Installing iSiloXC on Mac OS X (10.2.8).

[Pride Of Lions]

Good Afternoon,

I gotta say that I love iSilo. It is my most used Palm app. I set iSiloX to convert my documents at 4am, HotSync them whenever I wake up (sometimes quite early) and either read them in my spare time during the day or in bed right before I go to sleep. It's such a great program, a little complicated so I'm not sure that my Mom or GF will be configuring any channels themselves any time soon, but it's still a necessary part of my life.

I always tried to work with iSiloXC, but everytime I downloaded it (even now) all I get in the iSiloXC folder is a couple of Text "Read Me's" and a blank "iSiloXC" app. that my Mac doesn't open on a double-click. I get an error message stating that it doesn't have a default application to open it and that I should choose one. I never knew which one to choose and, to be honest, I never really needed iSiloXC before so I just let it be.

But now, I think I need to use it. I'm trying to use NewsMac to sync it's RSS channels to my iSilo on my Palm (T|3), but it keeps asking me to install iSiloXC and I don't know how. Is this some sort of Terminal goodness that I have to delve into? I hope that the solution is easy, I'd like to add NewsMac to my arsenal of iSilo readables. Please help.

POL9A.

[iSilo]

iSiloXC is a command-line program, so double-clicking it will not do anything. You can only run it from the command-line (e.g., through a Terminal window [Applications/Utilities/Terminal]). But after unzipping it, before you can run it, you need to set the executable attribute using the command: chmod 755 iSiloXC
If you want to learn more about the chmod command, do: man chmod

Other than unzipping the files from the iSiloXC zip into some directory, there are no other installation steps needed.

Actually, you may not even need to run the chmod command, depending on what program you use to unzip the files.

In the NewsMac Preferences, you can probably just add the full path to the location where you unzipped iSiloXC, such as: /Users/PrideOfLions/Desktop/iSiloXC410OSX Folder/iSiloXC

[Pride Of Lions]

I opened up Terminal and typed in "chmod 755 iSiloXC", but I got an error message stating that no such file existed.

I tried setting the path in NewsMac to where the iSiloXC unzipped file was, but the "Choose" radio button was greyed out and didn't let me choose the folder or the unzipped iSiloXC.

I have a feeling that I'm supposed to do more in the Terminal before typing in "chmod 755 iSiloXC", but I'm unfamiliar with the whole command-line thing. I tried reading the manual, but just got lost in the number/letter combinations and dashes and such.

Would you mind explaining a little further what I'm supposed to do in the Terminal to get this to work? (For the record, I tried to find a book or something on "Terminal for OS X" to help me learn it, but I couldn't come across any.)

Thanks for the quick response.
POL9A

[iSilo]

You need to change to the directory where you unzipped iSiloXC.

Try cd Desktop/iSiloXC410OSX\ Folder/

Then try the chmod command.

I haven't used NewsMac before nor do I have it, so I don't know what the issue is with the greyed Choose button that you mention. But I went to their site's forum and found this thread: http://www.thinkmac.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=newsmac;action=display;num=10616016 62.

You may want to contact their support about the greyed Choose button problem.

[Pride Of Lions]

I used your suggestions and got iSiloXC to play nice with NewsMac (or vice-versa.) I got it to sync with my Palm and enjoyed easy web channel looking-at on the Palm.

iSilo is the best.
(P.S. Now NewsMac is acting up, so they have a bunch of posts from me to look forward to.)
POL9A