what about Slackware

[pimp of magic]

what'up everybody !

I am a new user of houdini. (Thanx to Sideeffect' Apprentice version !)

Actually, I am a french student in multimedia.

I just discovered HOUDINI and I Like it !

I use Linux slackware but, HOUDINI Don't want to run.

Well, I know it is for Red Hat, but can i use it with an other distrib.

[MG]

You, as a "Pimp of Magic", should be able to get it running, or not? Hehehe!

Well, you'd best private message Szymon (look him up in the "Member List", I believe he got Houdini running under Slackware. Else there are always the SESI forums and/or mailinglist available to you.

[pimp of magic]

Thanx MG

"Pimp of magic" as a jok :-)

[Szymon]

Here I am

To be honest it was Mandrake 9 not Slackware

What kind of problem do you have Pimp of Magic?

[pimp of magic]

Hi Szymon !

When I tried to install Houdini on Linux Slack. I didnt get any executable file to run it.

So, I installed Houdini with Windows 2000 :-(

But I would get Mandrake 9 or RH 8. I dont know yet.

Well, It is ok.

Anyway, Thank you Szymon.

[MG]

I heard RedHat 8.0 gives some problems. It was discussed in an earlier thread here.

I'd say, go for 7.3. If you're system allows that, driver-wise.

[Szymon]

If you are newbie in Linux I would recommend Mandrake 9. It's pretty nice system and it's 98% of RedHat. Houdini runs smooth and pretty cool.

[JColdrick]

Just for the record, as the guy that started that thread , Redhat 8 *is* usable, but you'll either need to use KDE, or do some fiddlng with Gnome in order to get Houdini running. SESI is just now starting to get into RH8 - but personally I've always found the x.0 releases from Redhat to have lotsa issues. I avoid them.

Mandrake is fine, also you may want to just download RH7.3(you can always get older releases) - it's what we use in production here and it's great. You won't be giving up anything tasty at all - lots of good tools and rock-solid.

Cheers,

J.C.

[hypnagogic]

Just spotted your post. Still, better late than never.

I use Linux slackware but, HOUDINI Don't want to run. Well, I know it is for Red Hat, but can i use it with an other distrib.

Well, oh magical pimp welcome to the Houdini Slackware mini-HOWTO: A play to be performed with one actor, a digital escapologist, a PC, and a small resolute penguin. As it happens I've just been writing up some notes on this very topic. Lucky you! I think . To everyone else, my apologies for hijacking the forum in this manner, but hopefully this will be helpful to anyone else trying Houdini on Slackware.

I can report that Houdini runs fine on Slackware 8.1. If you can work through this post you'll discover the main issue with the Houdini installer on some Linux distros. Yes, that includes Slackware . Even this issue can be blundered through and/or easily fixed. But before that you may be tripped up by one of those bizarro quirks right at the start. So.. did the installer even start? Was it good for you? .

The Houdini installation script has 'xterm' hard coded. The trouble is, as a root user, 'xterm' may not be in your path. On my Slackware box, as root, the install script produced the following error (excuse the long path at the prompt):

 root@flux:/home/martin/Downloads/3D/Houdini/Apprentice/CD1/Linux7# ./houdini.install
 ./houdini.install: exec: xterm: not found

Hmm, OK..

 root@flux:/home/martin/Downloads/3D/Houdini/Apprentice/CD1/Linux7# which xterm
 which: no xterm in (/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin)

Doh! Root doesn't have xterm in its path. Xterm should live here (as you can see when you're a regular user):

 martin@flux:~/Downloads/3D/Houdini/Apprentice/CD1/Linux7$ which xterm
 /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm

So log in as root again in your terminal (with 'su') and type the following at the prompt. For clarity I'll shorten that prompt :

 root@flux:/home/martin# PATH=/usr/X11R6/bin:$PATH

Now check your path:

 root@flux:/home/martin# echo $PATH
 /usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin

Good! Now the xterm is in your path if it wasn't before (this fix is only for the current terminal session). With that quirk out of the way the Houdini installer will run successfully. The remaining 'big issue' you'll have installing Houdini on slack will be a 'missing' directory under your systems /etc directory hierarchy ('init.d' being the actual culprit). The installer will complain about the missing directory, but still go ahead and install. It's a ballsy installer .

Slackware likes to keep things simple so it favours a BSD style directory set up for its init or startup scripts instead of the baroque madness of SystemV, which Red Hat and others subscribe to . This tends to be an issue with binary/commercial software generally. VMware also expects a SysV hierarchy, as does Gordano's GLMail, and so on. Here then is a simple work around, simpler than it looks, to keep Houdini happy. This is from a terminal on a Slackware 8.1 box:

Log in as root:

 martin@flux:~$ su

 Password: 
 root@flux:/home/martin#

Then cd to slack's init scripts:

 root@flux:/home/martin# cd /etc/rc.d 
 root@flux:/etc/rc.d#

We need to create the init.d directory:

  root@flux:/etc/rc.d# mkdir init.d

Now we'll create the rest of the run level directories required, with this one-liner. Thank you J. Byrne for the reminder on your VMware page. It looks ugly but is much easier than messing around seven times with the mkdir command!

 root@flux:/etc.rc.d# for i in {0,1,2,3,4,5,6}; do mkdir rc$i.d; done

Now run the Houdini installer (./houdini.install <- as root user) and bingo! Bob's your Uncle, Fanny's your Aunt, and Dick's your best friend . Never mind, it's late.. To be sure that this SysV style set up will work for you at boot time make sure the slackware script /etc/rc.d/rc.sysvinit has the executable bit set. This way 'sesinetd' will start correctly at boot time (see below for info).

That's it! You're all done.

However, if you are very anal and perhaps object to this adaptation you can Slackify the whole setup. But you shouldn't have any problems with this 'hybrid' setup. So I won't post that info, this is long enough as it is, and my fingers are gradually wearing away! However, if you want that info just ask. Besides, leaving everything as it is will save you having to faff manually the next time you mess with a Houdini install.

Finally(!).. Slackware's 'rc.sysvinit' script. That is there to support commercial software that will make use of SysV init scripts and their run levels, Slackware handles the Houdini setup just fine. The simple way to start|stop such services running at boot time under Slackware is to add or remove the executable bit for the relevant script (and yes, they all live under /etc/rc.d):

For example:

  
 # chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd

Would see that the Apache web server is started on booting. The following:

  
 # chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.httpd

Would ensure it doesn't run at startup. Nice and simple . I think rc.sysvinit is set to run by default, but if not, you know what to do.

This is getting a little long, but it should get Houdini up and running under Slackware. Hmm.. is anyone reading this far down? It's all gone quiet.. I'm also assuming that everything else is OK with your X Window/OpenGL/Network gubbins. Please don't make me explain all that, have mercy on my fingers. But the issues with the install script are the only hassles you should have with Houdini under Slackware. Anything else is just the better class of hassle you get with Linux .

So, my first post, and it's a bleedin' Linux mini-HOWTO

Back to lurking then, but not before saying thanks to Jason and Marc for Odforce. Blatant creeping I know, but true all the same. I'd also like to thank my producer.. my fellow actors.. everyone who's worked so hard on this project.. all the folks back home.. my cat for all its furballs and the vomit it hides so well..

Blimey it's Christmas Eve. Happy Christmas then..

-Martin

P.S.

I now claim my prize for the longest Odforce post ever: please send me your adult inflatable penguin with Real-Feel anatomy to..

[trini]

has anyone got houdini running on gentoo?

[MG]

I'm going to make a Debian HOWTO (for getting Houdini to work on it).

So far, Debian is the most awesome distro I've ever used.

[Jason]

Yeah! That'd be cool! Feel free to write in in the od[wiki] if you want.

[MG]

Sure thing! I'll try to do it this afternoon.

By the way, I'm a former RedHat user. (One of the many reasons why I quit using RedHat was after they announced to stop officially supporting their non-enterprise software. Is that worth to mention?)