01-02-2007, 09:55 PM

Hi. Just recently received my new MacBook Pro. Loving it, obviously, but now that I have it, I have some questions (thanks to everyone who helped me with the questions I had before I got the machine, btw). My main issue at the moment though is with something called 'X11'.. I'm not even entirely sure what this, but I'm trying to run a free application called OpenOffice (since my MBP appears to have come with no word processing software whatsoever -- they're even charging for AppleWorks now, is that right??) and apparently I can't use it until X11 is installed. I looked it up on Apple's site and I'm not at all sure how to use it. Is it included with OS X, or another thing I have to pay for separately?

I have a few other things to ask, but it's very late here, and I forget, but is there any form of tutorial or in-depth user guide in electronic format that I'm missing? The 'user guides' that I found when I first started up my MBP are exactly the same as the printed documentation that came in the box. Surely there must be something a little more substantial? It has been years since I've used a Mac, so it's taking a bit of getting used to again.

Thanks everyone!

01-02-2007, 10:41 PM

The good ole X11 strikes again stevo-m...basically it isn't pre-installed with Tiger but is found on the install disc. Yep, Oo.o won't function without it at all. Don't try to download X11 from any website either as it won't be compatible.

My advice....forget Oo.o, I did after the same issues you now face, and downloaded NeoOffice which doesn't require X11 to run and is very similiar to Oo.o.

There is one important point with installing NeoOffice and that is:

Important: After installing, get the latest bug fixes by downloading and installing the latest NeoOffice patch installer.

All this is written on the download page anyway, but be sure to apply the patch before using NeoOffice.

01-03-2007, 07:42 AM

Hi Marty, thanks for your help. I'm downloading NeoOffice as you suggested. However, I'm still curious about X11. I remember reading something about there being a way to run Windows applications without actually running Windows. Is this what X11 is? And if so, would it allow me to run for example Photoshop for Windows?

01-03-2007, 08:03 AM

X11 is the graphical user interface for Unix. Since OS X is based on UNIX/BSD this can be installed to run many unix based applications. Here is how you install it.