Demo Relese of IrTcl for Windows.



Irtclw.zip contains everything you need to use Ir/Tcl under Windows 95,

except for the Tcl/Tk package itself (you can get the binary distribution

of Tck/Tk from ftp://ftp.index.dk/index/support/tcl/), or from any 

of the 'official' Tcl distribution sites.



This binary Ir/Tcl distribution used the Tcl7.5 'load' command to

enable the extensions from the IrTcl package. You do not need to

recompile anything to use this software.



If you haven't done so already, start out by installing Tcl/Tk. The

binary distribution for windows is a self-extracting and -installing

archive. Just run it and answer the questions. Make sure that your

PATH variable is set up to point to the 'bin' directory of the Tcl/Tk

package.



Now create the directory where you want IrTcl to reside, say,

C:\IRTCL. Change to this directory and unpack the .zip file. Remember

to use the pkunzip -d switch, or whatever is required to have pkunzip

restore the directory structure of the archive.



With any luck, you should be all set for action, now. Try typing

'wish41 -f client.tcl', and watch what happens.



Please note that this distribution has only been tested under Windows

95 (the Danish version, at that). We have managed to get it to run

under Windows NT as well, although we had some problems getting the

software to find the various DLLs. We *expect* that the software

might run under Windows3.1 with Win32S and WinSock installed. We're

hoping to eventually make a standard binary version for all of these

platforms along with each new IrTcl version.



However, for the time being, this remains an imperfect demo version.

There are problems with the event handling that cause the software to

regularly crash when the connection to a server is closed: Be warned.

We know how to solve this, but we're waiting for a version of Tcl/Tk

for Windows that fixes the integration with the network layer (we're

using alfa-release Tcl/Tk to get the Windows support).



You'll also note that the interface appears somewhat sluggish, even on

a 100Mhz DX4 (haven't seen it on a Pentium). This is due, we gather,

to the way that Tk is circumventing the local GUI toolbox, drawing its

own bitmapped Motif interface. Sun has promised better alignment with

the local interface conventions within 6 months or so. We're following

developments breathlessly.



It is, all in all, important to emphasise again that this is only an

experimental port for now. It will stabilize in parallel with the

Tcl/Tk port itelf. However, as a proof of concept, we hope you'll

agree that it holds some exciting promises.



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