Quick start:
1. Download evolver-2.26.tar.gz.
2. Unpack the Evolver archive.
3. In the src subdirectory, edit Makefile to uncomment the lines for
your system.
4. Run "make".
5. Test by running "./evolver ../fe/cube.fe"
Detailed instructions:
1. The Evolver is distributed in a compressed tar archive evolver-2.26.tar.gz, available from http://www.susqu.edu/brakke/evolver. Get this file into a working directory. The packed archive is about 2MB, unpacks to about 5MB. You will probably need another 3 or 4 MB to compile.
2. Uncompress the archive with
gunzip evolver-2.26.tar.gzExtract the files with
tar xvf evolver.tarThis will unpack into three subdirectories: src (source code), doc (the html version of the manual), and fe (sample datafiles). The working directory will also contain a PDF version of the manual, and a man page, evolver.1.
3. Install the man page: copy evolver.1 to some appropriate place on your
manpath, such as
4. Set the EVOLVERPATH environment variable: Evolver needs to find the initial datafile and sometimes other files (e.g. command files for the "read" command, the help documentation files). If the named file is not in the current directory, then an environment variable called EVOLVERPATH will be consulted for a directory search list. The datafile directory and the directory with the HTML documentation files should definitely be included. The format is the same as the usual PATH environment variable. Set it up as usual in your system, in .profile or .login or .cshrc or wherever:
Unix C shell:
setenv EVOLVERPATH /usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc
Bourne shell:
EVOLVERPATH=/usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc export EVOLVERPATH
5. Change to the src subdirectory of your Evolver directory.
6. Modify Makefile for your system. Makefile begins with sets of macro definitions for various systems. If your system is listed, remove the comment symbols '#' from start of the appropriate lines. If your system is not there, use the GENERIC lines, or set up your own. If you do define your own, be sure to put a corresponding section in include.h.
7. In Makefile, edit the CFLAGS line to have the proper options (optimization, floating point option, etc.).
8. In Makefile, GRAPH should be the name of a screen graphics interface file.
Use glutgraph.o if possible; most systems have OpenGL/GLUT graphics now.
GLUT graphics uses a separate thread to display graphics, so if you use
GLUT, you must put
9. If you want to use parallel processes on a multiprocessor machine,
put
10. If you want Evolver to be able to use geomview,
include
11. If you want Evolver to operate in a higher space dimension than the
the default maximum of 4, include
12. If your system supports the long double data type, you can compute and
print values in higher precision by compiling with
13. If you wish to use the commands based on the METIS partitioning
software (metis, kmetis, body_metis, and metis_factor), then
you should download the METIS package from,
http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~karypis/metis/
and "make" the library libmetis.a (on some systems, make complains it
cannot find ranlib, but the resulting libmetis.a still works).
In Evolver's Makefile, add
14. From the shell command prompt in the src directory, run "make". This
will produce the Evolver executable file named "evolver" in the src
directory. If there are errors, hopefully you will only have to change
the system-specific parts of Makefile and include.h to get things to work.
If significant changes to other files are needed, let me know at
brakke@susqu.edu.
15. Copy the evolver executable to someplace on your PATH, such as
16. Test by opening a new shell and running "evolver cube". Now you
should be able to follow the tutorials in the HTML manual
or the printed manual.
You should
also create an environment variable EVOLVERPATH telling Evolver where
to search for various files. Do this by opening
Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment Variables, clicking New
under System Variables, entering EVOLVERPATH for the Variable name,
and c:\evolver\fe;c:\evolver\doc for the Variable value. You may
add further paths of your own to this list if you wish.
To make Evolver start automatically when you click on a *.fe file,
you can associate Evolver with the file extension .fe by opening
My Computer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types/New, entering the
File Extension fe, clicking OK, clicking Change, and browsing
for the evolver.exe program. (This sequence of actions may vary
on different Windows versions.)
The Windows version
uses OpenGL/GLUT graphics. OpenGL is standard in Windows, and
all the necessary GLUT components are included in the executable,
so you don't have to install anything.
Quick start:
Detailed instructions:
1. Download
Evolver226-OSX.tar.gz.
2. The download probably created a folder Evolver226-OSX on your
desktop. This folder really has a unix path something like
/Users/yourname/Evolver226-OSX. These notes will mostly refer
to the terminal command line, so you should be able to open a
terminal and use a command line prompt.
3. The Evolver226-OSX folder has the executable file evolver, the
samples folder fe, the documentation folder doc, a PDF version
of the manual, and a man page evolver.1.
4. Move the executable to some place on your PATH, e.g.
5.
You should also create an environment
variable EVOLVERPATH containing paths to the fe and doc folders by
placing the following line in your shell initialization file, with
appropriate modifications. You can tell which shell you are running
by running the ps command at the command prompt.
C Shell (csh, tcsh): put the following in /Users/yourname/.cshrc or
/Users/yourname/.tcshrc:
6. Install the man page by copying evolver.1 to some place on your
manpath, e.g.
7. Test by opening a new shell and running "evolver cube". Now you
should be able to follow the tutorials in the HTML manual or printed
manual.
8. If you wish to compile your own version of the Evolver, and have
a C compiler, then follow the unix instructions.
The archive file contains:
Installation: All you need to do is unpack in a directory somewhere. The
datafiles can go in a different directory, but then you will have to supply
path names when using them.
At start-up, you will be asked to enter the name of a datafile in the text window.
If the file is not in the same directory, you will have to give the path also.
For a Mac, the path character is a colon. Leading colons on the path go
to parent folders.
Interrupting a repeating command:
Hit command-period. Will complete current command and return to
command prompt.
Memory partition: The default partition size is 8 Meg. Evolver will run in
2 Meg, but your surfaces won't be able to be very complex. I suggest making
the partition as large as you can. You can change the partition size with Finder
GetInfo.
Installing geomview
If your system does not have OpenGL/GLUT, I suggest you
get the
geomview package from The Geometry
Center. There are pre-compiled binaries for many unix systems here.
Follow geomview's installation directions, and make sure that geomview
is accessible through your PATH. NOTE: The X windows versions
of geomview seem to require some event to occur in the geomview display
window before it will redraw after loading a new datafile. So if
geomview seems hung, just run the mouse over the window to give it an
event to wake it up.
MS-Windows 95/98, Windows NT/2000/XP/2003
The file
evolver226-Win32.zip
has the executable file evolver.exe along with the documentation and sample
datafile subdirectories.
Create a directory (such as C:\evolver),
and unzip the distribution package there. You can leave evolver.exe
there and add c:\evolver to your PATH, or you can copy evolver.exe
to someplace in your PATH, such as C:\windows\system32.
Macintosh OSX version
I am not a Mac person, and the Mac OSX version is just a port
of the unix version, so there are no Mac bells and whistles.
1. Download
Evolver226-OSX.tar.gz.
2. Open the Evolver226-OSX folder and double-click on the evolver file.
3. Evolver prompts for a file; tell it fe/cube
4. You should now be able to follow the tutorial in the manual.
cp evolver /Users/yourname/bin
or add the Evolver folder to your PATH.
setenv EVOLVERPATH /Users/yourname/Evolver226-OSX/fe:/Users/yourname/Evolver226-OSX/doc
Bourne shell (sh,bash): put the following in /Users/yourname/.profile
or /Users/yourname/.bashrc:
EVOLVERPATH=/usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc
export EVOLVERPATH
cp evolver.1 /usr/share/man/man1
You may have to become root to have permission to do this.
Macintosh OS 9 version
There is a Mac PowerPC OS9 version available as
Evolver220-OS9.sit.hqx.
It includes a README file with Mac specific information and datafiles
in Mac format.
Mac OS9 version idiosyncracies:
This is a bare-bones port, so there are few Mac
bells and whistles like menus. There are two windows: a text window and a
graphics window. The text window provides a command-line interface to Evolver.
Commands are typed in and text output appears here. All text input will go to
the text window when either the text or graphics window is in front, so you
can keep the graphics window in front while typing commands. Dragging the mouse
in the graphics window will cause the object to rotate in 3D around an axis
perpendicular to the mouse drag and with an angle proportional to the length of
the drag. The redraw occurs after the mouse is released, not during the drag.
Redrawing occurs in the background, so there may be some delay until the picture
appears.
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