Software problems getting started on a Mac running 0SX10.6.8

[Garth]

Downloaded inkscape and put it into applications folder. Downloaded
the Eggbot extensions and ran the installer no problems. Installed
X11.

When I double click on inkscape in the applications folder it appears
to begin to start, but all I get is "inkscape" in the top left of the
menu bar and the inkscape icon in the dock. If I click on inkscape in
the dock the x11 icon also appears in the dock. but that is all that
happens.

The first time I tried to start inkscape a window appeared saying it
might take a couple of minutes to load the first time, but nothing
ever happened. On a subsequent attempt I got a window that said the
program could not be opened?

Any thoughts? What to do? I have an inoperable desk sculpture at the
moment.

This is very frustrating having assembled the hardware. Why doesn't
evil mad scientist include a disc in the box and tell people where to
go for updates to avoid this first time user frustration?

[Tony DeVito]

Very slow starting up especially in the beginning.

Try highlighting one of your .svg files in the finder and do a get info (right click and chose get info or do it from the File drop menu.

Choose the default program as Inkscape

Check the box that tells OSX to open all svg files using Inkscape (its probably the only program you're using svg files anyway).

When done go back to finder and double click an svg file, maybe start with a simple one.

When inkscape gets cranky this usually works for me.

Tony DeVito
ade...@hunter.cuny.edu
tonyd...@gmail.com

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[Windell H. Oskay]

On Mar 18, 2012, at 4:54 AM, Garth wrote:

> Downloaded inkscape and put it into applications folder. Downloaded
> the Eggbot extensions and ran the installer no problems. Installed
> X11.

Are you using X11 or XQuartz? (For 10.6.8, you need XQuartz, not X11.)

I would suggest trying to reinstall XQuartz in any case, and to make sure that you're using version 2.7.1, which is known to version, which is known to work on 10.6.

(Also, make sure that you are running the latest Inkscape, 0.48.2.)

> When I double click on inkscape in the applications folder it appears
> to begin to start, but all I get is "inkscape" in the top left of the
> menu bar and the inkscape icon in the dock. If I click on inkscape in
> the dock the x11 icon also appears in the dock. but that is all that
> happens.
>
> The first time I tried to start inkscape a window appeared saying it
> might take a couple of minutes to load the first time, but nothing
> ever happened. On a subsequent attempt I got a window that said the
> program could not be opened?

I've been looking around with Google's help, and I've come across several other people that have had this kind of problem installing Inkscape.

If Xquartz isn't the problem, here is a fix that a number of people have reported to work, in similar circumstances:
Control click inkscape. Click show contents. Go to resources. Double-click on a script there named "opendoc." (I am not sure what this does, but it apparently has been a permanent fix for a number of people.)

> Any thoughts? What to do? I have an inoperable desk sculpture at the
> moment.
>
> This is very frustrating having assembled the hardware. Why doesn't
> evil mad scientist include a disc in the box and tell people where to
> go for updates to avoid this first time user frustration?

This is a tricky question, and we have spent a lot of time debating it: Is it better to keep the kit cost lower, or to make a more complete kit? In the end we decided to err on the side of not increasing the kit price. We've made all of our software free, so that you can download all of it and make sure that your setup is all working before your kit even arrives-- the better to avoid inoperable desk sculptures. (And for people without internet access, we do also have software on USB drive as an Eggbot accessory at our store.)

-Windell

[Dan Newman]

On 18 Mar 2012 , at 4:54 AM, Garth wrote:

> Downloaded inkscape and put it into applications folder. Downloaded
> the Eggbot extensions and ran the installer no problems. Installed
> X11.
>
> When I double click on inkscape in the applications folder it appears
> to begin to start, but all I get is "inkscape" in the top left of the
> menu bar and the inkscape icon in the dock.

The first time you run a new install of Inkscape, it is very slow.
This is because it is going through your system's font library
and generating SVG versions of those fonts.

> The first time I tried to start inkscape a window appeared saying it
> might take a couple of minutes to load the first time, but nothing
> ever happened.

It takes several minutes, even on a very fast system.

> On a subsequent attempt I got a window that said the
> program could not be opened?

If you killed Inkscape when it was doing it's font translations,
then it's possible you left it in a bad state. I would hope that
a restart of Inkscape could detect that and recover, but I cannot
vouch for Inkscape's behavior.

> Any thoughts? What to do? I have an inoperable desk sculpture at the
>
> moment.
>
> This is very frustrating having assembled the hardware. Why doesn't
> evil mad scientist include a disc in the box and tell people where to
> go for updates to avoid this first time user frustration?

This first time startup issue for Inkscape cannot be solved with
a distribution CD. While the CD could include translated fonts,
they would not necessarily be the fonts licensed to YOU as part of
your operating system. And, they may not include all of the fonts
you have installed on your operting system. And, most importantly,
it would be a copyright violation for anyone to distribute to you
translated, copyrighted fonts they don't own.

Dan

[Eggbert]

Garth,

I had the same exact problem with my iMac, running 10.6.8. Since I had a PC a few feet away I installed the software on the PC (W7 32) and it worked perfectly. A few days later I tried to fix the iMac, but the problem persisted. Then, an X11 window popped up saying there was an update, which I allowed it to do, and bingo, Inkscape launches as it should.

I was quite pleased, as I would prefer to do design work on the Mac, but especially because the iMac has a Wacom Intuos3 tablet. Unfortunately the stylus calibration is off (only in Inkscape, it works fine in the rest of OS X) by about 1/4", which makes it unusable for my purposes. I have been unable to fix the calibration issue thus far.

So my suggestion is to see if there is an update for X11. I let Inkscape run (spinning beachball) for over 24 hours just in case it was busy building fonts, but it launched immediately after installing the X11 update. Coincidence? Perhaps, but it might do the trick.

[Pete Prodoehl]

Just a note...

I am running the follow:

- Mac OS X 10.6.8
- X11 (XQuartz 2.3.6)
- Inkscape 0.48.2

and all works well with the Egg-Bot.

Pete