Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Ken Evans <[email protected]> · Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:54:58 -0500

     Some of the EPICS Extensions, including MEDM and Probe, are
available in a beta version for Windows 95 and Windows NT,
collectively called WIN32.  This version is already being used by a
number of people and seems to be reasonably stable and functional.

     If you have to connect over a phone line, these programs can be
much faster, since they are running locally and only the Channel
Access data has to come over the phone line.  Of course, if you only
have a PC and not a UNIX box, they give you sophisticated access to
the control system that is hard to duplicate in other ways.

     In order to use most (but not all) of the applications, you must
have the PC X-server Exceed installed.  Exceed is distributed by
Hummingbird Communications, Ltd. (http://www.hummingbird.com) and is
the leading PC X Server with (according to them) 62% of the world
market share.  Experience at the APS with 200 or so licenses is that
it is the best of the several PC X Servers that have been tried here.
The EPICS WIN32 Extensions currently support either Exceed Version 5
or Version 6.  In the future only Version 6 may be supported.

     The EPICS WIN32 Extensions are distributed as a self-extracting
InstallShield installation currently named EPICSExnn-win32.exe, where
nn is the build number.  It modifies the registry but not any of your
other files.  (The tradeoff is that you have to do some simple setup
yourself.)  It should not harm your computer and can be uninstalled in
the usual way via Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

     Check Bakul's recent tech-talk announcement titled "New on EPICS
Software Distribution" for more information on how to get it.  There
is a Readme.txt with further information.  You should read it before
using the EPICS WIN32 Extensions.  However, you can safely install
them first and then read it by clicking the icon in the program group
that is created.  Do read it.  It tells you what you have to do after
running setup, and it has troubleshoooting information.

     The initial port of MEDM was done by Mark Rivers of the University
of Chicago, and he has been of significant help in getting it working
well.

     Finally, I am the only person supporting this product, and it is
not my primary work responsibility.  As with all PC programs, you may
have problems getting it running.  Please try hard to solve the
problems yourself before contacting me.  A number of people have
successfully got it running from just the information in the
Readme.txt.  However, do let me know about legitimate bugs.

	-Ken

Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System