Macintosh resources
This page contains useful information for Macintosh users. Please do feel free to add content!
Software repositories
X Windows
Make sure you install the latest version of http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki because the X11 shipped with OS X Leopard is not as updated as this one.
LaTeX
Suggested packages:
Related software:
- For creating LaTeX equations on-the-fly (e.g., drag-and-drop to a presentation): http://ktd.club.fr/programmation/latexit_en.php
Python
Suggested package: http://www.python.org/download (the standard one)
To install python modules in the user account follow these steps: (this is an example where modules are installed in ~/Library/python, adapt accordingly)
- create a file named ~/.pydistutils.cfg containing
[install] home=~/Library/python
- add the following line to ~/.profile
export PYTHONPATH=~/Library/python/lib/python
Make sure you check the Python resources page in this mediawiki.
Linux software
Suggested package: http://www.macports.org
Emacs
Suggested package: http://aquamacs.org
GIMP
Suggested package: http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Download.html
A helpful tip for improving Mail performance can be found at http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/mail_app/topic2610.html
I found a workaround for the slow IMAP performance, linked to the 'updating cache directory' activity. To fix the problem, go to your account setup under preferences. On the IMAP account having difficulty, go to the advanced tab. Where it says 'keep copies for offline viewing', change it to 'only messages I've read' or don't keep copies at all.
ROS
To install ROS follow these instructions: http://www.ros.org/wiki/electric/Installation/OSX/Homebrew
Miscellaneous
- To reset the DNS cache:
- before Lion
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
- after Lion
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder