Joakim's Mac OS X Setup

Below you will find my basic setup of my Mac running Mac OS X.

Note: This guide is intended for people at the Department of Physics, Stockholm Univeristy. It may prove useful for other pepole too, but some topics are clearly site and field specific.

NOTE: These instructions partly require Mac OS X 10.2 or higher. If you for some strange reason install an earlier version, check out the (partly obsolete) old instructions for Mac OS X 10.1.

 

Consider this as a tentative guide to how you might want to set up your Mac to get the most out of it as a physicist at Fysikum. In the following instructions I presume that you know how to configure your machine for the network (DHCP for laptops or static IP for stationary computers). If you have any questions, send me an e-mail.

  1. Partition your hard drive.
    It is usually not necessary to partition your hard drive, but in some cases it might be needed/desired. For example, it keeps the system nice to keep Mac OS 9 on a separate partition (if you need OS 9 at all), however on newer machines it seems that one cannot install MacOS 9 on a separate partition, so if you have a new machine, skip a Mac OS 9 partition. If you intend to run UNIX stuff you should also create a UNIX partition since some UNIX/Linux programs needs a UFS (Unix File System) partition to work properly. Hence, I suggest that you partition your hard drive and put Mac OS X, Mac OS 9 and your UNIX stuff on separate partitions. E.g. if you have a 60GB hard drive you could partition it into three partitions:
    MacX: HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) partition for Mac OS X. (40 GB)
    MacClassic: HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) partition for Mac OS 9 (Classic) (10 GB) Note: On newer machines, it seems that one cannot install Mac OS 9 on a separate partition. If you have a new machine, then skip this partition.
    Unix: UFS partition for UNIX stuff (10 GB, more if you need large UNIX programs of course)
    To partition your drive, start up from the Mac OS X Install CD and choose 'Disk Utility' from one of the menus. Then reformat your hard disk (NOTE! You will lose all your data, so only do this either on a new machine or make sure you have a backup of your things!) Of course, you can make as many partitions as you see fit. This is the time to think about it, since you cannot in any simple way change your partitions later (you have to do a full re-install of your system to re-partition your drive).

  2. Install Mac OS X.
    Install Mac OS X onto your MacX partition.

  3. Install Mac OS 9.
    If you need Mac OS 9 (Classic), installing Mac OS 9 onto your MacClassic partition. If you want to, take your time and install needed Mac OS 9 (Classic applications) at this time.

  4. Upgrade Mac OS X.
    Upgrade Mac OS X to the latest version by running 'System Preferences -> Software Update' until you have the latest Mac OS X version (currently 10.2.4). You probably have to run the Software update several times, run it until it says that your system is upto-date.

  5. Install Developer Tools.
    If you are going to program in e.g. C, C++ or Fortran, install the Developer Tools by running the installer on the 'Developer Tools CD'. There may be a newer version available which you can download from Apple Developer Connection. You need to register to be able to download it, so if you don't think you need it, don't bother.

  6. Install the Fortran compiler.
    If you need Fortran, you can download the Fortran compiler from Gaurav Khanna's computation tools web page. Follow the instructions on that page on how to install it. Install the version suitable for your system version. If you are unsure about your system version, choose 'About this Mac' from the Apple menu and the version number is given in the screen that pops up. Note that you need to have root access to install the Fortran compiler. Either you can get this by preceding your commands by 'sudo'. You will then be asked about a password, which is your password (assuming you are classified as an Administrator which you probably are), or you can enable the root user in 'Applications -> Utilities -> Netinfo Manager' (choose 'Domains -> Security -> Authenticate' and then 'Domain -> Security -> Enable root user'. Only enable root if you know what you are doing!). To finish the Fortran installation, create a link from f77 to g77 to be compatible with some makefiles. Do this by typing
    sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/g77 /usr/local/bin/f77

  7. Install X Windows.
    Installing X Windows, got so much simpler when Apple released their own X11 program. If you need X Windows, you need to install it and a Window manager. There are several options on the market, but the easiest and best is to install Apple's own X11. Download from www.apple.com/macosx/x11/download/. If you need to compile X11 programs you should also install the X11 SDK, available on the same page. The window manager included is very similar to Mac OS X's own windows, but if you don't like it you can install your own. Once X11 is installed, just click the X11 icon in /Applications/ to get it going.

  8. Install cernlib and paw.
    Download cernlib and paw from Keisuke Fujii's HEP page. You need to install rpm first, then the three libraries dlcompat, lapack and blas and finally cernlib. Instructions are on Fujii's page. Install cernlib in /cern as usual and add /cern/pro/bin to your path by editing your .cshrc file and add the line
    SETENV PATH "${PATH}:/cern/pro/bin"
    If you now start an xterm window in X11 and type paw you should get paw running with graphics and all.

  9. Install TeX.
    The TeX installation I kind of like most on Mac OS X is TeXShop which uses tetex as the TeX motor. Follow the instructions on darkwing.uoregon.edu/~koch/texshop/texshop.html to first install tetex by downloading the tetex installer TeX-thin.dmg.When running the installer, you should install 'TeX Foundations', 'Ghostscript' and 'TeX Programs'. Then install TeXShop. TeXshop produces pdf files either directly by using pdftex or by using latex and ghostscript. Which one that is used is selected in the menu (or preferences). Use the latter if you have included eps figures. If you want A4 paper as your default paper, type
    sudo texconfig dvips paper a4
    sudo texconfig pdftex paper a4
    at a terminal prompt.

  10. Install whatever else you like.
    Here is a little list of things I like to have installed:
    – Safari. Apple's own web browser. Doesn't include all the goodies as e.g. Internet Explorer, but is in my opinion much nicer.
    – OmniWeb. Another alternative good web browser from Omnigroup.
    – Microsoft Office. I or Iouri has the installation CD. Install it and report to Christian Walck that you have installed it.
    – A4 Paper Sizes. Makes A4 Paper Sizes the default when printing.
    – DropPrint. Let's you print documents by dropping them on this icon. Also prints postscript files to the pre-selected printer.
    – Emacs. The all-classic text editor.

  11. Configure crontab.
    If you want to, you can configure cron such that it automatically runs some system maintenance scripts at convenient times. As root install a crontab file like the following:
    SHELL=/bin/sh
    #min hour mday month wday command
    10 12 * * * sh /etc/daily
    20 12 * * * sh /etc/weekly
    30 12 * * 2 sh /etc/monthly
    Note that there should be tabs between all fields (except between sh and /etc...). This will keep your system sane and the locate database updated. If you don't like these jobs to run at the specified times (12.10, 12.20 and 12.30), change to your liking.

  12. Install Kergeros and AFS.
    If you want to access our AFS disk system (and your home account if it is AFS), go to these instructions to install the needed programs.

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This page was last modified 2003-11-10 .