Documentation

BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Documentation

Nigel Brown(Posted 2005) [#1]
After many unsuccessful searches on "install" "Mac install" "MacOS Install" I have been unable to find a description on what to do with the .dmg file once downloaded?

This lack of documentation infuriates me on a daily bases, no one should make the assumption that the user knows anything and a quick example here and there would go a long way to making peoples life’s less stressful. And more productive.

It also seems to be a problem wherever I hear the word Linux, It may be free to download and use but the cost of such a poorly supported OS is never going to compete with the likes of Microsoft. Please employ someone to write manuals / examples. They can be a joy to read!

The Mac I tried to install to was only turned on for the first time 5 min before the install. And yet it worked first time even when i plugged it into the network everything worked. If software cannot be made to do this, then please, please document the stages of an install and put them on the website.


Nigel Brown(Posted 2005) [#2]
16 hours later and know body agrees or disagrees


Mark Tiffany(Posted 2005) [#3]
Well, like most other users of the forums (i.e. those of us without a Mac), I neither disagree nor agree with most of your post. You'll just have to wait for another Mac user to come along, and that could be while...while I've no idea how many Mac users there are here now, I doubt it's a particularly large number...

You should also consider whether this post should have gone into the Mac specific forum, you may get more response there.

But I do agree that the Linux BlitzMax install is a nightmare, but then almost anything seems to be that way on Linux, unless you're prepared to put in the time and effort to understand all of your dependencies and set up "packages" that will work for each and every distro. I can completely understand why BRL haven't tried to resolve that headache yet - it's still a very limited market (perceived or otherwise).


LarsG(Posted 2005) [#4]
I'm not 100% sure on this, as its been awhile since I installed bmax.
But you can try to just click the .dmg file.. a window shold open, the click to install bmax (or optionally, drag the icon to a desired directory)


LeisureSuitLurie(Posted 2005) [#5]
Right. Double clicking the dmg will mount it as a "drive."


Tom Darby(Posted 2005) [#6]
Double click the .dmg, it mounts as a drive; then, drag the contents of that .dmg to your "Applications" folder (or wherever you wish to install that particular program.) BlitzMax is now installed on your computer.

I appreciate your frustration, but it is a little much to expect BRL to describe how to open a standard OS X install file. It's akin to me venting about how nobody told me what to do with this ".exe" file that's sitting on my Windows desktop after having downloaded the install program.


Nigel Brown(Posted 2005) [#7]
Thank's for trying Tom. I have of course tried this approach. However BlitzMAX starts to install and then fails at different points during the install. resulting in the message "There were errors installing the software" really helpfull Apple.


LarsG(Posted 2005) [#8]
perhaps it's something wrong with the downloaded file..
have you tried to re-download it? also, make sure you have to rights to write files in the directory you're installing it to..