X11 Installation instructions now has pictures

I have added some pictures to the X11 Installation instructions on the OpenOffice.org Mac Porting Pages. This should make it easier for users to follow and understand.

Apple posts an FAQ about the X11 for Mac OS X

Apple have released Technical Note TN2165, an FAQ about the X window environment (X11) for Mac OS X.

There are several interesting things in the tech note including:

• "OpenGL does not support off-screen rendering." Even with OpenGL not being enabled in OpenOffice.org, I get redraw issues with part of the window being off screen. This happens in both when scrolling the document and opening a new dialog that partially appears off screen. When the section of the document or dialog is moved on screen, then it doesn't draw properly. I'm now wondering if this problem is not just with OpenGL, but with X11 in general.
  
• XDarwin is no longer recommended.
• It is technically feasible to make cmd+v work across all X11 applications.
• "XInputExtension is not yet implemented." Could this be why OpenOffice.org on the mac has some issues with the input of some international characters? (Please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong with this assumption.)
  
• OpenGL has the same problem as the command osacompile, in that it won't run/work unless the user is root or the currently logged in user of Mac OS X.
  

OpenOffice.org now works again with X11 1.1.3

With the newly released X11 update from Apple, which fixes the font problems, OpenOffice.org no longer has an issue with starting. All OpenOffice.org users on the Mac should update to the latest version of X11, to fix any issues that they have with X11.

Apple's X11 update

Apple released an X11 update on 1 November 2006. It fixes a but that I commented about, regarding the cmd+tab and the X11 windows not coming forward.

On the other hand there appears to be an issue with the fonts in that build. This seems to affect the current official release of OpenOffice.org on the Mac. I didn't notice it at first because I have been using builds made by my ooobuilbot MacPort1.

The current workaround is to remove the Vera fonts from /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF. For more information please see issue 71096.

X11 Intel having same problem as PPC fixed in 10.4.3

It would appear that X11 Intel on my MacBook doesn't work due to a problem with the windows not coming to the front as expected. This was fixed in Mac OS X 10.4.3, and is now there in 10.4.6 Intel. Is anyone else getting the problem?

I need X11 for using OpenOffice 2, and it is a bit of a pain.

X11 Fixed

Further to my prevous blog, I managed to fix X11 to it's former glory by removing the X11 user receipt and installing it again. I then used Pacifist to install the update from 10.4.3.

Xdarwin on Tiger for OpenOffice.org2.0

As you will see from the pictures you can run OpenOffice.org through XDarwin on Mac OS X Tiger. I would however recommend that you use Apples X11 instead as it is more up to date, is more reliable and has a nicer look and feel.

I am now left with the annoying X11 behaviour, even after reverting to my backup of the X11 files, so I take it that there is some hidden config file somewhere. Hopefully I'll be able to get the Apple X11 behaviour (windowing environment) back soon as I miss it.

A few other notes though.

You need to install X11 through your Tiger DVD. Then, if your using a machine that came out with a version of Mac OS X before 10.4.3 run the 10.4.3 updater. There are numberous reports about the fact that 10.4.4 does not contain the update for X11.

X11 Forwarding on Mac OS X Client

For those of you who might be wondering how to enable X11 forwarding, like I was. A quick Google search came up with a couple of Developer articles.