[tex-live] Basic questions for MacTeX installation on a MacBook Air.

Mojca Miklavec mojca.miklavec.lists at gmail.com
Fri Apr 24 20:03:56 CEST 2015


On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 7:48 PM, Haines Brown wrote:
> I know nothing of Mac machines, but gave my wife a MacBook Air. She just
> finished a term paper using Page, and that application was such a
> disappointment that I'm moving her over to TeXMac. I've been using
> AUCTeX with LaTeX on a Linux/debian machine for some years.
>
> I'm having a problem installing MacTeX on her machine, probably because
> I'm so ignorant about the Mac. I went to the TUG/MacTeX website and
> downloaded the MacTeX package to her machine. This is where I ran into
> trouble. The download never seems to complete. I assume that the 2.5
> Gb file named MacTex.pkg.download is the equivalent on my machine of
> MacTex.pkg.part and indicates a download in process.

Yes.

> Initially my wife's machine said it would take 30 hours to download, and
> its now been over 24 hours. These are obviously wrong times even for a
> 2.5 Gb file. I downloaded the same file to my own machine on the same
> network without a problem. Rather than report diminishing hours to go,
> it just stopped reporting anything.
>
> My first question is whether I'm correct to assume that the download
> hung because the .download extension should have disappeared upon
> completion. Does its presence mean the download failed?

Probably. Even though (depending on the browser and the server) you
might be able to resume the download.

You could also download a torrent file
(https://tug.org/mactex/MacTeX.pkg.torrent) if enough people are still
sharing it. Transmission is a nice torrent client that also
automatically checks if the download is complete and uncorrupted.

But if you already have the file on linux, just copy it over to the
Mac. (On our network downloading MacTeX from the server is usually
faster than using an USB stick though ;)

> I just
> started another download, but with the second one there is no indication
> at all of the hours to go.
>
> I don't know how to access a terminal and if I can issue a command from
> it to list files with their sizes to see the progress of a download.

There is /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. You can browse to it
with Finder or use four-finger gesture to show you all apps.

> I know there is an internet connection. On a MacBook is the download
> suspended if you close the lid for a sleep?

Yes (or at least I would expect it to be). Whether or not you can
continue probably depends on the software and the server from where
you are fetching the file.

> Where should the MacTex.pkg file be placed?

Anywhere. Just double-click it and it should start the installation.

> I assume that it should be
> moved out of the Download folder, but to where? One reason I ask is
> because it is beginning to look like I'll have to put the file on a key
> and copy it over to my wife's machine from the key. Does the MacTeX
> installation program require the .pkg file to be in the Downloads
> folder?

No, you can install from anywhere.

Mojca


More information about the tex-live mailing list