From: Kevin O'Kane <okane@cs.uni.edu>
Date: Mon Jan 24, 2005  7:01:13 PM US/Central
To: wallingf@math-cs.cns.uni.edu
Subject: notes on installing cygwin on windows xp

     cygwin gives you the ability to do Linux-like development in a WinXP
     window without installing Linux as a seprate operating system.  It
     is 99.9% compatible with Linux (although Linux apps must be recompiled).
     There is only a small performance penalty.

     You will need a high speed link to install this because it will down
     load and install ~ 400MB of code.  You can also copy the Cygwin
     distribution to CDROM and install from CD.

     If you have a high speed link, go to the following URL and click
     "Install or Update Now".  Save "setup.exe" then execute it.

     http://www.cygwin.com/

     These notes assume you are looking at the screen and doing it as
     you read.  Otherwise, they are somewhat incoherent.

     1. run setup.exe

     2. click install from network

     3. for Root install directory use: C:\cygwin (note: be **SURE**
        to delete any previous directory by this name from prior attempts).

     4. [deleted - for cdrom intsalls only]

     5. under Cygwin select packages, single click the word "default"
        following the All on the first line.  "default" will change to
        "install" for this and all remaining lines.

     6. scroll down to ZZZRemovedPackages and click the word "install"
        until "default" appears (just on this line only - other lines
        will remain "install".

     7. click next and the install should begin. It takes several minutes
        and there are progress indicators.

     8. click "create icon on desktop" box and the start menu option as
        desired.

     9. finish.

     Post install

     10. click the cygwin icon on the desktop (double click)

     11. to the prompt type the following lines:

         cd /etc
         mkpasswd -l > passwd
         mkgroup -l > group
         exit

          note: the -l is a lower case L - not 1.

     12. the cygwin box should have disappeared.  double click the
         cygwin icon again and type to the prompt:

         cd /etc
         edit the file profile (nano profile or vi profile).
         >>> do not screw this file up <<<<

         find the first (and then repeat this for the second) occurrence
         of PS1= ......

         PS1 is the prompt you will get.  it is in the form PS1='......'
         - a string with a starting and ending single quote (upper case ").
         There are a lot of strange codes in it and it should occupy three
         lines (the last of which will end with the ' (single quote) character.

         comment out these lines by putting a pound sign (#) at the beginning
         of each line (column 1).  Do this to all the lines thru to the close
         single-quote line.

         insert the line:

         PS1='${USER}@${HOSTNAME} '

         note the blank prior to the closing quote.

         it might be best if you make a copy of this file before you mess
         with it:

         cp profile profile.original

         so you can restore it in the event of disaster.  if disaster occurs,
         use Windows to rename the file c:\cygwin\etc\profile.original to
         c:\cygwin\etc\profile

         type exit to cygwin and the re-double click the cygwin icon.

     Installing X windows (I could not get their instructions to work so
     these are my hacked instructions)

     13. type the following when in cygwin:

         cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc .xinitrc

         this makes a local copy of the X windows initialization file.
         note the name copied to has a leading dot.

         edit .xinitrc with either nano or vi.

         make the last line a comment by placing a # at the beginning.

         add the following line at the end of the file:

         exec fvwm2

         save the file.

         disable Zone alarm if you have it. type: xinit

         you should now see a large X window with a cross hatch background.

         left click the mouse and you should see a menu appear.  Click
         the boxes for FvwmTaskBar, FvwmBacker FvwmPager.  Click the
         middle button on the bottom: Copy Configuration.  Next Click
         the Restart button.  The X window should look different now
         with some new boxes.

         exit X windows by hitting CRTL-ALT-BACKSPACE all at once.

         take the attached file and place it in your .fvwm directory.
         You can probably save it directly with your browser.  the
         directory is:

         c:\cygwin\home\?????\.fvwm

         and the file name should be .fvwm2rc

         where the ????? are above insert the username the install gave
         you (probably your WinXP login name.  You can see this name in
         the cygwin prompt or by typing pwd to cygwin.

         restart X windows by typing xinit

         you should now have a full window with background and a xterm
         window already open.

         you can exit X windows by a left mouse click any where in the
         background then click Exit and follow the instructions.  You
         can also CRTL-ALT-BACKSPACE.

-- 
Kevin C. O'Kane, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0507
(319) 273 7322 (Office + Voice Mail)
(319) 266 4131 (Iowa)
(508) 778 9485 (Massachusetts)
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~okane
okane@cs.uni.edu <--- preferred