## D4 Install

This is generated from a plaintext file, install.doc.
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- SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
- WINDOWS AND LINUX.
- VIRTUAL OFFICE
- DOWNLOAD LIST
- DNA/RNA FOR WINDOWS
- WINDOWS CUSTOMISATION
- BUILDING AND COMPILING
- UPGRADING THE SOFTWARE AND PACKAGE MANAGEMENT
- CHINESE .HZ FORMAT PROCESSOR.

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SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

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This has been re-written. Most of the instructions concerning a particular Graphic User Interface are omitted. People who find this site know something about scripting languages already. D4 is a really dumbed down version of APL, and scripts which can be used for building websites (html.d4f) or just playing games (boxes.d4f, weiqi.d4f).

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WINDOWS AND LINUX.

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Most human used computers seem to be running Windows, or some derivative of UNIX. These operating systems have survived so far. the demise of WINDOWS and UNIX will make little difference to industry and commerce, because better systems will be around. Computers used in machines are programmed and designed by people using other computers. Windows and UNIX provide the ultimate interface.

The software included on this page can work, after a fashion, in both environments. The Worlds of Windows and Linux are still fairly exclusive. The administration requires more clerks and scribes, but few get to know of more than the odd dedicated application program. Getting applications to jump between platforms is deliberately made difficult to lock a purchasor into a whole system. The only set data formats are those of the binaries, and public domain compress and archive formats. Source code is included.

A common problem is the unwanted capitalisation of file names when data is transferred between systems. This is true for files regularly moved between DOS, WINDOWS, WINDOWS-NT, and UNIX (LINUX).

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VIRTUAL OFFICE

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The software here can be run on application consoles on both Windows and UNIX platforms. Data can be viewed in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, and Thai, as well as English. The core of the software is D4 which is an array processing language including features of APL and PERL. It features a command driven interface reminisent of UNIX. The shell, 'dsh' features powerful disk searching, editing and calculation features, along with extensive plain text documentation which you can view with your favourite word processor or editor.

The complete system including C source code fits on a single 1.4Mb floppy disk. With the DOS version it is possible to distribute scripts on a single boot disk. These generally include RSA encryption, and statistical analysis software. Data is always bundled in industry standard .tar or .tgz files.

There is a powerful aliasing feature which enables you to start your favourite Windows applications with short abbreviations. Commands may be built up by cutting and pasting between different windows. There is also a history feature where previous commands may be scrolled onto the screen, edited, and repeated.

Foreign language features are enabled by bit-mapped fonts. C source code and additional documentation is included with the fonts.

Some image processing software is included, with routines to build ulam spirals, fractal animations, and source code for both stochastic and calculated colour conversion routines.

With this system office workers run multiple text consoles. Once a console starts there is a command to clone as many child consoles as the user wishes. They are replicas of old DEC RXVT terminals. This console type is supported by putty, the Windows Secure Shell client. On WINDOWS systems the DOS prompt is used as the console window, and mouse input is merged with keyboard input as in RXVT mouse support.

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DOWNLOAD LIST

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Get something _RIGHT NOW_ Before the system gets too commercialised with too much documentation and too many new features.

README | readme file
d4doc.htm | D4 Language specification.
dsh.htm | D-Shell documentation file
csrc.tgz | C source code and scripts DOS/WINDOWS LINUX
math2546.tgz | source code, scripts and documents. LINUX
math2545.tgz | old source code and scripts. LINUX
etc.tgz | precompiled binary, fonts, scripts to put in /usr/bin LINUX
rna.exe | self extractor. scripts, documentation. WINDOWS
dna.exe | self extractor. scripts, documentation WINDOWS
d4t.exe | 16-bit application. DOS/WINDOWS
namtok.exe | mandelbrot animation DOS/WINDOWS
hz24.tgz | Bundled Chinese fonts. for .hz files

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DNA/RNA FOR WINDOWS

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These files are a self extracting archive bundling gzip, a Gnu Public Licence, d4x.exe, plaintext documentation, maths scripts and C-source code for writing auto-runnable self extracting archives. Please create a new directory for this file, then run it. You may do this by clicking on icon.

It is often possible to install and run this even when the console has been blocked. Further work needs to be done for WINDOWS/NT style platforms.

Download and run either of these files. Press Control-C to stop the scrolling graphic. Use the keyboard to navigate the text screens. The ENTER key selects an action. All of the menus are temporary scripts, just scaffolding for future developments, and the shell interface is the same. The 'help' option just allows selection of the manuals, while the rest is application management stuff.

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WINDOWS CUSTOMISATION

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At the most basic level, you can install icon with the File Manager. At the Command prompt type the line:-

d4x test.afn
It is possible to modify the properties of d4x to change the command line, and this should be done. If the program d4x is invoked without an argument then it will first look for a file called init.afn and if that is missing, then the program sits waiting for keyboard input.

There is no way of getting the program to do anything without using a script. The two provided scripts, dsh.afn and test.afn are parallel developments, and they are meant to be similar for Linux and Windows. All the scripts contain hard coded path names, and they will need considerable adaptation for any computer. Much of this adaptation could easily be automated, using artificial intelligence techniques but the questions asked will be similar to the GNU Automake system where the configure file tries to answer questions about the machine.

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BUILDING AND COMPILING

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Download math2545.tgz for Linux and csrc.tgz for Windows. There is no common ./confugure file at the moment so the 'make' files must be run from a console window. The software should be installed in a directory called d4. For Windows systems there is no attempt to change the Windows Registary files.

Linux users should open a shell, and preferably the rxvt shell because that is the one which works best.

cd d4
tar xzf math2545.tgz
cd cp
make -f lek.mf
To run the program type ..
./d4x test.afn tty=rxvt
Windows users have to work harder. Download csrc.tgz. The DJGPP C-compiler is not available on all computers. It has to be downloaded. Next it is necessary to read the documentation on how to set the files. If you really want to compile the system on Windows it is best to look at the djgpp.d4f script which shows how to put djgpp on floppy disks.

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UPGRADING THE SOFTWARE AND PACKAGE MANAGEMENT

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If you do any work and change one of the common scripts and then run one of the self extractors, or 'tar' then you may lose all that work. In addition a new version may contain files whose names you do not know in advance, and any new files that you put in the standard directories could be replaced. For WINDOWS users the latest scripts are liable to be in DNA.EXE or RNA.EXE, so getting new versions is recommended.

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CHINESE .HZ FORMAT PROCESSOR.

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This archive allows the user to read and prepare text for the Chinese language newsgroup alt.chinese.hz. It includes 16 and 24 bit text matrices for Chinese as used in the People's Republic. Unzip with Winzip, and place the extracted file in the directory containg D4. Extract the files by the D-shell command 'ar D jin_hz.tar'. jin_hz.tgz

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