!@#$%^ XDarwin & Orobor don't work right! I installed Orobor, then XDarwin. Now, I can't use the Finder or the Dock to open applications; when I try, the X windowing system opens instead and does nothing. I can't even get basic X11 clients to run. IS THERE SOMETHING I'M MISSING?!?!!? I would really like to use X11 but, so far, XTools is the ONLY X11 windowing system that has worked for me. I won't turn my back on opensource programming because I KNOW XDarwin & Orobor function. Does ANYONE have ANY suggestions on fixing this?
XDarwin & Orobor
- Thread starter chenly
- Start date
Javintosh
Meember
I think that XDarwin is an XFree86 installation. OrobosOSX wiered out on me sort of like that once. I was using version .7. After upgrading to .8p2 everything returned back to normal. Sometimes it is easier and faster to reinstall than to figure out what's actually wrong.
not very satisfying, but it has worked for me before.
not very satisfying, but it has worked for me before.
Same result. Am I misunderstanding X on OS X? To my way of thinking, X11 applications can run side-by-side with OS X applications. Why does XDarwin take over the entire interface? As I said earlier, neither the Dock nor the Finder work for launching applications when XDarwin is installed on the machine.
Valrus
Now With Even More Dumb!
I think the newest version of OroborOSX has its own version of XDarwin included with it, so if you have a seperate version of XDarwin that might be what's screwing you up. If you're sure you have XFree86 installed right, you might want to trash XDarwin and try again, just using OroborOSX.
-the valrus
-the valrus
scruffy
Notorious Olive Counter
newer OroborOSX versions have an internal version of XDarwin.app that they use - allows interleaved windows, and minimizing to the Dock, and probably a few other things the standard doesn't.
The whole XDarwin X11 install is a couple hundred megs, you still need that.
The whole XDarwin X11 install is a couple hundred megs, you still need that.
rubberchicken
Registered
I also had problems with OroborOSX, I eventually installed afterstep and it works just fine. Once you go to rootless mode every thing looks better anyway. If you can't see your dock and screen try pressing apple, option and a. That should switch between xdarwin and aqua. If you run it as rootless you only see the windows you open in xdarwin i.e. abiword. Have you installed fink?
I installed fink then xdarwin then abiword then afterstep.
works fine for me.
I installed fink then xdarwin then abiword then afterstep.
works fine for me.
Fink is here. Everything, EVERYTHING, works FINE, EXCEPT the Dock & Finder--when ANY X windowing system OTHER than XTools is installed, neither the Dock nor the Finder can be used to launch applications. Attempting to do so results in the X windowing system being launched ONLY; nothing else happens.
From what you keep saying regarding this whole installation... something must be corrupt.
I am running Xdarwin (loaded from Fink) an oroborosx(lastest release) and it works fine for me. My finder works, my dock works, everything works... I can even open up xterms from my Freebsd box on my mac... I hate to say this, but you might want to erase the /usr/X11R6 directory and reinstall Xwindows. Once you have done that, get the latest orborosx and instead of running Xdarwin.app that comes with the xfree86 install, run the one that comes with oroborox.. That one is what allows the interleaving...
Now if you want to run just plain Xwindows with a window manager like blackbox or windowmaker, then run the Xdarwin.app that came with XFree86...
Let us know how it goes.
I am running Xdarwin (loaded from Fink) an oroborosx(lastest release) and it works fine for me. My finder works, my dock works, everything works... I can even open up xterms from my Freebsd box on my mac... I hate to say this, but you might want to erase the /usr/X11R6 directory and reinstall Xwindows. Once you have done that, get the latest orborosx and instead of running Xdarwin.app that comes with the xfree86 install, run the one that comes with oroborox.. That one is what allows the interleaving...
Now if you want to run just plain Xwindows with a window manager like blackbox or windowmaker, then run the Xdarwin.app that came with XFree86...
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks, BSDimwit, but no luck. I trashed the whole /usr/X11R6 directory and reinstalled, but the same problem cropped up. Am I misunderstanding what XDarwin does? To my way of thinking, it works a lot like the Classic compatibility layer does--all X applications are available from within the one OS X application (XDarwin). Is this not correct?
symphonix
Scratch & Sniff Committee
X-Darwin is only an X-windows client for Aqua, you still need to actually install X-Windows in order to use it, though. On Apple's downloads page, http://www.apple.com/macosx/downloads/ under Unix utilities you will find a distribution of X-Free86 that includes X-Darwin. Download this, and you will be able to run X-Windows apps. Then, you can install OroborosX, which is a very good window manager for X-on-MacOs-X.
If you need to run remote X-Windows apps, you will need to call them from your X-term, not from a terminal.app term. I'm sure there's a workaround for this, but with an X-term at least it should work automatically.
If you need to run remote X-Windows apps, you will need to call them from your X-term, not from a terminal.app term. I'm sure there's a workaround for this, but with an X-term at least it should work automatically.
Javintosh
Meember
At the risk of asking the obvious... Install XDarwin, install OroborOSX and then double click on OroborOSX. This will launch XDarwin or you with the OrobosOSX window manager. In my case, XDarwin booted rootless by default. Maybe for some reason your XDarwin is launching in Full Screen mode.
After you launch OroborOSX, go to the options menu and select XDarwin Preferences. Click on the startup tab and make sure the Default Mode is set to rootless. You might have to quit and relaunch OroborOSX (which will always quit and launch XDarwin).
BTW>I tend to think of XDarwin as functionaly analogous to Classic.
After you launch OroborOSX, go to the options menu and select XDarwin Preferences. Click on the startup tab and make sure the Default Mode is set to rootless. You might have to quit and relaunch OroborOSX (which will always quit and launch XDarwin).
BTW>I tend to think of XDarwin as functionaly analogous to Classic.
When I was talking about Xdarwin, I was meaning the entire XFree86 installation for MacOSX. What Symphonix was saying is completely true.
Xdarwin was made so that Xfree86 could be run in rootless mode (It normally runs as root). This enables people to run XFree86 on Macs without having to have the root user enabled...which its not by default.
As for what Xwindows is....
Xwindows is the graphical user interface to most UNIX based operating systems.... like Solaris, AIX, HPUX, FreeBSD, LINUX. Companies like Sun and SGI have their own versions of X, but they all work the same way basically(Standards are nice aren't they). Linux and FreeBSD rely on XFree86 as their version of X. Anyway X works as a client/server model. The Xwindows server typically runs as a daemon... and it basically acts sort of like a shell... its the layer between UNIX and the GUI. The Xwindows clients are the actual gui things the user gets to play with. To make this all work, your client has to have a Window manager running... like blackbox, windowmaker, fvwm, KDE, Gnome+Sawfish... etc. The window manager takes care stuff like window placement, keyboard stuff. It also is what takes care of what the actual windows look like. Also, because of this client server model, the Xserver and the Xclients don't have to be running on the same machine. In a network, you can have connect to an Xserver on one machine and display the gui on another. So lets say I have a really fast machine as a server, but a slower one as a client... and lets say you want to run Gimp... the faster server can do all the hard work(number crunching, memory management, and other cpu intenstive stuff) while the client merely displays what its doing... Keep in mind that the faster your network is, the better this works, but you can actually open an xterm over a 56k connection just fine.
Instead of thinking of Xwindows like its classic... think of it as another gui that macosX can run besides the Aqua gui. The big difference between the two is that a ton of software has been written over years for X while aqua is relatively new. If you have ever looked at FreeBSD's ports collection you see a ton of software that requires Xwindows... many of these ports have also been ported over to Darwin...
Hope this clears things up for you abit. I guess if you can make this work for your Mac, you will have a veritable plethera of software that can run on your mac that you couldn't before. Many a useful tool has been developed for Linux and the *BSD's that will run just fine on MacOSX once you get X running.
One small side note.... I really hate that Apple started using X as its OS number. It confuses things when there already exists another X as In Xwindows(which has been around since the early 80's).... sure makes talking about MacosX and Xwindows in the same conversation confusing.
Xdarwin was made so that Xfree86 could be run in rootless mode (It normally runs as root). This enables people to run XFree86 on Macs without having to have the root user enabled...which its not by default.
As for what Xwindows is....
Xwindows is the graphical user interface to most UNIX based operating systems.... like Solaris, AIX, HPUX, FreeBSD, LINUX. Companies like Sun and SGI have their own versions of X, but they all work the same way basically(Standards are nice aren't they). Linux and FreeBSD rely on XFree86 as their version of X. Anyway X works as a client/server model. The Xwindows server typically runs as a daemon... and it basically acts sort of like a shell... its the layer between UNIX and the GUI. The Xwindows clients are the actual gui things the user gets to play with. To make this all work, your client has to have a Window manager running... like blackbox, windowmaker, fvwm, KDE, Gnome+Sawfish... etc. The window manager takes care stuff like window placement, keyboard stuff. It also is what takes care of what the actual windows look like. Also, because of this client server model, the Xserver and the Xclients don't have to be running on the same machine. In a network, you can have connect to an Xserver on one machine and display the gui on another. So lets say I have a really fast machine as a server, but a slower one as a client... and lets say you want to run Gimp... the faster server can do all the hard work(number crunching, memory management, and other cpu intenstive stuff) while the client merely displays what its doing... Keep in mind that the faster your network is, the better this works, but you can actually open an xterm over a 56k connection just fine.
Instead of thinking of Xwindows like its classic... think of it as another gui that macosX can run besides the Aqua gui. The big difference between the two is that a ton of software has been written over years for X while aqua is relatively new. If you have ever looked at FreeBSD's ports collection you see a ton of software that requires Xwindows... many of these ports have also been ported over to Darwin...
Hope this clears things up for you abit. I guess if you can make this work for your Mac, you will have a veritable plethera of software that can run on your mac that you couldn't before. Many a useful tool has been developed for Linux and the *BSD's that will run just fine on MacOSX once you get X running.
One small side note.... I really hate that Apple started using X as its OS number. It confuses things when there already exists another X as In Xwindows(which has been around since the early 80's).... sure makes talking about MacosX and Xwindows in the same conversation confusing.
AHHHHH!!! CAN'T!!! Double-clicking ANYTHING in either the Dock or Finder results in launching whatever X-windowing/window manager is installed AND NOTHING ELSE.
I'm done with X-windows for the moment. Obviously, there is something wrong. I'm buying a new machine this year; when I do, I will apply everything I've learned about UNIX to it. Until then, I'll hurry up and wait. Thanks, everyone.
buc99
Don't Tread on Me!
Does the finder and dock work when Xfree86 is not installed?
Just a question. Maybe the problem is not related to Xfree86 at all. Maybe something else is buggy in your system. Reason I ask is because it seems odd that thousands of people have been able to install this and this is the first time I've ever seen anyone talk about the finder and dock crashing out.
Is the finder and dock actually visible when Xfree86 is running?
Good Luck.
SA
Just a question. Maybe the problem is not related to Xfree86 at all. Maybe something else is buggy in your system. Reason I ask is because it seems odd that thousands of people have been able to install this and this is the first time I've ever seen anyone talk about the finder and dock crashing out.
Is the finder and dock actually visible when Xfree86 is running?
Good Luck.
SA
rubberchicken
Registered
One thing perhaps that I overlooked earlier is your operating system. I am using 10.1.4. What version are you using?
EVERYTHING works FINE...UNTIL I install X-windows. XTools worked ONCE, but I uninstalled it to install XDarwin. Now NOTHING works. WHEN any X-windows system is installed, the Finder and the Dock no longer function for launching applications--double-clicking on an application in the Finder or clicking on an application in the Dock causes the X-window system to launch, unless its running already, and then NOTHING else happens. Everyone, there is a problem with this system. I can't fix it now because I have ~35GB of stuff I need to back up first. And, yes, I've completely deleted the /usr/X11R6 directory and all its contents; it didn't change a thing.
I'm sure that with a virgin installation of OS X everything will work just fine. I've hacked this installation to hell; I've lost Software Update (errors out at end of each download) and X-windows, but everything else is fine. The only modifications I want, now that I've made pretty much all of them, are TransparentDock, the double scroll arrows at both ends of windows, a dedicated swap partition, and extra large (256x256 for Hassie chrome previews!) icons. None of these things should interfere with X-windows, so, when I can get my stuff backed up, I'll do it. Until then, thank ALL of you for your help with this.
I'm sure that with a virgin installation of OS X everything will work just fine. I've hacked this installation to hell; I've lost Software Update (errors out at end of each download) and X-windows, but everything else is fine. The only modifications I want, now that I've made pretty much all of them, are TransparentDock, the double scroll arrows at both ends of windows, a dedicated swap partition, and extra large (256x256 for Hassie chrome previews!) icons. None of these things should interfere with X-windows, so, when I can get my stuff backed up, I'll do it. Until then, thank ALL of you for your help with this.