quoted 4 lines can someone please explain what the "fink" and "precompiled">>>> can someone please explain what the "fink" and "precompiled"
>>>> versions are
> exactly???
>
Sure - although please don't abuse me for being too techie!
Ok, Macs run an operating system called OS X which stands for operating
system number 10, and also alludes to the fact that it's also version
of unix. So what's the deal with unix? Well there are a ton of free
pieces of software out there (open source software) that people using
linux (an open source version of unix) have been enjoying for quite a
while. The problem with all the open source software is that most of
the applications rely on other applications (dependencies) which rely
on other libraries etc. So in other words it's not like a simple os x
app which you can just drag into your applications folder - you have to
work out which libraries are needed, install them (usually with the
terminal) then you can install the app which you wanted in the first
place.
Phew, are you with me so far?
So what's the big deal about fink then? Well fink is fairly nifty as it
deals with all the installation and dependencies for you automatically.
So you ask it to install a piece of software, it goes away, works out
what it depends on (if anything) installs those then the sofware you
wanted after. It also installs everything into /sw just to keep it all
out of the way of your normal os x apps.
So good so far....
Well for those that don't like the terminal, or who don't have time to
mess around with fink some nice chap has precompiled the application
(from the freely available source code - hence open source) and
packaged it as a traditional os x app. This is exactly the same as the
fink version (provided that the source code is the same version) minus
the hassle of compiling it all yourself. So it's the one i'd go for if
i were you :-)
quoted 5 lines just> just
> wondering if the "Precompiled version" is better than the one i
> currently
> have....
>
well from the description you gave me both my fink version and the
precompiled version i installed on a friends mac are identical and more
functional than yours. Maybe you are running an older version. I am
able to chat in rooms, download containing folders, control upload and
download capabilities etc - in fact all the things i remember using in
the windows version. So i recommend you check out the precompiled
version :-)
Cheers,
Sam Aaron
PhD student
School of Computing Science,
University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org