Getting Started in CSE 303 OS X Addendum
There are at least two ways to complete the assignments for 303 on an
OS X computer. You can run an X server on your computer, log in to
attu (or any other departmental machine), and run commands exactly as
you would with Reflection X on a Windows machine. Alternatively, you
can use the Terminal program and a native OS X version of Emacs to do
all the work on your own computer. For 303, the former is recommended
because it is more like what your peers are doing and you will run
into fewer gotchas. In your future work, the latter can be better
because it's much nicer to work on your own machine where you can be
confindent that all the native shortcut keys will work.
Installing and running the Apple X Windows server
Apple calls their X server "X11", and the following web page has a
great deal of information on installing and running it. It may be
installed automatically in the Applications/Utilities
folder.
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=39069
Once you have X11 installed, you should be able to run it and ssh to
attu from the xterm window that pops up when you run X11. To forward
X connections, use "ssh -X", or "ssh -Y" if the former doesn't work.
Now you have a connection just like the Reflection X connection from
Windows and you should be able to complete all the assignments for the
class without any additional technical difficulties.
Using native OS X tools
Doing all of your "UNIX-y" work through X11 on some other computer has
some downsides, like dealing with network latency, and OS X has most
of the tools you will learn about in 303 built in. The Terminal
program in the Applications/Utilities folder gives you a bash shell
just like the shell on attu. There is an OS X-ified version of Emacs
called Aquamacs that you can use to
get all of the fun features of Emacs in nice OS X wrapping.
Acknowledgment: These notes have evolved from quarter to quarter, but
were originally written by Benjamin Ylvisaker in Winter 2006.