POPLOG/POP11 FOR USERS OF MSWINDOWS
This file is
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/winpop/AREADME.html

This is part of the FREE POPLOG installation, described in:
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/freepoplog.html

---

For information about fetching and running Poplog on Linux, see
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/latest-poplog/

---

Options for running Poplog on Windows
(Apologies -- some parts of this site have not been kept up to date.)

• OLDER VERSIONS OF POPLOG WITHOUT GRAPHICS CAN RUN DIRECTLY ON WINDOWS
  As explained below. (If you try this, email A.Sloman to ask about installing recent libraries and teach files.)

• THE LATEST LINUX POPLOG CAN BE MADE TO RUN ON WINDOWS
  1. The preferred method uses Virtual Box, described here (look at option 2).

  2. (1 Oct 2009:) An alternative is: How to run Linux Poplog on Windows using andLinux
  With Thanks to Christopher Martin. (This method seems to be less reliable than using Virtual Box.)

• WINDOWS USERS MAY BE ABLE TO ACCESS LINUX POPLOG REMOTELY
  Using Xming and Putty, as explained here. (Option 1)

---

Poplog/Pop-11 for MS Windows

The full version of Poplog, including graphics, which works on Linux, Solaris, HPPA unix, Dec Alpha Unix, is not, at present, available on Windows, except the option using Linux in VirtualBox running on windows mentioned above.

Poplog includes incremental compilers for four sophisticated programming languages: Pop-11, the core language, Prolog, Common Lisp and Standard ML. For more information see http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/freepoplog.html#whatspoplog

There are many documents and libraries in Poplog that can be used for teaching several programming paradigms and for introducing learners to Artificial Intelligence, many of them based on Pop-11 because of its support for multiple programming paradigms. For more information of teaching facilities, including examples, see http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/examples.

The full version of poplog, available on linux and unix systems, includes 2-D graphical facilities based on the X window system. At present this does not work directly on Windows, but if you wish to try poplog without graphics on windows you can use the reduced version of Poplog that does not include graphics, as described below.

If you wish to use the graphical facilities in poplog, you will need to use a version available on unix/solaris/linux machines, as described here http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/freepoplog.html which can be done either by running linux directly on one of your own machines, or running a Virtual linux, as mentioned above, or else running poplog on a remote linux or unix system, which will require the use of Xming (or equivalent, if there is any equivalent) to allow you to log in the remote system and run programs remotely that manipulate windows and their contents on your screen.

The next two sections describe (1) ways in which windows users can use Poplog with graphics, and (2) ways in which they can use Poplog without graphics, respectively. The first option requires accessing linux or unix poplog, locally or remotely. The second option can work by installing windows poplog.

---

Options for Windows Users 1: Poplog with graphics

There are several ways for a Windows user to access Linux poplog, including all the graphical teaching facilities, as follows.

• Run linux on a separate local machine!
  Obviously you can install linux on a PC if an unused machine is available, then download and install the latest version of linux poplog. Likewise, if you already have access to a PC running linux. A linux installation typically requires less memory and CPU power than a Windows installation, so an old unused PC could be ideal! After you have linux running, you can find instructions for installing poplog here: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/latest-poplog

• Use a dual boot setup
  You can set up a Windows PC to use the dual-boot option, so that when you boot it up you have a choice between windows and linux. In that case you can install poplog when linux is running, using the link above. That will not be convenient for people who wish to have windows always available.

• Install a VIRTUAL linux running under windows
  If you install VMware, or VirtualBox, or a similar virtualisation tool, on a windows machine, it will then be possible to run Linux, along with Linux Poplog, while running windows, though there may be a slight speed overhead, and additional memory may be required. More information on how to use a pre-packaged Virtual Box image with linux and poplog is here. (Option 2)

• Using a remote linux system from a windows machine
  You may have remote login access to a machine running linux (e.g. another machine on the same network as your windows PC or a machine that you can access over the internet, using a secure shell (SSH) for logging in.

  (School teachers in the UK who are interested in gaining remote access to a linux machine should contact Aaron Sloman. See also the ComputingAtSchool AI Initiative.)

  If you have have remote access to a linux machine that has linux and Poplog installed, you can either
  • Install just PuTTY (or another SSH client) on your Windows machine, and run non-graphical programs remotely (e.g. using only a text-based interface),
    or
    
  • Install 'Xming' as well as PuTTY on Windows and use them together to run poplog and other programs remotely, including their graphical facilities.

  If you have a fast network connection either should work very well, with the advantage that you can share files with other remote users, leave the management of the system you use to someone else.

  • Instructions for installing and using PuTTY on Windows
    A tutorial for installing PuTTY on Windows is here http://rcc.its.psu.edu/user_guides/remote_connectivity/putty/
    Go through all the steps shown.

  • Instructions for installing and using Xming on Windows
    XMing can be downloaded from here: http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/

    A detailed PDF tutorial on how to install and set up Xming is here: http://www.cade.utah.edu/tutorials/xminginst.pdf
    Launching XMing (PDF): http://www.cade.utah.edu/tutorials/xminglaunch.pdf

• Notes
  One advantage of having PuTTY separately (or the SSH Secure Shell Client) is that for each remote host to be accessed you can run PuTTY, set up a profile, and save it.

  It is important to ensure that you use PuTTY's configuration options (shown on the left of the PuTTY display), expand SSH, go to X11, and select

      Enable X11 forwarding
      MIT Magic-cookie
  

  then go back and save the configuration for future use, as shown in the section of the above tutorial headed

      Configure X11 Forwarding in SSH Clients
  

  The basic idea is that if you have Xming running (it shows on the task bar) you can log in securely to a remote Linux/Unix machine using PuTTY or SSH, then once logged in you can run an xterm window and run graphical programs on the remote machine that will use the local display (via Xming).

  That support for remote use is the great benefit of the X Window System.

---

Options for Windows Users 2: Poplog without graphics

At present, Windows Poplog does not include graphics, and many of the interesting demonstrations and teaching materials will therefore not work. E.g. only part of the SimAgent Toolkit will work.

However, the Pop11 language (the core of Poplog), and also Prolog, Common Lisp and Standard ML will work without graphical facilities and support a lot of programming teaching.

There is also a version of the Poplog editor Ved that works on Windows, though the multi-window editor XVed does not work as it requires the graphical facilities available only on Linux and Unix.
(XVed can be used with Xming if you access linux poplog remotely, as described above.)

Some of the operating system interfaces that work on Linux and Unix may not work on the current version of Windows Poplog.

• Using Poplog on Windows.

  If you cannot install Poplog on Linux and you are not able to install VMware, then the only way to run Poplog on Windows is to use one of the two systems described below, preferably the first of them. The second one is suitable only for people who are already familiar with Poplog and Pop11.

• Windows Poplog version 15.5

  Windows Poplog version 15.5 is available as a ZIP file. When unpacked it provides a self-extracting .EXE file that will install Poplog. This is recommended for people who are not already knowledgeable about Poplog and do not have considerable programming expertise. More details on installation are given below.

• Windows Poplog version 15.53

  A newer version, Windows Poplog version 15.53 is also available, including full system sources, but is not so easy for novices to get going.

  If you succeed please email A.Sloman with the instructions you would recommend others to follow.
  

  An experimental extension of that was developed by Nico Aragon in Madrid, but I have no information about it.

• Instructions for installing Windows Poplog version 15.5

  Instructions for installing under Vista (by David Brooks). Should also work on Windows 7???

• Instructions for installing on older versions of Windows

  Download the Zip file for Windows Poplog 15.5

  You may find it best to install this in

  C:\PROGRAM FILES\POPLOG\V15.5\

  Then unpack (unzip) it. It will produce a subdirectory 'WINDOWS', with several further sub-directories, DISK1, DISK2, etc. and another zip file bhamteach.zip, described below.

  The main setup command is in

  WINDOWS\DISK1\SETUP.EXE

  Further instructions provided in two text files:

  • pcwinpoplog.txt A brief overview of windows poplog and how to install it.

  • pcwinpoplog.readme.txt a review of features specific to Win32 Poplog which are not yet described in the online documentation.

  The zip file 'bhamteach.zip' contains a collection of Birmingham extensions to poplog and some useful teaching materials, which can be installed in the POPLOG\POP\LOCAL directory

  When Windows Poplog is installed you should find a shortcut on your desktop that invokes the poplog editor Ved, which gives you access to all the online documentation and program libraries in Poplog.

• Keeping windows poplog up to date
  Since the extra packages for Windows Poplog are not regularly updated, if you wish to use recent extensions to Pop-11's teaching documentation or program libraries (without graphics) email a.sloman @cs.bham.ac.uk to ask for help. If there is sufficient demand I can arrange for a bundle of library and documentation files to be made available. But I shall require a windows user to help with testing.

• 6 April 2001: init.p for Poplog windows users

  The file init.p is provided by Roger Evans, to overcome some problems in Windows Poplog for Prolog users. If you expect to use Prolog install it as

  POP\POP\INIT.P

  for system-wide effect, or as

  %HOME%\INIT.P

  for personal use. For more information, see the comments in the file.

The Pop11 Primer

Information about the language Pop11 can be found in the online primer http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/primer/
There are also many online documentation files included with poplog, most conveniently accessed through the poplog editor Ved.

The OpenPoplog project

See http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/openpoplog.html for information on a project to port the full poplog system to windows, and extend Windows Poplog to include graphics.
However, the people working on that are all busy software engineers who have to earn their living doing other things, so if you must use windows Poplog now, you are restricted to one of the systems described below.

There is a partial port of Poplog to Apple Mac + OSX on Power PC. (Now Defunct.) Information about this is in http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/osx-poplog/

---

Maintained by A.Sloman
Created: 6 Apr 2001
Updated:
23 Feb 2008; 15 Sep 2009, 1 Oct 2009; 2 Nov 2009; 30 Oct 2011; 5 Nov 2011; 14 Oct 2015