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Installing Tcl/Tk 8.2.3 + BLT & WINEXEC packages for Windows

This page contains my notes on installing the Tcl/Tk system and the packages required by crystallography software we commonly use for Tcl/Tk at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Note that this work was done on a Windows-95 system.

1. Files to Download

I downloaded the following:
  • ftp://ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/tcl8_2/tcl823.exe (Documentation)
  • ftp://ftp.tcltk.com/aa004735/pub/blt/blt2.4q-for-8.2.exe (Documentation)
  • WINX82.ZIP from http://www.du.edu/~mschwart/ (Documentation)

    2.1 Install Tcl/Tk

    Run the tcl823.exe program. This invokes the pretty standard set of installation screens. I suggest using directory c:\tcl823 rather than using the default c:\Program Files\Tcl, since support for long files names is rather flaky at times.

    You must install the Tcl Run-Time files. The other sections (help, example, headers...) are optional.

    2.2 Install BLT

    Run the blt2.4q-for-8.2.exe program. This invokes the pretty standard set of installation screens. Important: be sure to supply exactly the same directory for BLT as you did before in step 2.1. The interface makes this tricky, by adding "\Tcl" on the end of the browse directory -- you should see a message "The directory <...> already exists, would you like to install into that directory?"

    2.3 Install WINEXEC

    This must be installed as subdirectory of Tcl's lib subdirectory, so for example, if you install in C:\tcl823, use C:\tcl823\lib\winexec (where winexec can be anything other than the existing names, blt2.4, tcl8.2 or tk8.2)
    Neither the author nor the U.S. Government makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information or the software described here. Brand names cited here are used for identification purposes and do not consitute an endorsement by NIST.

    Comments, corrections or questions: crystal@NIST.gov