Install D4
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D4 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. Scripts for RSA encryption, business planning, and symbolic mathematics
are included. There are also scripts to manipulate industry standard .tar or
.tgz files for both WINDOWS and Linux platforms.
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.
The best time to download the system is _RIGHT NOW_, before it gets too
commercialised with too much documentation and too many new features.
Foreign language features are enabled by bit-mapped fonts. C source code
and additional documentation is included with the fonts. These should be in
an mmm01x.tgz file where mmm is a 3 letter month code.
The safe and sure way to install the system is to open an MS-DOS prompt
by clicking on the 'Start' button on the taskbar, and selecting 'Programs'
then MS-DOS prompt. You will need to type commands in this window to complete
the installation.
ISKRA.EXE
ISKRA is Russian for spark. Lenin chose this as the name for his
revolutionary magazine. It is also thes name of Slovenia's major electronics
company. The file is a self extracting archive bundling gzip, a Gnu Public
Licence, d4x, documentation, revolutionary poetry, 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. Use the keyboard to navigate the text screens.
It may be possible to install and run this on Windows systems where the
MS-DOS prompt is disabled, in a cybercafe for example.
A ROUGH GUIDE
TO NUMBERS AND ALGEBRA
Here is a brief explanation of the relevence of mathematics to modern
life. There are already plenty of books about this: Ian Stewart and
Simon Singh seem to be gifted writers. For those without the time to read
books you can get my pamphlet on the web.
Get a DOS prompt, create a directory where you wish to install, then
download files into this directory. To do this move the cursor over a link,
click the _RIGHT_ mouse button to get a list of options and select 'Save
Target as'. The files to download are d4t.exe for system hacking, formatting
disks, machine code etc, d4x.exe for UNIX shell emulation, html generation,
text editing, disk trawling and suchlike, and jul01.tgz for the licence and
essential scripts.
Decompress the .tgz files with Winzip.
mkdir \d4
cd \d4
gzip -d *.tgz (assuming gzip is installed).
d4t mmmyy.tar
D4T.EXE 16-bit application.
D4X.EXE 32-bit application.
For running the program d4x.exe under standalone MS-DOS it is necessary to
get a dpmi extender (DOS Protected Mode Interface). A good place is Sunsite
UK.
csdpmi3b A DOS Dpmi extender.
jul01.tgz
Decompress with WINZIP or gzip. Extract a single file to \d4, then run the
following command from the MS-DOS prompt window.d4x jul01.tar
You will be asked if you wish to start the D-Shell. If you do this you
will get a dollar ($) prompt. You may adjust the colour of the window with a
command, 'si 10' for example. You may edit files with the 'vi' command. Type
'help' to review documentation. If you make an error entering commands you
will see some pull down menus. You can get back to the shell by selecting the
option. You need to use cursor keys to select from menus.
Now the main scripts and documentation files are unpacked, you may run D4
by typing a command in a DOS-Prompt window, or by clicking on the icon for
d4t.exe while using a Windows file manager. The supplied version of the
program looks for a file called 'init.afn' in the current working directory.
At the moment this just shows falling rain until you press Control-C when it
stops, and attempts to run another script. You may wish to customise (i.e.
re-write) init.afn.
To run D4 from the DOS prompt type:-
d4t test.afn
Full installation. This requires more directories. Download all of these
files to the 'd4' directory, and get a DOS shell.
The directory tree is going to look like this. The file jul01x.tar will
create and populate the other directories.
d4
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | |
cp gc co rts screen inc font life windows sort doc jin
At the DOS shell type the following commands. If you do not wish to
do this, then just download iskra.exe and run it.
cd d4
gzip -d *.tar
d4x jul01.tar
Now you see a licence screen. Keep pressing the escape key until you get
the dollar prompt. This is the D-shell. Instructions on use
are in the .doc files which may be viewed by selecting Help from the
pull-down menus. To extract the source code and fonts load 'tar' support at
the $ prompt.
ld tar
tar x jul01x.tar
If you manage to get this far then CONGRATULATIONS !. You should be able
to create a dual boot system for WINDOWS and LINUX without too much trouble.
To compile the programs from source obtain the compilers from the
internet and run the file 'mai.bat' in the subdirectory cp to get a new
version of d4t. For d4x run gcc from the directory gc. There is a make
file called 'lek.mf'. The command line to run is one of :-
make -f lek.mf
make -f lek.mf d4x.exe
If you have Linux at home and use Windows at work, or college, or vice
versa, then you can easily move file systems between machines. The C source
code is similar for both systems. In fact many of the files are identical.
The linux terminal interface requires a bit of work, but hopefully this will
get done. In case you don't have the compiler a binary is included (d4x).
Create a directory d4, somewhere in the /home/usename heirarchy and just
download the files. The system is still under development so there are two
make files (.mf).
Extract the source code from math2544.tgz with 'tar', and to compile
simply cd to the cp directory and run the make command.
mkdir d4
cd d4
mv ../math2544.tgz .
tar xzf math2544.tgz
cd cp
make -f lek.mf
There is a startup script sd4. Move this to your login directory. You are
now ready to make scripts to run your online business. There are some fancy
console fonts in jul01x.tgz which are not available with all linux
distributions (alef.fnt and fatima.fnt). There are also scripts for adapting
these fonts to X-windows.
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
This archive demonstrates features of D4 from an html file. These include
Landfill aka 1-dimensional life, 2-D Life, Backgammon, a weiqi game playback
system, UK lottery selection and some ascii art. Unzip this file in the top
'd4' directory, and extract with the D-shell commands:-
cd d4
tar x d4xdemo.tar.
This places the file in the windows directory.
d4xdemo.tgzOpen with WINZIP
It may be necessary to adjust the properties of the command window in which D4
runs. In particular you must make sure that the key combination ALT-ENTER is
handled by Windows. This is necessary to view foreign language files via
BAKPAGE.
Arabic (.axt), Chinese HZ (.hz) and Hebrew (.heb) files with D4. In order to
make the HTML demo work you must also set a special way of opening D4
intereactive scripts (.d4i). The .d4i scripts are checked by the .iex.afn
application. This application may change without notice, but it should check
the first few characters of the file, and take the appropriate action.
File associations and startup lines for Open/View
D4 App .afn c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe
Arabic .axt c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe v=13 c:\d4\cp\test.afn vi=1 cwd=1
Chinese .hz c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe v=14 c:\d4\cp\test.afn cwd=1 x=hzview#hanzi
Hebrew .heb c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe v=14 \d4\cp\test.afn cwd=1 x=hebrew#vheb
D4 Script .d4i c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe c:\d4\cp\iex.afn v=10
D4 fns .d4f c:\d4\cp\d4t.exe v=14 vi=1
To change which program starts when you open a file
1 In My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the View menu, and then click
Options.
2 Click the File Types tab.
3 In the list of file types, click the one you want to change.
The settings for that file type are shown in the File Type Details box.
4 Click Edit.
5 In the Actions box,click Open.
6 Click Edit, and then specify the program you want to use to open files that
have this extension. You may cut and paste from the table in this
document.
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