[OS X TeX] Problem with aspell

[Arthur Snoke]

I am converting from 10.4 PPC to 10.5 INTEL.  I just installed the MacTex 
2008 package and downloaded MacTextras.  Because I had used ispell/aspell 
for text files and in my alpine mailing program, I installed aspell.  I 
cannot get it to work.

I went to the preference panes and check English and the three English US 
dictionaries and checked the filters for html, latex, etc.  I even 
restarted, never knowing when one needs to.  I see aspell libraries in 
/usr/local/lib.

But when I tried

  aspell -c hole_friday.txt
Error: No word lists can be found for the language "en_US".

When I try to do a spell check in alpine, I get a "Alternate speller
terminated abnormally (-1)"

Many years ago I recall having to compress dicitionaries for ispell, but 
the documentation does not discuss that so I am assuming I have done what 
I need to do.

I am unfamiliar with excalibur.  Would it do what I want to do?

I would appreciate suggestions.

Arthur Snoke

p.s.  I apologize for any spelling errors in this message ...