Using simcon4.5

CSGnet Archive CSG2002
1

[From Bill Powers (2002.07.05.0702 MDT)]

A reminder for those who may already have Simcon 4.5 but have forgotten how
to use it.

Simcon is a Dos program and wants to run in a Dos window or in MSDOS mode.
If you run it in a window you have to supply a command-line argument, so
it's much easier to switch to MSDOS and run that way. If you're running XT
I think you're out of luck, unless there's some way to run DOS programs
under XT. Is there someone more knowledgable to tell us?

There is a file called SimCon.rc. It contains a text line

editor <path to a simple text editor>

For windows me, the text editor to use is edit.com, located in
c:\windows\command, so the line reads (all lower case)

editor c:\windows\command\edit.com

That may work for other windows versions too. If you don't have or can't
find a suitable editor, delete the file simcon.rc and the program will run
the simulation and exit, after which you can edit the simulation file with
any editor, like Notepad. Be sure to save as Dos Text or Ascii Text.

You run a simulation program by giving the file name, without extension, as
a command line argument. An example file is masssprg.inp. The ".inp" is the
extension for all simcon simulation programs. As distributed by me, the
executable simcon program is simcn45b.exe, so you would change to the
directory in which that program and the simulation program files reside,
and type

simcn45b masssprg

Note that you do NOT type the file extension .inp.

An introductory screen will show. If the simcon.rc file exists and has a
valid path to an editor, the simulation program file will come up in that
editor when you hit Enter. Exiting the editor (alt-f-x, in sequence, for
edit.com) will cause the program to run and the data to be plotted.
Pressing a key will bring up instructions to hit Esc (exit the program) or
any other key (return to editor).

If there's no editor, the simulation will run when you hit enter and the
data will be plotted.

There are full instructions in the new package. Feel free to ask quesitons.

Best,

Bill P.

2

A dos window can be started in XP by issuing a CMD from the run dialog box.

Method 1: Start/Run. In the dialog box type CMD

Method 2: Hold the Windows key (between the Ctrl and Alt keys) and press the
r key. This opens the run dialog. Type CMD as Method 1.

You can right click the blue bar at the top of the window, select properties
to open a menu where you can change the font size and make the window full
screen.

Steve O

[From Bill Powers (2002.07.05.0702 MDT)]

... If you're running XT
I think you're out of luck, unless there's some way to run DOS programs
under XT. Is there someone more knowledgable to tell us?

3

[From Bill Powers (2002.07.05.1703 MDT)]

Steve O'Shaughnessy [2002.07.05)]

A dos window can be started in XP by issuing a CMD from the run dialog box.

Method 1: Start/Run. In the dialog box type CMD

Method 2: Hold the Windows key (between the Ctrl and Alt keys) and press the
r key. This opens the run dialog. Type CMD as Method 1.

You can right click the blue bar at the top of the window, select properties
to open a menu where you can change the font size and make the window full
screen.

Great, thanks. Do you want the simcon package, or do you have it?

Simcon uses the "system" C command to start up the editor, so the user can
switch rapidly between editing and running the program. I've tried this
with notepad and it doesn't work. Do you think edit.com will run in XT, NT,
and such versions?

Of general interest to CSGers:

I've neard from Wolfgang. He's in a rehabilitation hospital and fighting
hard to get well (fibromyalgia, a bitch). He and Marion have found a new
smaller place to live, and Marion, despite her very bad back, is doing all
the work of moving. They're supposed to be in the new place July 13th. The
analog computer _is_ going with them -- some of us were privileged to see
this 50-year-old monster actually running, at the last ECSG meeting. Also
some but not all of the sheep.

I'm sending Wolfgang the same Simcon 4.5 package that's being distributed.
He says the C code should port without difficulty to Apple and Unix.
Anybody willing to try it, with a little advice from Wolfgang? There must
be a C compiler for Apple.

Oh, a question from, I think, Bruce N. As far as I'm concerned, we're going
ahead with the multiple platform, multiple language development of SimPCT.
The version I'm circulating is a C version for the PC, and may also work on
other platforms with C compilers. Others are free to translate into other
computer languages to satisfy the same instruction set if they wish. I may
try Delphi, although having working source code in C reduces the urgency.

The end-user of SimPCT, of course, won't know what the underlying source
code is or see any difference in the operation of the simulations. That's
the whole idea.

Best,

Bill P.