It
turns out there is a shortcoming with the downloadable, standalone
BioFabric executable for the Mac. Specifically, you can only run ONE copy of
BioFabric at a time. On Windows, you can double-click the icon and
run as many separate copies of
BioFabric as you wish. But for the Mac, double-clicking the icon after
you have
BioFabric running just brings forward the one running
instance you already have. Given standard Mac application behavior,
this is actually not surprising. As a workaround, Mac users can use
the online Java WebStart option to launch as many simultaneous
instances of BioFabric as desired. A second workaround is to use the "open"
command with the -n flag. Bring up the Terminal program (via the
Finder; go to Application::Utilities). Select Shell->New
Window->Basic, and a terminal window will pop up. Assuming the
BioFabric icon is on your desktop, type:
cd Desktop
into the terminal. Then type:
open -n 'BioFabric.app'
hit
return, and wait. Do this as many times as you want. Each time will
bring up a separate instance of BioFabric.
Sorry for the hackish workarounds. I'm still looking into the long-term alternatives.
Bill
