Getting Started

William Davis frstan at bellsouth.net
Sat Sep 6 02:57:23 PDT 2008


Sam, MacPorts is a command-line program.  start Terminal (it has an  
icon in Aplications/Utilities).  You can read about this using
man port <ENTER>
in general you install something with
sudo port -d install foo <ENTER>
but see the web site and the man program.

There are at least two Icon GUI programs for port.  I use  
PortAuthority   myself.  You can get a demo from the web site and the  
licence is  about $20 with free updates. see www.codebykevin.com/portauthority.html
good luck
WD
On Sep 5, 2008, at 4:13 PM, Sam Williams wrote:

>
> Greetings.
>
> Pardon my ignorance, but I can't find out how to begin using MacPorts.
>
> I have a MacBook just under a year old, with a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo  
> processor and OS X 10.5.4.
>
> I installed appropriate versions of X11, Xcode & MacPorts - all  
> successfully, as I understood it.
>
>                 I cannot find MacPort's icon.
>
> Perhaps it is not its own app.   In which case it is a bit beyond my  
> ken.   ...my barbie too.
>
> I've checked the online guide & FAQ and it all seems to assume this  
> most basic how-to-start-using-it point is self-evident and I can't  
> find any mention of what I need to do to begin doing anything else  
> with it.  I've given up on that route, after a couple hours of  
> installing and searching.
>
> Began this whole process in an attempt to install GIMP.  I'll try  
> the other easy(?) route listed on their site, but would still be  
> interested in checking out what-all MacPorts has to offer.  It seems  
> an exciting source to explore.
>
> I am not computer-illiterate, by any means - I used to program in  
> Fortran, RPN & Basic, from the early 70s to the mid-80s - but I am  
> only a propeller-head wannabe and have been spoiled by Macs for the  
> last 24 years.  I suspect this is at the core of my problem.
>
> Damn, I'm getting old...
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> TIA,
>
> SamW
> _______________________________________________
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> macports-users at lists.macosforge.org
> http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/macports-users



William Davis
frstanATbellsouthDOTnet
Mac OS X.5.4 Darwin 9.4.0
XQuartz 2.3.1 (xorg-server 1.4.2-apple16)
Mac Mini Intel Duo @ 1.86 GHz

Mundus vult decepi, ego non

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