Installing Andys Editor

The usual supplied ae.zip file should be expanded using unzip ae on a UNIX machine, or unzip -a ae on a PC. If you got your package from Hobbes, it probably only has the PC executables.

You get a selection of executables, and the one to pick depends upon which operating systems you wish to run :-

ae_dos.exe
Runs on 16 bit DOS, and in DOS boxes. Not brilliant for massive files, as hampered by the 16 bit DOS 640KB limit.
ae_dos32.exe
Runs on 32 bit DOS, via a DOS extender. Can handle much bigger files, but obviously no good on a 286 or lower system, or a system with only 640KB of RAM.
ae_o16.exe
Runs on 16 bit OS/2, 32 bit OS/2, and Windows NT.
ae_os2.exe
Runs on 32 bit OS/2. Is faster than ae_o16.exe but only runs on 32 bit OS/2.
ae_win.exe
Runs on Windows. Is better than running ae_dos.exe, ae_dos32.exe or ae_o16.exe as it is a native Win32 Console API application, and so is faster. Also, NTs emulation of DOS and 16 bit OS/2 is not very flexible when it comes to screen modes.
ae_cygwin.exe
Runs under Cygwin.
ae.nlm
Runs on NetWare.
ae.efi
Runs on IA-32 EFI.
ae_aix41
Runs on RS/6000, compiled on an AIX 4.1 system.
ae_aix43
Runs on RS/6000, compiled on an AIX 4.3 system.
ae_aix53
Runs on RS/6000, compiled on an AIX 5.3 system.
ae_linux_rh72
Runs on Intel x86 Linux, compiled on RedHat 7.2.
ae_linux_rh80
Runs on Intel x86 Linux, compiled on RedHat 8.0.
ae_linux_rh90
Runs on Intel x86 Linux, compiled on RedHat 9.0.
ae_linux_fc2
Runs on Intel x86 Linux, compiled on Fedora Core 2.
ae_linux_fc6_64
Runs on Intel x86_64 Linux, compiled on Fedora Core 6.
ae_hpux
Runs on HP/UX systems supporting PA 2.0 binaries.
ae_sun8
Runs on SunOS, compiled on Solaris 8 Sparc.
ae_sun10intel
Runs on SunOS, compiled on Solaris 10 Intel.
ae_mips
Runs on 64 bit big-endian MIPS R3000 Linux, cross compiled from Redhat 7.x. ae_osx10power
Runs on MacOSX, compiled on 10.3 Power.

Not all versions may be included as I don't have continual access to all the platforms, and not all the latest features will be present in them all.

Installing AE for DOS

  1. Copy ae_dos.exe or ae_dos32.exe to ae.exe, somewhere on the path.
  2. Copy ae.ini to the same directory as ae.exe so it can be found.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.
  5. Check that COMSPEC in config.sys points to command.com or some other command processor. This ensures 'shelling' out will work, as AE uses system to call up other programs.
  6. Check that files=10 or above in your config.sys.

Installing AE for OS/2

  1. Copy ae_os2.exe or ae_o16.exe to ae.exe, somewhere on the path.
  2. Copy ae.ini to the same directory as ae.exe so it can be found.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.
  5. Optionally copy ae.ico to the same directory as ae.exe. This allows AE to have a cute icon when running in the Workplace shell.
  6. Optionally create a Workplace Shell Program Object(s) that references the AE executable. The working directory should be the directory where ae.ini can be found.

Installing AE for Windows

  1. Copy ae_win.exe to ae.exe, somewhere on the path.
  2. Copy ae.ini to the same directory as ae.exe so it can be found.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.

Note: As of Windows 2000, some newly created MS-DOS windows might have a buffer with a very large number of lines. More than the largest size AE can handle. You can change the properties of an existing Window and the shortcut that is used to start it, but there are settings inside the Windows registry covering MS-DOS windows created without a shortcut, and there is no easy GUI way to change this. We bundle console.reg, which can be run at the command line to set the default MS-DOS buffer and window sizes to 80x50.

Installing AE for NetWare

  1. Copy ae.nlm to somewhere on the path.
  2. Copy ae.ini to the same directory as ae.nlm so it can be found.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.

Installing AE for EFI

  1. Copy ae.efi to a suitable directory.
  2. Copy ae.ini to the same directory as ae.efi so it can be found.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.

Installing AE for UNIX

  1. Copy the most suitable version of the binary for your operating system (eg: ae_linux_fc2 for Intel x86 Linux Fedora Core 2) to a file called ae in a directory like /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, ~/bin, or wherever on the path you consider appropriate.
  2. Copy the ae.ini file to wherever you put ae. If you have a ~/.aerc file, then this is used in preference to the default ae.ini.
  3. Optionally copy ae.txt to wherever you keep documentation.
  4. Print the file ae.ini, and use it as a quick reference card.

If you wish to improve your terminal support, perhaps to add colour, you may like to look at the sample xterm-color.ti and vt100-color.ti provided with AE.

Testing the installation

All you need to know to start using AE is the following :-

NotationMeaning
^XCtrl+X
~XShift+X
@XAlt+X

And when the unmodified configuration is used :-

A test which is as good as any, is to go to the directory with ae.txt in it and type :- 

  ae ae.txt

On NetWare 4 and earlier, you have to type :- 

  load ae ae.txt