Re: XMMS, Fink and X11
Re: XMMS, Fink and X11
- Subject: Re: XMMS, Fink and X11
- From: Michael Bovee <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 14:39:14 -0500
From: Michael Bovee <email@hidden>
Date: Sun Jan 26, 2003 2:27:24 PM US/Eastern
To: Ben Lewis <email@hidden>
Subject: Re: XMMS, Fink and X11
On Sunday, January 26, 2003, at 01:36 PM, Ben Lewis wrote:
Is XMMS any better [than iTunes] cpu wise?
Hi Ben!
I don't know about efficiency of cpu utilization, but just for fun I'm
using Fink to install xmms and the *dozens* of additional packages that
are required and I'm still sorting through some error messages that
come up when I try to run and use xmms under XDarwin (you've probably
been to http://www.xmms.org/)
If so, would anyone be kind enough to give me some
basic, step by step instructions for getting it working on my machine?
First off, you don't need Apple's X11 beta, you could use a port of
XFree86 and XDarwin for mac, which would probably be smoother sailing
with no gotchas as you try to get your feet wet. But you would do well
to install Fink first, and consider using Fink's own XFree86
packages...Bear in mind, if you're a complete newbie and you want to
enter the wild world of open source software, its going to take a
*great deal of effort* on your part to get up to speed. Look at it as a
hobby in itself. Be prepared to do lots of your own Google searches and
read lots of background info on stuff. For example, you're probably at
least a week away from getting a functional install of xmms, if my own
experiences and amount of free time comparable to yours. Its nothing
like just downloading a binary form of an application and just running
it on your computer. This is going to take some time and effort, but if
you're into it, you will probably feel it has been worth the effort.
And you will be learning more about how to use your computer than you
ever thought possible. By reading up, trying a few beginning steps and
formulating your problems into concise questions, it will make it much
more likely that someone will respond. Open ended questions like "can
anyone help me?" may go unanswered. But as they say in HHGTTG, "Don't
Panic!" :0)
So, for a starting point in the step-by-step you requested:
Step 1. Go to
http://fink.sourceforge.net/
do some reading. Decide whether its worth your effort and time to
install Apple's developer tools ( which will take at least a gigabyte),
and then get Fink. Fink is itself an open source project that makes it
unbelievably easy to install some 2000+ open source software packages
that have be specifically and painstakingly ported to run inside the
XDarwin environment (akin to X11/XFree86) on MacOS X! Its really
amazing how much of their hard work open source developers are willing
to freely share with the rest of us! By reading the well done Fink
instructions and FAQ's at the fink site you should find it not too
difficult to get going.
Step 2. Subscribe to the fink-beginners email list, this list is the
place to ask most beginner's questions.
Step 3. When you really do get stuck, don't hesitate to ask specific
questions. Always say what OS version you're using and any other
details of your system that you think might be important,
Step 4. have fun! I'm pretty new at this too, its an adventure, and
sometimes things dont work right, but many of the experts that write
the software for fink and other open source packages monitor the email
lists and it is fun in itself to ' get to know' other people a little
bit as everyone works together...
Regards,
--Michael
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