Modern distributions are not complete.In the old days, 2.4.xx kernels and older, distributions were complete in the sense that everything needed to compile Linux itself from source code was shipped with the installation CD.This has changed gradually, first the Linux source code disappeared and then a couple of years later also the files needed to run the compiler. To install Linrad you need a complete Linux installation in the sense that the compiler and related packages must be installed on your system. Different distributions use different tools to manage their updates via the Internet or to add packages that you might bring on CDs or USB sticks. The procedure below uses a floppy disc for the transfer of lirxx-xx.tbz but today you would probably download it into the target computer directly from the Internet. Unpacking can be done with mouse clicks etc but the general idea should be quite transparent from the description below. In case your distribution is not complete install will fail on the configure step with a message "No working C compiler" or similar. In Ubuntu the missing packages are: linux-source build-essential, xorg-dev and libtool. Ubuntu has its own graphical tool for package installation but you may also use the terminal to type apt-get install xx where xx is the package name. You may have to type "sudo apt-get install xx" in order to get permission to install. You may also install nasm this way. Install from a floppy disc.Download linrad from Linrad home pageThere are ways (much faster I am told) if you use the graphical user interface. Below is what I do in terminal mode with a Linux computer not connected to the Internet. Linrad file names follow follow the old MSDOS name convention. As a newcomer to Linux you will probably download these files on another computer under Microsoft Windows. This is perfectly OK. Just save the file on a floppy disc. To read the floppy from Linux you first have to mount it. To do that you must specify the directory under which you will find the contents of the floppy after it is mounted. First make sure you have a suitable directory. Type:ls /mnt This is the same command as dir under MSDOS. You will see a list of the files present in the directory /mnt. If you se one named floppy, everything is fine. If not, you have to create. Type:mkdir /mnt/floppy Insert the floppy with lirxxxx.tbz on it in the Linux machine and mount the floppy to the file system. Type:mount /dev/fd0 -tvfat /mnt/floppy You may place linrad wherever you like. If you want to place it under /home, first go there. Type:cd /home Copy lirxxxx.tbz to /home Type: cp /mnt/floppy/lirxxxx.tbz ./ Now you should unmount the floppy so you will be able to mount another floppy later on. Type:umount /mnt/floppy Unpack the file Type:bunzip2 lirxxxx.tbz This command produces the lirxxxx.tar file (Tape archive, an old standard to combine many small files into a single file) Then, to get the linrad source directory with all the source files in it Type:tar xvf lirxxxx.tar The linrad source directory will be created if it does not exist already and all the files will be written into it. Descend into the linrad source directory Type:cd linrad-xx.yy Run the configure script that prepares for compilation on your system. Type:./configure In case you add your own code in users_hwaredriver or users_extra or in case you change the sound system you have to rerun configure and compile everything again. Compile and link linrad for use with svgalib in terminal mode. Type:make linrad To compile for graphical mode type:make xlinrad Now the executable file linrad or xlinrad is present under the directory where you made the compilation. Start linrad in terminal mode by typing ./linrad or in graphical mode by typing ./xlinrad in a terminal window. You have to have root privileges because you need permission to access kernel modules that do not allow normal users by default. In case you want to run Linrad as a regular user you must set permissions on all devices you need. As an example chmod 666 /dev/dsp0 will give all users read and write access to the sound device /dev/dsp0. As a normal user you can use svgalib_helper to access the screen through a device. To do this, type make svgalib when logged to the Linrad directory. This will install a script that creates /dev/svga each time you boot. You will have to use chmod to set permissions as required. Install from the InternetTo install Linrad under Debian Etch (kernel 2.6.xx), make a standard Debian installation, make sure you are connected to the Internet and then issue the following commands:apt-get install mingw32 (to compile for Microsoft Windows) apt-get install nasm (always needed) apt-get install wajig (to allow the following commands) wajig recommended xlibs-static-dev (to compile for X11) wajig recommended automake1.9 (if you want to change Makefile.in) Download Linrad-02.21 or above and issue the command ./configure then make xlinrad to get the executable for X11 or make linrad.exe to get the executable for Windows. If you want to use Linrad in terminal mode you also have to install svgalib. Do not use apt-get or wajig because with reasonably modern hardware you will need a more recent svgalib version. This link install svgalib gives instructions. To compile for terminal mode, type make linrad in the Linrad directory. SM 5 BSZ Home page Linrad home page |