[PD] [OT] further Mac OS X clarifications

[Adam Lindsay]

Alex from Idoia said this at Thu, 30 Jan 2003 16:04:49 +0000:

>Thanks a lot for that.
>I think I understand the way it works, the ~/.tcshrc is a file read by 
>the shell when starting up, then it loads certain preferences like some 
>alias created previously, is  not it ?

Yes. Exactly.
For more info on Mac OS X's unix side, I suggest some things like:
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macosxian/>
<http://www.macosxhints.com/>
<http://www.freebsd.org/projects/newbies.html#unix>
<http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html>

>Then the ~/.pdrc is kind of the same but for pd, the way pd loads up a 
>special configuration as it loads up.
>a few question however:
>-rc in the name of both files stands for resources ?

more or less. It might actually be something like "runtime
configuration", but the idea is more or less the same.

>-what stand before maybe the application is relative like tcsh stands 
>for the basic shell on OSX ?

yes. and the dot ('.') means that it is a "special", hidden file.

>-the line I put in the pdrc file are options for pd. they are listed in 
>the doc, but some of the ones you gave me does not appear in the doc, 
>is there a complete list somewhere ?

Type:
    pd -help

The extra commands:
-cordcolor [col] -- change color of audio wires, with opt hex #rrggbb spec
-guishadow       -- add discrete shadows to basic objects

are part of the "unofficial" part of the CVS distribution. (The
devel_0_36 branch that people talk about).

These questions, by the way, are very helpful... collecting the answers
into a FAQ would be even more helpful to those who come after you... :)

>I will terminate if you don' t mind by asking you some simple things 
>about pd:
>the version I downloaded is the version 0.36.0. It contains the folders 
>extra and obj. In which one should I put my externals ? What is the 
>folder man and port audio ?

externals and abstractions should be put in 'extra'... but with the new
"-path" command in the .pdrc, you can now put externals and abstractions
in a "Library/pd" that you create.

>Thanks a lot for your time.

I'm hoping that if we can get good answers to these questions, we can
pre-empt them for new beginners. A lot of Mac OS X people seem to be
appearing lately, so it's best to offer them as much as possible.

A good algorithm for getting midi to work, written for people who are
unfamiliar with the command-line, would be *very* helpful, as it's
something I haven't been able to explain satisfactorily.

adam


>On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 02:54  pm, Adam Lindsay wrote:
>
>> Alex from Idoia said this at Thu, 30 Jan 2003 13:49:52 +0000:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>> In the pd doc, is said that we can create an alias for pd to  avoid to
>>> type the complete path everytime we open a terminal window. It is also
>>> said to add the alias command line in the ~/.tcshrc file to keep track
>>> of the alias for further uses.
>>> Is that something to do with an alias.mine file ? How to create a such
>>> file ? I could not find the ~/.tcshrc.
>>
>>    You can create such a file by opening the terminal, and typing:
>>
>> pico ~/.tcshrc
>>
>>    and then once you are in the editor, by typing:
>>
>> alias pd '/usr/local/pd/bin/pd'
>> # and/or
>> set path = ( "/usr/local/pd/bin" $path )
>>
>>    Close the file with Ctrl-x, answering the question with 'y',
>>    and accepting the filename with 'RETURN'.
>>    While you're at it, you can create a .pdrc file, by typing:
>>
>> pico ~/.pdrc
>>
>>    and again, once in the editor, enter some useful stuff like:
>>
>> -listdev
>> -rt
>> -guishadow
>> -cordcolor
>> -path ~/Library/pd
>> -path /Library/pd
>> -path /usr/local/pd/extra
>>
>>    Again close the file by keying Ctrl-x y RETURN.
>>
>>    You won't be able to see these files in the finder normally,
>>    nor will you be able to create them using a normal MacOSX GUI-
>>    driven app, since these are "hidden" files.
>>
>>    I hope that these instructions are clear enough to get you started.
>>    More information on these "dotfiles" (and a more complex but
>>    "correct" way of setting up this configuration) are available
>>    in the terminal by typing:
>>
>> more /usr/share/tcsh/examples/README
>>
>>    Cheers,
>>    adam
>> -- 
>> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>>  Adam T. Lindsay                      atl at comp.lancs.ac.uk
>>  Computing Dept, Lancaster University   +44(0)1524/594.537
>>  Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK             Fax:+44(0)1524/593.608
>> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>>

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Adam T. Lindsay                      atl at comp.lancs.ac.uk
 Computing Dept, Lancaster University   +44(0)1524/594.537
 Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK             Fax:+44(0)1524/593.608
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-