Where do I get X11 apps?

[cameranerd74]

Okay, so I downloaded X11, very cool. I was under the impression it would come with a few X-windows apps, however I see only one... Terminal. Which I already have (Apple's Terminal.app). So where do I get apps like X-eyes, X-clock, ect... simple apps like that.

[mervTormel]

[thread moved from UNIX - Newcomers]

IMHO, your best bet would be to install fink and then peruse the X11 apps therein...

http://fink.sourceforge.net/

[blb]

xeyes, xclock, xlogo, etc are already there, they just don't show up in the Application menu of X11.app. They are under /usr/X11R6/bin, so you can do /usr/X11R6/bin/xeyes to run xeyes.

[cameranerd74]

Thanks, I got those apps to run, but how do I know which items in that folder (/usr/X11R6/bin) are applications? Short of typing each one in Terminal, I don't see an easy way. I like simple apps that make life easier, I've heard there are thousands of such apps out there. Is there a place where I can download more apps, or is everything I need already there?

[brkarekinm]

Remember that the "Terminal" is actually xterm...a good old unix standby that runs much faster than Apple's Terminal.app.

A good idea when you want to know what something is in the /bin directory is to type

% whatis <filename>

at the command line in an xterm. If the whatis directory is up to speed it should tell you. another way is to type

% apropos <filename>

If both of those fail...simply type

% man <filename>

to see the man page for an item if one is available.

If whatis fails...you might want to try running the following

%sudo /usr/libexec/makewhatis

to update the whatis database.

[sao]

cameranerd74,

To get and install X11 Applications, like The Gimp, AbiWord, Gnumeric, etc,etc, follow MervTormel advice and install "Fink".

Fink is free, fast and reliable. It offers the easiest and most painless install of Xwindows on macOS X. Fink currently lists in its database 2062 packages you could install, including the unstable tree and the latest packages from CVS (as 1-14-03).

And, thanks to the hard work of the Fink developers, the fink packages seem to get updated fairly quickly to follow the updates in the basic unix source. Fink has support 24/7 through the fink-mailing lists.

If you feel you don't need fink anymore, it's extremely easy to uninstall, as it keeps all the things at one place. Give it a try and start installing at your heart's content. You can't go wrong with it, and you will learn things.


Download the Fink installer from here:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/download/index.php

After installing Fink, follow the instructions to set your environment from here:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/doc/users-guide/install.php#setup


Or you can download FinkCommander (A GUI for Fink) from here:

http://finkcommander.sourceforge.net/

Once you have done the above, come back for more.


Cheers...

[Glanz]

I agree with Merv and Sao. Fink is the way to go. It compares with the best Linux installations and the applications are more up2date than OpenDarwin and other Darwin projects. It is so much like Debian that I sometimes forget what computer I'm using. Later you'll be able to get whatever apps you want from the source and command/compile them yourself to their usual default directories.

[cameranerd74]

Alright thanks for your help guys, I'll look into Fink, it sounds like that's a better alternative anyway. However, I still never got an answer to my questions... Where do you download X11 apps? Which apps are bundled with the X11 install? I'm a newcomer to Unix so I'm still a little green, help a fellow geek out. I know someone out there knows.

[i_am_pi]

Check out www.freshmeat.net add filters for X11 applications.

Pi

[edit: fix url -mt]

[cameranerd74]

No such URL. All i get is www.freshmeat.net is not a valid URL. Is that the actual spelling.

[i_am_pi]

Your link works..

[cameranerd74]

yeah it was the comma, sorry. But thanks for the link.

[sootmann]

Do you have a Linux box around? Since X11 is natively network-aware, you can run X apps over SSH. This recipe works with a rock-stock RedHat 7.x installation, where X-forwarding is on by default in sshd_config. (just make sure sshd is running, of course. Also, you might have to switch runlevels--I can run X apps when the server is in init 3 but not in init 5, which is odd, since init 5 is needed for X to run locally. whatever.)
In OS X's Xterm (*not* Terminal.app):
ssh -X username@hostname.or.IP
(enter password)
Now, just launch any X app. I recommend adding an ampersand ( & ) to the end so you'll get returned to a prompt right away. A few to try:
xeyes, gimp, freecell.
The 'username@' is only needed if you need to login as a different user. For example, if you are joe on your OS X box but jsmith on the Linux box, enter
ssh -X jsmith@192.168.1.2
I have a Linux box running as a webserver at home over DSL. A bit slow, but it works:
ssh -X me@my.box.athome
freecell &
That's it! Give it a shot. It's nice because a) you average Linux box has a zillion X apps already installed, and b) it's always cooler doing stuff over a network. :-)

[sao]

cameranerd74 wrote:
Where do you download X11 apps?
Fink will automatically download the app you selected, and then install it for you. If you're a beginner it's the best way to go, if you want to install Unix apps in Mac OS X.

To learn how to use Fink read The 'X11 FAQs' at the top of this forum:

5. If you want to install software to run on X11 with Fink:
5.2- Using Fink to install Software in Apple X11

and then read this thread to learn about some of the apps you can install with Fink and use in X11:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8607



Cheers...

[Don Benot]

It looks like freshmeat has some cool apps to try.

My question is this: Is it possible to use Fink to compile, etc... apps that have been downloaded from a place like freshmeat and aren't a part of the Fink project? I read through the Fink FAQ and couldn't find the answer there. It's possible I just missed it. I'm not ready to start compiling apps by hand without EXPLICIT instructions.

Regards,
Don

[sao]

Don Benot wrote:
Is it possible to use Fink to compile, etc... apps that have been downloaded from a place like freshmeat and aren't a part of the Fink project?
Out of the box, no. Have you checked first that the app you want is not available with Fink?


From the Fink FAQs:
How do I compile something myself using fink-installed software?

A: When compiling something yourself outside of fink, the compiler and linker need to be told where to find the fink-installed libraries and headers. For a package that uses standard configure/make process, you need to set the CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, and LDFLAGS environment variables:


setenv CFLAGS -I/sw/include
setenv LDFLAGS -L/sw/lib
setenv CXXFLAGS $CFLAGS
setenv CPPFLAGS $CXXFLAGS

It is often easiest just to add these to your .tcshrc or .cshrc so they are set automatically. If a package does not use these variables, you may need to add the "-I/sw/include" (for headers) and "-L/sw/lib" (for libraries) to the compile lines yourself. Some packages may use similar non-standard variables such as EXTRA_CFLAGS or --with-qt-dir= configure options. "./configure --help" will usually give you a list of the extra configure options.

In addition, you may need to install the development headers (e.g. foo-1.0-1-dev for the library packages that you are using, if they aren't already installed.


Or, on Fink's homepage http://fink.sourceforge.net/ there is a link for the "Package request tracker".


Cheers...