Futzing with Ascape
Setting up your machine
You will need to install two systems for all of this. The first is Cygwin, which you will use to edit and compile and
generally develop the model; the second is the Java Runtime Environment, which will let you run the program.
Cygwin
Cygwin is a Unixy subsystem for Windows. Get it from here.
¤ Click the Install or update now! button. You can run the setup program without installing it to your hard
drive.
¤ You can go with the defaults on most of the options. I recommend ibiblio for the repository from which you will be
downloading (it's at UNC).
¤ Package selection: be sure to select the following additional packages on top of the defaults. Notice that there is a little view
button in the upper right of the package selection window; click it to get an alphabetical list of packages; maximizing
the window also helps.
| emacs | (a text editor for the all-under-one-roof types) |
| gcc-java | (for compiling java programs) |
| make | (for compiling) |
| openssh | (for dialing in to JHU) |
| tetex | (for writing your final paper and your dissertation) |
| unzip | (because Ascape is zipped) |
| vim | (a text editor for the minimalists) |
| wget | (for picking up items from the web) |
| xorg-X11-base | (for a pleasant GUI) |
| zip | (for symmetry with unzip) |
Some of these packages will install other packages upon which they depend; let them.
[Not all of these are strictly
_necessary_ for compiling the program, but will save you trouble in
the long run. Notably, you can get away with editing files in Windows's
Notepad, but emacs and vi are both far superior, despite involving
a learning curve. If you are going to be spending a thousand hours
over the next few years writing papers, maybe it's worth spending three
or four hours learning how to use properly optimized writing tools.]
¤ Once you have selected the packages and hit OK, go get
coffee. This is downloading a few hundred MB to your hard drive. If
your home connection isn't great, it may be worth coming to JHU to do
the download.
J2RE
Thanks to a new strategic partnership between Java and
Microsoft, you may already have Java installed on your computer; check
the Control Panel for a Java section. If you have the Java icon there,
then check the Java tab there for the location of the executable, which
you'll need later.
No Java on your machine?
At the right on this
page, amid all the advertising, you will find an orange button for
Java Software Download. Click and follow the instructions. Make a note of
where the Java executable is installed; it may be worth installing it
in an easy-to-type location like c:\\Java.
Getting Ascape
[Due to intellectual property concerns, this section has been redacted.]
Getting a clue
Not used to the Unix world? Here are some tutorials. Also, Notepad really will not
cut it; you will need to get to know a text editor; there are many a tutorial for
emacs and
vi.