[racket] Student having trouble running DrRacket -- suggestions?

I've asked the student to let me know what version of DrRacket he is using, and described how to run it from the Terminal window in search of useful error messages. 

The other replies also caused me to look again at the 64 versus 32 bit issue -- his first e-mail said he had an Intel Core 2 Duo (64 bit), but this latest e-mail says Intel Core Duo, which I understand is actually 32 bit. So I've asked him if he has tried the 32-bit binary yet.

So, I'm crossing my fingers and seeing what he replies.

Thanks very much for all the suggestions! I'll be back with more details when the student provides them.

-- Sharon Tuttle


On Jan 29, 2013, at 10:49 AM, John Clements wrote:

> 
> On Jan 29, 2013, at 10:42 AM, Sharon Tuttle wrote:
> 
>> I am using DrRacket in a class this semester, and one of my students is having trouble with it -- it quits immediately upon opening. In his words:
>> 
>>> 1. I have downloaded multiple different copies and it seems to have no
>>> effect. Literally 2 seconds after I click the icon to open, it brings
>>> the error box hat says "This program has quit unexpectedly. Relaunch
>>> or ignore." Obviously when I try to relaunch, it does the same thing
>>> over and over. I have also downloaded from the other mirror sites
>>> listed on the site, unfortunately to no effect.
>>> 
>>> I have verified the following information.
>>> Mac OS X
>>> Version  10.5.8
>>> Processor   2.2 GHz Intel Core Duo
>>> Memory   1 GB  667 MHz  DDR2  SDRAM
>>> Startup Disk Macintosh HD
>>> 
>>> It is a rather old laptop, I believe I purchased it in 2007. I do have
>>> music software(Pro Tools) and Mathematica(8) installed on my computer
>>> that makes me wonder if it may be causing problems. Pro Tools seems to
>>> be good at that.
>> 
>> I'm not sure what else to suggest, and would appreciate any suggestions or where I might ask for help.
> 
> 1) What version of DrRacket is he trying?
> 2) Which icon is he double-clicking? (Hopefully, the DrRacket one.)
> 
> 3) Others may have better guesses as to the problem, but if it were me, I'd try to get more information by starting from the command line.  If DrRacket is installed in, say, the /Applications/Racket 5.2.1/
> directory, you might start up Terminal and run
> 
> /Applications/Racket\ 5.2.1/bin/drracket
> 
> … and perhaps get some information when it crashes.
> 
> Nice to hear from you!
> 
> John Clements
>