There are builds scripts in both Fink (fink.sf.net) and Darwin Ports (darwinports.com) that assist you in getting a version of Mindless Automaton installed. Unfortunately, the version number in both distributions is 1.5 which is a version behind the current M.A. at 1.6. 1.6 had quite a few bugfixes and I'd suggest using that version. Also, neither offers a binary package so you'll need XCode and the Development Tools installed so Fink/Darwin Ports can build a binary for you. I managed to get 1.6 installed like this:
Step 1: Getting XCode and X11
First off, use Software Update to upgrade to the latest OS X version that you can. As all of the software is normally built for the latest minor versions (the Y in 10.X.Y of the OSX numbering scheme) this will help you to encounter fewer potential issues.
(XCode)
I went to connect.apple.com and registered with the Apple Developer Connection (Sign up for the free web only account). Then l logged in and proceeded to the downloads section where I found the latest XCode Developer DVD (v3.1 as of 7-20-2008). I installed that when it downloaded, selecting the Customize button when I was asked what type of Installation I wanted (it's on the bottom of the window). You need at least Developer Tools Essentials, UNIX Development Support, and X11 SDK. (If it's there. I've had XCode installed for awhile and don't remember if this is integrated into one of the other categories in 3.1.)
(X11)
Leopard (10.5) comes with X11 installed by default, but it's really buggy. You should upgrade to the latest XQuartx release available from this website:
http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki You'll want version 2.3.0 as of this post.
Step 2: Installing Fink
Install the appropriate Fink distribution from fink.sf.net: (available at
http://www.finkproject.org/download/index.php?phpLang=en if your language is English). There are directions to be followed to get Fink installed on their Fink Download page. They're pretty good and I don't have anything to add to them.
Step 3: Install Mindless Automaton (the first time)
We're going to install M.A. twice, the first time with Fink so you have all of the appropriate support libraries and the second time by ourselves so we get the latest version.
You'll want to open up Terminal.app (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal) and type in:
/sw/bin/fink -b install mindless
You might be asked some questions about whether you approve of installing certain packages. I would suggest answering yes if you want to get M.A. Fink will now download and install all of the appropriate libraries needed for Mindless Automaton. This unfortunately takes awhile (even on a quick computer) due to there being a lot of things that M.A. (or more specifically, its underlying GTK+ framework) uses. The "-b" will attempt to use binaries instead of compiling from source for anything that has a binary, but this may not always be possible. When this is finished, uninstall M.A. with this command:
/sw/bin/fink remove mindless
Step 4: Installing M.A. For Real
You'll want to download this file
http://voxel.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/mindless/mindless-1.6.tar.gz to a known directory (I'll assume you place it on your desktop). Open up Terminal again and navigate to your Desktop (you start in ~ which is your User directory, for instance /Users/bja for me). You'll use these commands
cd Desktop
tar xzvf mindless-1.6.tar.gz
cd mindless-1.6
make
sudo su
make install
exit
This will move you to your Desktop. Then you'll extract the source code to M.A and move to the newly created directory full of code. You build the software with make and then become the adminstrator (you'll need to type in your password after "sudo su" when asked for it. exit will take you back to your normal user and normal user's rights. Now you should be able to run M.A. from /usr/local/bin/mindless but if you try it, you'll notice it fails because it can't connect to the X server (which isn't running). You'll want to start X11 from Applications -> Utilities -> X11 and then open up xterm from the Applications menu that appears on the menubar. In xterm you can type this:
/usr/local/bin/mindless
Alternately, you can add an entry to the applications menu there so you don't have to do this each time.
Step 5: Apprentice Patches
M.A. uses Apprentice-style CardInfo.dat patches for new sets. I'm not actually sure where to find these, but they usually come in a zip file with a Sets/ directory in the zip file. You'll want the file named CardInfo.dat inside this directory and you'll want to move it somewhere convenient. (I like my Users directory.) When M.A. starts up it'll ask you to find this file.
Step 6: Graphics and Decks
In the options/preferences menu, you can turn on card images. This will get you artwork from Gatherer. I personally like this a lot, and usually set the zoom to 1.8. To create a deck, open up TextPad or some other editor (nano is pretty simple if you want to use something from the Terminal. Holding Ctrl + a letter will let you navigate the options at the bottom of the screen). If you use a TextPad (or whatever OS X calls the text editor) make sure that you save in "Plain Text" or "ASCI Text". Anyway, the file format is as follows:
59 Island
1 Mountain Goat
SB: 13 Mountain
SB: 2 Phantasmal Terrain
This should get you able to play games against other people with M.A. or Apprentice. I don't remember if there are any patches that need to be made to get Mindless 1.6 to compile on OS X. I'll do that tonight and update this if necessary. There was some tunneling/VPN service that I remember using in the past to get through my firewall, but I don't remember the name of the software. If anyone has any suggestions/edits/corrections/comments on this, feel free to pm me or post them here.
Edit: I forgot that Terminal.app won't setup your X11 environment variables. I've inserted changes to the guide to address this.
