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).
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.
| README | readme file |
| d4doc.htm | D4 Language specification. |
| dsh.htm | D-Shell documentation file |
| csrc.tgz | C source code and scripts DOS/WINDOWS LINUX |
| math2548.tgz | source code, scripts and documents. LINUX |
| math2549.tgz | Should compile. Scripts, documents LINUX |
| d4x | recently compiled binary d4x. 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 |
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.
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.
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.