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 are for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. If you have Mac OS X Tiger, you should go here instead.

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.
   If you want to use Unix programs, I strongly recommend having a UFS (Unix File System) partition for those. You can e.g. divide your harddisk into two parts, one with HFS Extended for Mac OS X and your usual user files and one with UFS for your Unix files. I personally also have one HFS Extended partition for stuff that I don't backup (to simplify backup proceedures). Partitioning is done by running the Mac OS X installer and choose 'Disk Utility' from one of the menues.
   
   
2. Install Mac OS X.
   Install Mac OS X onto your MacX partition. Choose a custom install and add the bits and pieces you prefer. If you want to be able to use X Windows, click to include 'X11' in your installation. You should also choose 'Xcode' at this stage if you plan on compiling software on your Mac.
   
   
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. You probably have to run the Software update several times, run it until it says that your system is upto-date.
   
   
5. Install Xcode (before it was called Developer Tools).
   If you are going to program in e.g. C, C++ or Fortran, install Xcode by running the installer on the 'Xcode 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 g77 Fortran compiler from Gaurav Khanna's computation tools web page. Follow the instructions on that page on how to install it. The g77 3.4 version seems to work fine with Panther. 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 '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
   
   There is also an option to use IBM's commercial xlf compiler (available from IBM's site). This compiler is presumably faster, but costs money.
   
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
8. 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 and then TeXShop.
   
   
9. Install whatever else you like.
   Here is a little list of things I like to have installed:
• Emacs. The all classic text editor. There are several versions around, but only one that seems to work fine with Panther yet:
  Emacs from mindlube. Works with Panther
  Emacs from porkrind. I kind of like this one better, but it does currently not work with Panther.
• Norton Antivirus. As an employee of Stockholm University, you can download Norton Antivirus from here.
• Microsoft Office, Mathematica, etc. CDs are available from Iouri. Install and register with Christian Walck.
  
10. 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.
    
    
11. Install Kerberos 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.
    

Links

• Versiontracker.Best resource on the net for Mac OS X software. If any of the links above are missing you can search for the software at Versiontracker.
• MacOSXHints. Hints and tips on various Mac OS X issues.
• OSX Page. Extensive list of software. Contains much more X Windows software than Versiontracker.

This page was last modified 2005-10-25 .