

                            README  

                  (C)rebro University 2004-09-30
                  ===============================

      Installation guide for binary version of VARKON 1.18A 
      for GNU/Linux. 

      Contents:
      --------

      1. Unpacking and installing the files
      2. Basic configuration
      3. Linux VARKON and OpenGL
      4. Linux VARKON and ODBC
      5. Configuration of the help system
      6. Configuration of the plotting system
      7. Compiling VARKON from the sources




      1. Unpacking and installing the files
      -------------------------------------

      First step is to decide where (in what directory) to place
      the VARKON-system. A usual place is /usr or /user or /u but
      any place in a filesystem will do. Make sure you have the 
      proper priveliges ! If you have an earlier version of VARKON
      installed you can use the same directory but we recommend that
      you install the new version in a new diretory.

      Now move yourself to this directory and extract the files
      using gunzip and tar...

            cd /directory_to_use_for_installation
            gunzip varkon.tar.gz
            tar xf varkon.tar

      All files on the distribution will be placed in a subdirectory
      named varkon_1.18X where X is a different letter  depending
      on what revision of VARKON you are installing. This directory
      becomes the root-directory of your installation and is called
      VARKON_ROOT. If you install varkon 1.18A in /usr VARKON_ROOT
      is:

                 /usr/varkon_1.18A

      The idea with this installation procedure is to make it
      possible to install a new version of VARKON at any time 
      without interfearing with previously installed versions.
      This way you can easily switch between two versions if you
      like to.

      If you want to remove a VARKON-installation the only thing
      you need to do is to remove its root-directory.

      NOTE!!! Varkon version 1.18A is not fully compatible with
              previous versions of Varkon. You cannot use MBO-
              or RES-files from 1.17D or earlier. MBS files are
              compatible.


      2. Basic configuration.
      -----------------------

      Having installed the files in your filesystem the next step
      is to configure the system to work properly in this location.
      This is done by editing the startscript template included in 
      the distribution. Move to VARKON_ROOT/com and edit a file
      named varkon.

      If your VARKON_ROOT is /usr/varkon_1.18A and your editor is
      vi this means:

           cd /usr/varkon_1.18A/com/english
           vi varkon

      for the english verision of VARKON or..

           cd /usr/varkon_1.18A/com/swedish
           vi varkon

      for the swedish version of the system.

      Later you may want to rename this file to something else or
      you may want to connect it with an icon on your desktop.

      The first thing to check is the line defining VARKON's root-
      directory VARKON_ROOT.

      VARKON_ROOT=/usr/varkon_1.18X

      Where X is a letter depending on the current revision.
      If this is not the place where you installed the system
      you must modify this line to point to the right location.

      Having done this it is time to start the system for the first
      time.  Save the file and exit from the editor. Write..

                ./varkon

      If everything is Ok VARKON will now start up without any
      error messages.

      Things that usually dont work at this stage are either related
      to X-Windows or to LINUX. Some possible causes of errors are:

        - No X11-server running.
        - DISPLAY-variable has wrong value.
        - X-Font is missing.
        - File ownership or permissions not right.
        - Shared library module(s) missing or
        - Wrong version of shared C-library, see below.

      However, if other X-windows applications run on your computer
      and if you have access rights to all the files in the VARKON-
      installation there are usually no problems.

      All users running VARKON need read access to all files
      in the distribution. Users also need write access to the
      $VARKON_TMP, $VARKON_PID, $VARKON_PRD and $VARKON_PLT
      directories. Check the comments in the varkon start script
      for more info on these directories.

      Version 1.18 of VARKON is dynamically linked to the
      following Linux libray modules:

      libX11.so.6
      libXext.so.6
      libGL.so.1
      libGLU.so.1
      libm.so.6
      libc.so.6
      libdl.so.2
      libpthread.so.0
      libXxf86vm.so.1
      libstdc++.so.5
      libgcc_s.so.1
      /lib/ld-linux.so.2

      These files are not included in varkon_1.18X.tar.gz.
      If you don't have these files on your Linux system we
      recommend you to download them from your Linux site or
      try an older version of VARKON. VARKON 1.15C is based
      on libc.so.5 and might work better if you have an older
      version of Linux.
 
      In order to make VARKON's start script more available you
      might want to include the path to $VARKON_ROOT/com/english
      or $VARKON_ROOT/com/swedish in your PATH-variable. This is
      usually done in your .profile or .login. (If you connect the
      start script to an icon on a desktop this is not needed)


      3. Linux VARKON and OpenGL
      --------------------------

      The shading function in VARKON is based on the OpenGL
      library originally developed by Silicon Graphics. OpenGL is
      now available from many sources and on many platforms. The
      original Linux version of VARKON used the Mesa 3D graphics
      library developed by Brian Paul, distributed under the GNU
      Library General Public License. You can read more about
      this or download a free copy of the library with sources
      at: http://www.mesa3d.org

      The binary version of VARKON 1.18 is comiled and linked on
      a Linux system with Suse Linux 9.1. This Linux distribution
      and many others of recent date include support for OpenGL so
      normally you should not need to do anything to get OpenGL
      working.

      If your system does not include support for OpenGL you can
      either try to install OpenGL on your system or you can build
      your own version of Varkon without support for OpenGL from the
      sources. How to do this is described in the source distribution
      of VARKON.


      4. Linux VARKON and ODBC
      ------------------------

      The binary version of VARKON for Linux does not include support
      for ODBC. If you need ODBC support you must build VARKON from
      the sources. See README_ODBC in the VARKON sources directory.

 
      5. Configuration of help system.
      --------------------------------
      VARKON supports context sensitive help by typing <CTRL>a
      in any situation or clicking a help-button when available.
      In order to get the help system working you must first:

      1. Download the VARKON documentation and install it in the
      VARKON_DOC directory as described on the download pages.

      2. Edit the VARKON ini file $VARKON_INI/linux and set
      the resource "varkon.html_viewer" to whatever viewer
      you want to use.

      If you don't want to use the help system you don't have
      to. VARKON will work as usual but will not be able to
      display help when you request it.


      6. Configuration of plotting system.
      ------------------------------------

      Configuration files for VARKON's plotting system reside in
      VARKON_PLT usually the same as VARKON_ROOT/cnf/plt. Look
      at the file CONFIG.TXT for information regarding the setup
      for different plotters and printers.
   
      The following plotter drivers are included in the binary
      distribution of VARKON:

      epson            24 pin printer
      gerber           Photo plotter
      hp7475           Pen plotter
      hpcl5            Laser printer
      hpgl2            Laser printer
      ibmpro           24 pin printer
      postscript       Works well with ghostscript


      7. Compiling VARKON from the sources
      ------------------------------------

      If you want to compile the varkon binaries from the
      C-sources, download the sources and install them in
      $VARKON_ROOT. You will then find further instructions
      in the README file in  $VARKON_ROOT/sources.



                                    Good Luck

                                    The CAD research group
                                    Department of Technology
                                    rebro University
                                    S-70182 rebro
                                    SWEDEN

                                    URL:    http://www.oru.se/tech/cad
                                  
