[Pythonmac-SIG] Re: Which Python for my New mac?

[Russell E Owen]

Israel Evans <israel@lith.com> asked which python to use for a new Mac.

If you wish to use Tkinter under MacOS X (or wish to use a Tkinter that is really solid) then you have no choice. You must use Macho-python and an X server (xfree-86/darwin being quite common). You can install these yourself, or if you prefer to have someone else do the building for you, you can install them via fink, a free unix software installer for MacOS X. One caveat: last I checked, the window manager installed by fink didn't work, causing darwin to not start up properly. If that happens to you, the solution is simple: install OroborosX when you are done installing the fink stuff.

X is a bit clumsy by comparison to the Mac's usual user interface, but it works fine.

If you don't wish to program GUI stuff (or perhaps if you want to do it in a Mac-specific way and learn the tools used by the MacPython IDE), then the Mac version is probably your best bet. It is easy to install, accepts source files with \r (Mac) and \n (unix) line endings and has a nice IDE included.

Both work very well.

-- Russell