IMPORTANT:
+What you'll be left with once you've followed these instructions +is (hopefully) a working DX Spider v1.50 system that is capable +of accepting or originating "internet" connections, plus inbound +and outbound AX.25 and TCP/IP radio connections.
+On the other hand, you may have an enquiring mind, or better yet, +may be looking for a useful way of connecting your current +(perhaps) AK1A cluster "to the internet" via some networking +mechanism (BPQEther, etc) or other. I won't be producing +instructions for the latter case, because I don't have an AK1A to +play with. But someone might ...
+Whatever, this document is intended to get you started with DX +Spider in a Microsoft Windows ™ environment. It's not +intended to teach you anything other than how to perform a +minimum configuration of a DX Spider installation and have it +able to connect across "the internet" to other DX Clusters, while +accepting inbound TELNET and radio connections.
+ +The very first things you're going to need are (in order of +importance):-
++
The platform I used to generate these instructions was a +"vanilla" Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000 system, with a 700MHz +AMD Athlon processor and 96 Mb memory. I've also personally +verified that it runs on my laptop (Pentium 266MHz, 32 Mb memory, +Windows 98 SE v4.10.2222 A) and a computer that I assembled from +a random pile of junk (AMD K6-2 333MHz, 64 Mb memory, Windows 98 +v4.10.1998). As a result, I have reason to believe that what I'm +about to describe will perform equally on any 32-bit MS Windows +environment with 32 Mb of memory.
+Because of the changes that have recently been made to the core +"cluster.pl" module and the introduction of a very lightweight +"winclient.pl", I have a sneaking suspicion that this will now +run on any platform that has reasonably complete support for +Perl. Is there someone out there with both an enquiring mind and +(say) a Macintosh, for instance?
+Please bear in mind, though, that my instructions relate solely +to how to get this going under a Microsoft Windows environment, +and I have zero intention of trying to make them say otherwise.
+ +Install your chosen Perl environment. Unless you have a very good +reason for not doing so, I strongly suggest that you use +ActivePerl v5.6. For my testing & development, I used build 623. +(A recent installation used the newer ActivePerl v5.6.1, build +633 without any noticable difficulty.) You can get this from: +http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/Download.html
+The link takes you to an initial page of System Requirements and +Software Prerequisites. If you do not have it already installed, +you can download and install the Windows Installer 2.0 for a Win98 +installation. Be forewarned, you will have to reboot your PC at the +completion of the installer's installation.
+If you already have the installer on your PC, simply click on the +Next arrow at the bottom of the page. Two clicks will finally get +you to the actual download page. The MSI version of Build 633 is +now 8.6MB in size, so make that a big cup of tea or coffee if you're +on a slow dial-up connection.
+During installation, please ensure that you do choose the options +to "Add Perl to the PATH environment variable" and "Create Perl +file extension association"; it will make your life so much +easier. Once the installation is finished, be sure to reboot your +PC. You probably won't be told anywhere else that this needs to +be done now, but it does. Really.
+Once you've rebooted, open a "DOS box" (Start > Run > command +might do it, if you can't find it elsewhere) and from wherever it +lands, type PERL -v <ENTER> (it's better if that's a lower-case +'v', because an upper-case 'V' means something else. You should +be rewarded with some interesting information about your Perl +installation. If you're not, you must go back to the beginning +and discover what went wrong and fix it. It's pointless to +proceed unless this simple check is passed. Assuming it did work, +you may now move on.
+ +Some extensions ("packages") need to be added to the base Perl +distribution, and we'll do this next. If you're using the Perl I +recommended, and don't know any better for yourself, then just +blindly following these instructions will work just fine. If that +didn't describe you, then you're on your own.
+Visit the following URL:
++http://www.activestate.com/PPMPackages/zips/6xx-builds-only/
+and download the following files:-
++
+
+Data-Dumper.zip
+Net-Telnet.zip
+TimeDate.zip
+Time-HiRes.zip
+DB_File.zip
+
+If this is a new installation, now would also be a good time to +install a copy of WinZip on your PC. Make yourself a convenient +directory to unpack all of these zip files into (I put mine in +"D:\ppm>" but "C:\ppm" works just as well.) and do the following +(the bits you type in are blue ). You can upzip all of the files into +the same directory. When prompted, simply overwrite the Readme file +from each zip package. Note that where these files land will be +directly related to where you chose to install your ActivePerl +(mine, as you can probably guess from what follows, went into "D:\Perl"):-
++
+
+D:\ppm>ppm install Data-Dumper.ppd
+Installing package 'Data-Dumper.ppd'
+Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.bs
+Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.dll
+Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.exp
+Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.lib
+Installing D:\Perl\html\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.html
+Installing D:\Perl\site\lib\Data\Dumper\Dumper.pm
+Writing D:\Perl\site\lib\auto\Data\Dumper\Dumper.packlist
+D:\ppm>
+
+I'm not going to bother you with exhaustive details of the rest +of them, but suffice it to say you need to:
++
+
+ppm install DB_File.ppd
+ppm install Net-Telnet.ppd
+ppm install TimeDate.ppd
+ppm install Time-HiRes.ppd
+
+If all that seemed to work OK, time to move along. Before anyone +who is familiar with PPM tells me that we didn't need to download +and keep those files locally, I knew that. I also knew that PPM +is sometimes awkward to configure via firewalls, and that +sometimes the repositories don't always work the way we'd hope. I +do it that way because it suits me.
+ +Get the current version of the DX Spider distribution. This needs +to be v1.50 or later. You've got two ways (currently) of getting +this; either get a CVS update from sourceforge (if you don't know +what this is, then it isn't for you) or get the latest "official" +release from:
++http://www.dxcluster.org/download/index.html
+or if you want the lastest snapshot of CVS version (which is produced +every night):-
++http://www.dxcluster.org/download/CVSlatest.tgz
+This is generally the best one to go for as it is completely up to +date. However, there is always the very slight chance that it might +unstable. Generally, there will be a note on the website if this is +the case.
+ +The only difference between "CVSlatest.tgz" and the latest +"official" release version is that it is more up to date. Do not confuse +the "CVSlatest.tgz" file with "Downloading from Sourceforge with CVS" - they +are two quite different things. "Downloading from Sourceforge with CVS" is +explained in a section within the Admin manual.
+ +If you go down the CVS route (ie installing WinCVS as explained in the Admin +manual and downloaded from sourceforge), then everything will be nicely +installed on your local disk. If you got the CVSlatest.tgz file, unzip +( +winzip) it to "C:\". +This is an important point since paths are included within the .tgz +file. Make sure you unzip to the root directory of whichever drive you use... +"C:\" or "D:\" or .., not "C:\spider." If you double click on CVSlatest.tgz, +WinZip should open with a dialogue box that says the Archive contains a single +file (CVSlatest.tar) and asks whether WinZip should decompress it to a +temporary fold and then open it. Say "Yes" and then you will get the typical +Classical WinZip listing of files ready for extraction. Remember, extract +them to your desired root directory ("C:\" or "D:\" or ...). The following +examples assume that you put it on drive "C:\", for convenience.
+ +