Download CygWin on your PC

There are two ways in which you can run a UNIX system on your PC. One is to install LINUX in all its glory and creat a dual boot system with LINUX as an alternative to Windows. The second is to install a Widows application that runs UNIX Bash shell from within windows itself. This second option is provided by CygWin, a free application from Red Hat. This allows you to open a window on your PC and type commands in it exactly as you would in UNIX. All the usual UNIX commands, features and codes are there.

CygWin will be the default `operating system' used in the Summer School. For this reason, and for your own later convenience, you are strongly recommended to download and install it for yourself on your PC.

Procedure

1. Using your web browser go to the Sun Java website: http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/. (It's a good idea to save this address among your favourites.)
2. Locate the `Install or Update Now' logo and hypertext on the home page and click it. This will start the `Cygwin Net Release Setup Program'.
3. Click the `Next' button to get to the `Choose a Download Source' panel. You may pick one of the three options: Install from Internet; Download Without Installing; or Install from Local Directory. Make your choice and click the Next button. I will assume you chose the first option. This downloads a setup program onto your machine, followed by a huge amount of data.
4. The next panel asks you to select a Root Install Directory for the package. The default C:\cygwin directory is quite suitable, so I will assume that.
5. The next panel asks you to select a directory for storing the download files. The default C:\ directory is fine, so I will assume that also.
6. The next panel asks you to Select Your Internet Connection. I use Internet Explorer, so I selected Use IE5 Settings.
7. You are next asked to Choose a Download Site. There are many to choose from, but being in the UK I chose ftp.mirror.ac.uk (which is selected by highlighting it). Click Next to proceed.
8. The next panel is tricky. You are confronted with a selection menu, each of which represents an application category. In the first instance yu may simply take the default option. However this will not necessarily result in the installation of all the stuff you may want. So it's useful just to scan what's there. Here's some information I hope will help:
   1. It is helpful to expand the window full screen at this stage. There's a lot to see.
   2. There's a good `get help' on the CygWin home page that deals with the issues presented here.
   3. The default action of the setup program is to download the stuff in the `Base' category only.
   4. If you run through the download procedure more than once, the setup program will know what you have already downloaded and won't do it again, unless it has been upgraded or your force it to.
   5. If you click on the + sign before each category in the selection menu, it will produce a list of what is available. Better still, clicking the View button at the top of the panel will toggle the information shown. You may even identify what's been installed already and what hasn't.
   6. If you have installed something already, the version number appears on the left, under the `Current' column. If there is no upgrade version, it will be marked as `keep' under the `New' colum, or a new version will be offered there. Things not downloaded, or unwanted, are marked `skipped'.
   7. Click on the circular arrows in the `New' column to make your choice.
   8. I recommend that you make sure you download your favourite editor from the Editors category and the gcc and gcc-g77 compilers from the Develop category.
   9. There's a lot of stuff here that only UNIX gurus would understand. If you don't know what it is, leave it alone.
9. Assuming you are happy with what's selected, clicking `Next' will start the install.
10. The final touch is that a CygWin icon appears on the desktop. Clicking this will open your UNIX window.