Embed Inc software installation

Last Updated 7 September 2010

This page provides general information about installing Embed Inc software.

Be sure to read the legal notice before using any software found on this web site.

Self-extracting executables

Most software releases on this web site are provided as self-extracting executable files. The files are named INSTALL_xxx.EXE, where XXX is a name for the specific software release. When run, these files will extract themselves into a temporary directory to create an Embed Inc software release directory, then automatically run the installation program from that directory. You will be prompted where the software is to be installed before any changes are made to your system. You can abort the software installation process at the first prompt by closing the window with the prompts. In that case, the temporary software release directory will be deleted and no net change will have been made to your system.

To install the software, follow the directions as prompted by the installation program. The temporary software release directory will be deleted when the installation procedure completes.

After clicking on a INSTALL_xxx.EXE file name in your web browser, you can save the program to disk or run it directly. Saving it to disk is useful if you want to install the software on other systems without having to download it from the web each time. Running it directly is the easiest way to download and install the software on the machine you are on, but the installation program will not be saved for re-use later or on other machines.

Operating systems

The following operating systems are supported:

Windows 2000
Windows XP (32 bit)
Windows Vista (32 bit)
Windows 7 (32 bit)

Special note for Linux users

The executable software is not targeted for Linux. However, various data files may still be usable on this platform. The files in the self-extracting archive can be unpacked with the command:

unzip filename.exe

The top level directory contains some data files and utilities used by the installer program (which of course isn't run in this case), but the embedinc subdirectory contains mostly the tree that the installer would have copied to the user's selected installation directory. Source code and other data files in this tree should be readable on Linux. Be aware that text files contain carriage return and line feed at the ends of lines, not just line feed as is common on most Unix systems.

Special note for Win9x users

The Win9x operating systems (Windows 95, 98, and ME) are obsolete relics of a bygone era, and we have no intention of supporting them. Most end user programs will probably work, but the software build scripts and the automated installation procedure will not.

None of the software found on this web site is intended for, supported on, or recommended for any of the Windows 9x operating system.

If you think you know better and run one of the installation executables on Win9x anyway, don't come complaining to us about the resulting mess. (Yes that sounds stupid, but it has actually happened.)

If you absolutely insist on clinging to Win9x, you can install a software release manually. Here is what to do:

Run the INSTALL_xxx.EXE installation executable for the software you want to install. This will pop up a command shell window with a message something like:
```
Software installation source directory is C:\temp\WZSE0.TMP\embedinc. 

No previous installation of this software was detected. 

Enter where you want the software installed, or hit ENTER to choose the
default shown in parenthesis. 
(C:\embedinc):
    
```
DO NOT PRESS ENTER or type anything else in the window. The purpose of this step is only to extract the data files from the self-extracting executable.
Look at the first sentence in the command shell window to see where the data files got extracted to. In the above example that is C:\temp\WZSE0.TMP\embedinc. The directory one level up is a full Embed Inc software installation directory, which is C:\temp\WZSE0.TMP in this example.
The installation directory will contain a file called readme.txt (C:\temp\WZSE0.TMP\readme.txt in this example). Read the directions for the Win9x operating systems.
If you chose to continue, follow the directions except do not yet reboot the machine.
Go to the command shell window that popped up from step 1 above. Enter CTRL-C at the prompt only. DO NOT PRESS ENTER. Entering CTRL-C will kill the window and delete the temporary installation directory from your disk.
Reboot the machine as directed in the last step of the instructions in the readme.txt file.

Installing multiple releases

Multiple Embed Inc software releases can be installed together, and must be installed to the same directory if the combined features are to be available. The installation program will notify you if a previous Embed Inc software installation is found, and set the default installation directory so that the new release is merged into the existing installed Embed Inc software. The default software installation directory will be c:\embedinc if no previous installation was found.

If you install multiple software releases, install them in order according their release dates as shown on the page you downloaded them from. Install old releases first.

If installing multiple software releases together, be sure to reboot if directed after installing the first one. A software release is not fully installed until the machine is rebooted if this was requested by the installation program. Subsequent releases may not install correctly until the first one is fully installed, including the required reboot. Additional releases can then be installed without rebooting between each one, although the machine must be rebooted to complete the combined installation if a reboot was requested by any of the additional installations.

Structure of installed software

All Embed Inc software has a common structure after installation. This section describes the different top level directories within the software installation directory. Only some of these directories may exist in any one software release. For example, if a software release contains no source code, then it will not contain a SOURCE directory.

The default software installation directory is c:\embedinc. The directories described here are found directly within this installation directory. For example, the full path to the COM directory will be c:\embedinc\com if the software was installed to the default location.

The top level directories within a software installation directory are:

com

Executables (commands). These include shell scripts (.bat files). This directory is added to the command search path by the installation procedure. Most of the programs are intended to be run from a command line.

doc

Documentation files. In general, documentation files are plain text files, and there is one documentation file here for each program in the COM directory. There are also additional documentation files that are not specific to particular programs.

The DOC command, if present, will look for a documentation file in this directory or a .BAT file in the COM directory and display it.

It can be useful to look thru the DOC directory and .BAT files in the COM directory after installing a software release.

env

Environment files. These are used implicitly by many programs and you generally shouldn't mess with them.

examples

This directory contains sub-directories with the same names as programs in the COM directory. Each such sub-directory contains example files that are related to that program. Many programs don't have example files, and will therefore not have a sub-directory here. You can safely modify anything in the EXAMPLES directory without effecting the behaviour of any programs.

fonts

Vector font files used by graphics programs. Stay out of here.

lib

Linkable libraries and their associated include files.

progs

Like the EXAMPLES directory, this contains sub-directories with the same names as programs in the COM directory. This is where files required for a program's operation go. You should think of these files as part of the program itself and leave them alone.

source

Source code, which is defined as those files used to produce software that are directly modified by a human, usually with a text editor. This directory contains only subdirectories, which contain the actual source code files.

src

There is one directory here for each directory in SOURCE. These directories contain the files derived from the raw source code in SOURCE. All builds are run in these directories. The SOURCE directory contains the pure source code, and everything else gets created here. If everything is set up correctly, you should be able to delete all files in a SRC sub-directory and recreate them solely from the source code in the SOURCE directories.