08.371 XDarwin[26854] ---------------------> GOT INTO SETMAINMENU......
2003-09-01 21:47:08.479 XDarwin[26854]
XDarwin 1.1
Running rootless inside Mac OS X window server.

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.

OsVendorFatalError
AbortDDX
Quitting XDarwin...
OroborOSX: failed to start XDarwin
OroborOSX: Got an error from orob_main: -1
OroborOSX Info: Set OROBOROSX_RANDOMID to 0xd3e76a0 (0)
OroborOSX info: myPathLen,realPathLen: 61,60
OroborOSX info: myPath: /Users/phil/Desktop/OroborOSX-v0.8.5-src/build/OroborOSX.app
OroborOSX info: Found main screen: 0x1a3088 (0,0,1280,854)
OroborOSX info: About to enter CheckForArchives? (gQuitFlag=0)
OroborOSX info: come back from CheckForArchives script
OroborOSX info: About to enter MakeMenu? (gQuitFlag=0)
OroborOSX info: Starting out orgGroupItem as Original
OroborOSX info: Running: Contents/Scripts/LaunchList '0xd3e76a0'
OroborOSX info: Launchlist file: '/tmp/launchlist.0xd3e76a0'
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xeyes
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xedit
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xcutsel
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xclock
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xcalc
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xbiff
OroborOSX info: Got an item: NEdit
OroborOSX info: Got an item: MacGimp
OroborOSX info: Got an item: Lyx
OroborOSX info: Got an item: ETerm
OroborOSX info: Got an item: xterm
OroborOSX info: Removing file: /bin/rm -f /tmp/launchlist.0xd3e76a0
OroborOSX info: Got an item: New Eau
OroborOSX info: Got an item: New Greyphyte
OroborOSX info: Got an item: Nextish
OroborOSX info: Removing file: /bin/rm -f /tmp/themelist.0xd3e76a0
TRACE3: Setup_Themes_Menu (which: 11)
OroborOSX info: Set new theme directory from menu item: New Eau
OroborOSX info: About to enter MakeWindow? (gQuitFlag=0)
OroborOSX info: About to enter main2? (gQuitFlag=0)
OroborOSX info: checking for XDarwin
OroborOSX info: Started with screen offset: 0,21
OroborOSX info: X11 startup script: Contents/Scripts/startx
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
OroborOSX info: waiting for XDarwin to start...
TRACE3: MakeAlertWindow (NoXDarwin)
OroborOSX: finishing with gQuitFlag=-702

OroborusChecker has exited with status 0.

[suthercd]

X11 and Oroborus are not compatible at this point. I believe that is in the FAQ.

HTH
Craig

[Jim_MDP]

Originally posted by suthercd:
X11 and Oroborus are not compatible at this point. I believe that is in the FAQ.

HTH
Craig

Ah, that would explain why (re)installing free86 got OroborOSX working (only TWM though, I want to figure out how to change DE/WMs).

Also, I've got a hosed .login file, all control characters. How do I find a clean replacement or a list of what's in a clean version?

[Jim_MDP]

Still everything to learn, but...an update:

Wanda says I don't have the fortunes file installed. Picky bitch.

See, I'm not an utter imbecile.

Ok, off to explore.

[vsurfer]

Originally posted by Detrius:
I would like to take a moment to extol the virtues of the nested X server. Using the Xnest server in conjunction with Apple's X11 is a rather amazing approach. Through Apple's X11, GL support is included. Through Xnest, a user can load multiple window manager sessions with a windowed X11 server, much like with VPC. I consider this one of the best-kept secrets of X11. As such, I'm not going to tell you how I do it. I'm only going to point you towards the "xinit" command and give you a hint that multiple .xinitrc files are needed.

Well that sounds interesting I was trying to get Windowmaker and Quartz-wm going at the same time but no dice . . .

Messing with multiple .xinitrc files is probably the last thing I need -- for as Craig exposed, I'm one of those guys who doens't alwasy read the faq before typing sudo apt-get install...

[Detrius]

Originally posted by vsurfer:
Well that sounds interesting I was trying to get Windowmaker and Quartz-wm going at the same time but no dice . . .

Messing with multiple .xinitrc files is probably the last thing I need -- for as Craig exposed, I'm one of those guys who doens't alwasy read the faq before typing sudo apt-get install...

I broke down and posted a hint at macosxhintx about the Xnest server. It should be up sometime soon. It's not all that tricky to do, and it's quite handy. I find it highly useful for "playing" with a window manager, without dedicating anything to that window manager.