ascend/trunk/README-windows.txt

README for Windows Users
========================

The following contains some specific comments for people who have
installed ASCEND on Windows using the binary 'setup' installer. If you have
built you own copy of ASCEND from the source code, comments here may not 
apply to you.

For more information about and support for ASCEND, consult our home page:
http://ascend.cheme.cmu.edu/

ASCEND documentation (such as it is) is available at the above link.


Running ASCEND
--------------

There are two different GUIs for ASCEND. Depending on the software that was
available on your machine at the time when you installed ASCEND, you may
have either the Tcl/Tk GUI and the PyGTK GUI, or both of these, or neither.

The newer GUI is the PyGTK GUI. It looks nice and is under active development.
An alternative GUI is the Tcl/Tk GUI which is older but still somewhat more
stable and complete than the new GUI. It is not really under active development
any more, however. You can choose for yourself.


Running the PyGTK GUI
---------------------

ASCEND can be launched from the Start menu. If you didn't choose to install
the Start menu shortcuts, you can run ASCEND using

c:\Python25\pythonw.exe c:\Program Files\ASCEND\ascend

The location of 'pythonw.exe' and 'ascend' may be different depending on 
where you installed Python and where you installed ASCEND.

You can also launch the PyGTK GUI for ASCEND by double-clicking on files
with the .a4c or .a4l extension. The installer will associate ASCEND with
those file extensions.

There is not yet a manual for the PyGTK GUI. The 'Help' menu also provides
access to the online manual.


Running the Tcl/Tk GUI
----------------------

The Tcl/Tk GUI can be run from the Start menu.

If you didn't select to install start menu shortcuts, you can launch it
via

c:\Program Files\ASCEND\ascend4.exe

The file location will depend on the folder where you chose to install ASCEND.

There is no file association for .a4c and .a4l files with the Tcl/Tk GUI.

Note that .a4s files are 'scripts' for the Tcl/Tk GUI.

A PDF-file manual has been written for the Tcl/Tk GUI and may be downloaded 
from the ASCEND wiki.


If ASCEND Stops Working
-----------------------

An easy way to break ASCEND is to remove some of the software it depends
on in order to work. This includes uninstalling Python, GTK+, Tcl/Tk,
PyCairo, PyGObject, PyGTK, IPython, Numpy, Matplotlib and possibly others.

The best thing to do in this case is to uninstall ASCEND using the
Add/Remove Programs control panel, then attempting to re-install it. At this
point, the installer should tell you what components you are missing.


Configuration settions
----------------------

There are configuration settings in the Windows Registry that the ASCEND 
PyGTK GUI uses to determine where its files have been installed.

There are also per-user settings installed in

c:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Application Data\.ascend.ini

This last file can be edited if you want to add new folders to your
ASCENDLIBRARY path, for example if you are building up a collection of your
own ASCEND models in a directory of their own.

For example:

[Directories]
librarypath = C:\Program Files\ASCEND\models;C:\Program Files\freesteam\ascend

Other settings are also stored in this file. You can delete this file if you
to revert to the default settings that ASCEND used when you first installed
it.

Neither .ascend.ini file nor the Windows Registry are used by the Tcl/Tk
version of ASCEND. Instead, a number of files are stored in the 'ascdata'
folder within  your My Documents folder.


-- 
John Pye
2 Jun 2007
1	README for Windows Users
2	========================
3
4	The following contains some specific comments for people who have
5	installed ASCEND on Windows using the binary 'setup' installer. If you have
6	built you own copy of ASCEND from the source code, comments here may not
7	apply to you.
8
9	For more information about and support for ASCEND, consult our home page:
10	http://ascend.cheme.cmu.edu/
11
12	ASCEND documentation (such as it is) is available at the above link.
13
14
15	Running ASCEND
16	--------------
17
18	There are two different GUIs for ASCEND. Depending on the software that was
19	available on your machine at the time when you installed ASCEND, you may
20	have either the Tcl/Tk GUI and the PyGTK GUI, or both of these, or neither.
21
22	The newer GUI is the PyGTK GUI. It looks nice and is under active development.
23	An alternative GUI is the Tcl/Tk GUI which is older but still somewhat more
24	stable and complete than the new GUI. It is not really under active development
25	any more, however. You can choose for yourself.
26
27
28	Running the PyGTK GUI
29	---------------------
30
31	ASCEND can be launched from the Start menu. If you didn't choose to install
32	the Start menu shortcuts, you can run ASCEND using
33
34	c:\Python25\pythonw.exe c:\Program Files\ASCEND\ascend
35
36	The location of 'pythonw.exe' and 'ascend' may be different depending on
37	where you installed Python and where you installed ASCEND.
38
39	You can also launch the PyGTK GUI for ASCEND by double-clicking on files
40	with the .a4c or .a4l extension. The installer will associate ASCEND with
41	those file extensions.
42
43	There is not yet a manual for the PyGTK GUI. The 'Help' menu also provides
44	access to the online manual.
45
46
47	Running the Tcl/Tk GUI
48	----------------------
49
50	The Tcl/Tk GUI can be run from the Start menu.
51
52	If you didn't select to install start menu shortcuts, you can launch it
53	via
54
55	c:\Program Files\ASCEND\ascend4.exe
56
57	The file location will depend on the folder where you chose to install ASCEND.
58
59	There is no file association for .a4c and .a4l files with the Tcl/Tk GUI.
60
61	Note that .a4s files are 'scripts' for the Tcl/Tk GUI.
62
63	A PDF-file manual has been written for the Tcl/Tk GUI and may be downloaded
64	from the ASCEND wiki.
65
66
67	If ASCEND Stops Working
68	-----------------------
69
70	An easy way to break ASCEND is to remove some of the software it depends
71	on in order to work. This includes uninstalling Python, GTK+, Tcl/Tk,
72	PyCairo, PyGObject, PyGTK, IPython, Numpy, Matplotlib and possibly others.
73
74	The best thing to do in this case is to uninstall ASCEND using the
75	Add/Remove Programs control panel, then attempting to re-install it. At this
76	point, the installer should tell you what components you are missing.
77
78
79	Configuration settions
80	----------------------
81
82	There are configuration settings in the Windows Registry that the ASCEND
83	PyGTK GUI uses to determine where its files have been installed.
84
85	There are also per-user settings installed in
86
87	c:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Application Data\.ascend.ini
88
89	This last file can be edited if you want to add new folders to your
90	ASCENDLIBRARY path, for example if you are building up a collection of your
91	own ASCEND models in a directory of their own.
92
93	For example:
94
95	[Directories]
96	librarypath = C:\Program Files\ASCEND\models;C:\Program Files\freesteam\ascend
97
98	Other settings are also stored in this file. You can delete this file if you
99	to revert to the default settings that ASCEND used when you first installed
100	it.
101
102	Neither .ascend.ini file nor the Windows Registry are used by the Tcl/Tk
103	version of ASCEND. Instead, a number of files are stored in the 'ascdata'
104	folder within your My Documents folder.
105
106
107	--
108	John Pye
109	2 Jun 2007