Hello everyone I was wondering if someone might be able to help me with something. I'm taking a class at a local community college and unfortunately for me the classroom is only equipped with macs. Students don't have permission to install software on the computers but I need to have a copy of inkscape to do my work. If I could I would do all the work on my machine at home but that isn't an option. I don't really know anything about macs and personally don't care to learn but I need a way to use inkscape in class. I don't know what version of the mac OS they are using but they seem to be fairly newish machines. I have a flash drive with plenty of space so what I need to know is, what do I have to do to run a portable version of inkscape from my flash drive on a mac? Is there even a current portable version for macs available somewhere? Is it possible to run the portable windows version on a mac? What is Apple's X11 that is required and will I be able to install it on these locked down machines? Thanks for any help.
Tim

Is it possible to run the portable windows version on a mac?

I understand how it might be possible to run a different os on a pc, than the one with which it might have originally been installed. IE - Windows on a flash drive on a Linux machine (or vice versa). But I have the impression that Mac's are inherently different from PCs, in ways other than just the operating system.

Why can't you just bring your own laptop to school and use it, instead of one of the Macs?

It seems to me like this info (Macs only) should have been provided to you, before you signed up for the class -- not leave you to scramble after you're already commited?

Thanks for the reply. I subscribe to the idea of a really powerful desktop and a smartphone for everything else, thus I do not have a laptop. Yeah I was pretty sure the windows version wouldn't work on a mac but I figured I would ask so that maybe I wouldn't have to deal with that Apple X11 whatever it is. The Macs only info might have been provided before the class started, I honestly can't remember, but it was a class I needed and the only time I could take it so I had little choice. I suppose I could use illustrator since that is installed on the machines but I hate illustrator. It's horribly bloated, unintuitive and just a pain to use in general. I just thought it would be easier to carry a copy of inkscape in on a flash drive. I'll have to do some more looking and see if I can figure out what I need to do this.

T-Bottch wrote:What is Apple's X11 that is required and will I be able to install it on these locked down machines? Thanks for any help.

X11/Xquartz is required to run Inkscape . You need administrator privileges to install it - however, if the Macs use the current version of Mac OS X (Snow Leopard 10.6) it will already be installed and you don't have to bother about it. It will be launched automatically by Inkscape.

T-Bottch wrote:I have a flash drive with plenty of space so what I need to know is, what do I have to do to run a portable version of inkscape from my flash drive on a mac?

You don't need to use a special portable version on a flash drive or USB stick: osx applications like the one provided for Inkscape do not need to be installed, they ought to run from any folder / location in the system or on external drives:

1. Download 'Inkscape-0.48.0-1-LEOPARD+.dmg' from sf.net
2. double-click the DMG file to open it
3. drag the Inkscape icon to your 'Home' folder (or - better and recommended: create a new 'Applications' folder in your 'Home' and drag the 'Inkscape' icon into it)
4. eject the DMG (Disk image) again
5. Now you can start Inkscape by double-clicking its icon in the Finder.

The same Inkscape application can be launched from an USB stick as well (drag the 'Inkscape' icon from the DMG into a folder on the USB stick or flash drive instead).

Note:

• Due to a conflict between X11/Xquartz and Inkscape, you need to change the X11 preferences for the Pasteboard as seen in this screenshot, otherwise vector objects are always pasted as bitmap images.
• The other issue when using Inkscape on a Mac: the 'Alt/Option' key doesn't work out-of-the-box. The solution for this issue is also described in the FAQ: How to make the Alt key work?
• Most extensions do not work in Inkscape on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (known bug)

Thanks ~suv! I don't have class again until Monday so I will try it then. Also good tip about the alt/option key. I wouldn't have been able to figure that out. Unfortunately the machines all use stock mac mice and worse still is most of them are BROKEN mac mice with sticky buttons or non functioning buttons.