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2. Getting and installing AfterStep

2.1 Where do I get AfterStep?

The main AfterStep resources in the net are:

WWW Page:

The official WWW page is at http://afterstep.edoc.com.

FTP Site:

ftp://afterstep.foo.net/pub/AfterStep/.

Upload directory:

ftp://afterstep.foo.net/incoming/.

You can get AfterStep from either the WWW page or the FTP site.

2.2 Other important WWW pages

Alfredo Kojima's Page:

http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/~kojima/.

Matt Kramer's Page:

http://defiant.gmi.edu/afterstep/.

Kiwi's Page:

http://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~kiwi/AfterStep/.

On the above pages, you will find links to other interesting things that work nicely with AfterStep such as TkStep, TkDesk, lib-neXtaw, and nifty icons that were adapted from NEXTSTEP.

2.3 What is the latest version of AfterStep

The latest public version is 1.0pre4, released on March 13, 1997.

2.4 I've compiled AfterStep for my system but every time I try to use it I receive the message: Cannot open display. What should I do?

AfterStep is an X window manager and cannot be run from the terminal. It must be run through X. The easiest way to do that is to either create or edit your own .xinitrc file (which contains a list of the programs you wish to load upon startup) and add the line exec afterstep to the end. This last exec'd line is significant in that it says to shut down X when that program is terminated. Now that you have that file, simply startup X in your customary manner, most likely startx or xinit. Now you're off and running...good luck.

2.5 How do I enable sound in AfterStep?

First, make sure you have compiled the Linux kernel with sound support and that the sound works (try cat <some au file> > /dev/audio).

Then, edit your .steprc file. Near the bottom of the file, you should see (if you don't add it) lines like this:

  Module Audio
  *AudioPlayCmd /usr/bin/showaudio
  *AudioDir /usr/X11/lib/X11/afterstep/sounds
  *AudioDelay 1

If these aren't there, add them. Verify that the AudioPlayCmd is a valid program and that the sounds you want to play are in /usr/X11/lib/X11/afterstep/sounds (or set it to the appropriate directory).

Below that section, you sould see many lines like this:

  #*Audio startup gong.au

Simply remove the comment (#) from the beginning of the line and if you wish, set the startup event to some other au file. The format is:

Audio <event> <sound>

Do that for the rest of the Audio events, and as one AfterStepper put it, you'll literally add new bells and whistles to AfterStep.

2.6 I grabbed TkStep and Tcl7.6 and tried to install TkStep, but it doesn't work

TkStep still doesn't work with Tcl7.6. Try Tcl 7.5 (see question tkstep for information about TkStep).

2.7 Why doesn't ASCP run on my system?

ASCP needs TkStep, a version of Tk implemented by Alfredo Kojima ( kojima@inf.ufrgs.br) that gives Tk the NEXTSTEP look-and-feel, and implements a few new widgets, like font and color choosers. You can download it from http://www.inf.ufrgs.br/~kojima/tkstep.html. See question ascp for information about ASCP.

2.8 How can I install AfterStep without being root?

This is fairly easy. You will have to install all the files under your home directory. The usual recommendation is to use the same directories as suggested in the installation procedure, but replacing /usr/local by your home directory. For example, if you home directory is /home/bla you would use directories like /home/blah/bin, /home/blah/etc, /home/blah/lib, etc.

Compile AfterStep following the manual installation procedure (i.e. do not use the InstallMe program), up to but not including the make install step. Then, do the following (make sure to create the destination directories first if they don't exist. All the source paths are relative to the AfterStep source directory):

  1. Copy afterstep/afterstep to $HOME/bin/.
  2. Copy modules/asclock/asclock to $HOME/bin/.
  3. Copy modules/Wharf/Wharf, modules/Pager/Pager and all the other module binary files to $HOME/lib/afterstep/.
  4. Copy the icons from icons/ or icons/8bit/ to $HOME/include/X11/pixmaps/.
  5. Copy sample.steprc to $HOME/lib/afterstep/.
  6. Take a look at install/Xdefaults, install/xinitrc, install/xsession, and copy or integrate them to your .Xdefaults, .xinitrc and .xsession as appropriate.
  7. Copy sample.steprc to $HOME/.steprc.
  8. Edit $HOME/.steprc to reflect the above paths in the lines starting with ModulePath and PixmapPath.
  9. Put $HOME/bin in your path.

You should be set. Feel free to modify this procedure according to your particular needs or the particular setup of your machine/account.


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