[OS X TeX] MF display variable

[Justin C. Walker]

On Aug 4, 2007, at 13:21 , Steve Peter wrote:

> I'm back in my periodic MetaFont interest phase, but on a different  
> machine from the last time. Now, on my MacBook Pro, when I attempt  
> to run mf, I get
>
> hrothgar:~/Documents/Art/FontDevelopment/MetaFont speter$ mf io
> This is METAFONT, Version 2.71828 (Web2C 7.5.6)
> (io.mf
> The letter O [79]Error: Can't open display:

This is just a guess, since I'm unfamiliar with this program, but the  
error message often means the program is looking for an X display.   
You can check this by repeating the command with the environment  
variable DISPLAY defined.  For example, start up the X window  
program, and in an xterm, type "mf io".

Alternatively, with the X server running, you can type something like
   "DISPLAY=:0.0 mf io"
in a ('bash') terminal window.

Justin

--
Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon-At-Large
Institute for the Absorption of Federal Funds
--------
If you're not confused,
You're not paying attention
--------




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