Installing Pocket Scheme

Installation | Removal | Source Code

Support matrix

This table enumerates the platforms supported by different versions of Pocket Scheme, linking to the appropriate installation binaries for each. If you're familiar with the process of installing third-party software to your device, then this table contains everything that you need to install Pocket Scheme. Otherwise, read on for step-by-step directions.

Installation

(If you are upgrading from a previous version, you must uninstall that version before proceeding. Many interfaces have changed between 1.1 and 1.2!)

You may install Pocket Scheme either through your desktop host computer (the system with which the mobile device exchanges data, whether via serial cable, infrared link, or network connection) or else directly to your mobile device.

The simplest way to install Pocket Scheme is through a desktop computer. The desktop system will take care of determining which version of the software to install on the mobile device, and will retain its own copy, should you want to install Pocket Scheme on a second mobile device, or restore it to the device after a hard reset.

1. From the All column in the Support matrix above, download the correct version of the zip file to a convenient temporary directory on your desktop computer.
2. Unzip the downloaded archive to extract the files it contains. (Be sure to use an unzip tool such as WinZip that preserves long filenames on extracted files.)
3. Run setup.exe. (WinZip will offer to do this automatically.) Setup will first install a copy in the directory Pocket Scheme within the \Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync directory on your desktop computer, then install Pocket Scheme on any mobile device currently docked. The setup process will proceed on the device.
4. Having completed the desktop setup procedure, you may now delete all of the files in the temporary directory, including setup.exe. To reinstall Pocket Scheme on your mobile device, use Tools - Add/Remove Programs on your desktop ActiveSync window.

Alternately, if you prefer not to use a desktop host system, you can install directly from a file copied to the mobile device. In this case, you are responsible for determining the version of the software to install, as dictated by the microprocessor and hardware architecture. This version will download more quickly than the desktop version, but will run only on the architecture that you specify.

1. From the Support matrix above, copy to your Smartphone, Pocket PC, or Handheld PC the version of the cab file suitable for your mobile device. You may do this by downloading the file through Pocket Internet Explorer, receiving it in infrared file exchange with another mobile device, or copying it to the mobile device through the Explorer on your desktop computer. (You'll know if you download the wrong version, because the resulting installation won't run at all. Mostly. A 2.0 version for a particular processor will run on a 2.11 system for the same processor, but it'll take up more space on the system than it should.)
2. Once you have the correct version of the cabfile on your device, open the cabfile by tapping its icon once in File Explorer. (On a Handheld PC, double-tap the cab file icon in the device's Windows Explorer.) Opening the CAB file will start setup on the device, much as if it had been installed from a desktop host.

Completing installation on the mobile device

By default, setup installs the Pocket Scheme program files into a directory \Program Files\Pocket Scheme on your mobile device. You may override this choice of directory at setup time. In addition, setup installs two files into the Windows directory, pscmhlp.htm and pscmref.htm.

After completing the installation, Pocket Scheme will prompt you for additional configuration information, You may elect to define a library directory (the default location of library files loaded by Pocket Scheme) other than the installation directory, or a file of standard definitions to load each time. The default configuration is suitable for most installations and uses. To retain the default configuration, dismiss the configuration dialog without making any changes by tapping the close box, or pressing Escape on devices with a keyboard.

If you are installing Pocket Scheme onto a device with constrained program memory, set the heap limit to a value less than the total available program memory.

You may subsequently modify the installation of Pocket Scheme via the Tools - Configure menu command (Scheme - Configure on the Handheld PC). You must exit and restart Pocket Scheme in order for any changes made in this dialog to take effect.

Pocket Scheme installs a number of auxiliary libraries unnecessary for basic operation. Users of devices with little free storage memory, such as the Casio E-10, may greatly reduce amount of storage required by sacrificing the following files from the installation directory: regex.dll, ss.dll, w32.dll . The Language Reference discusses the function of each of these libraries. Also, users willing to trade space for speed may replace the rather large regex.dll with Dorai Sitaram's more compact Portable Regular Expressions package, implemented in Scheme.

See the Applications section for installation directions for SLIB, a useful portable Scheme library.

Removal

You may remove Pocket Scheme at any time, either to free its storage for other applications or to prepare to upgrade cleanly to a new version of the software.

By removing the software from a device without removing it from the desktop, you retain the option to reinstall the same version through Tools - Add/Remove Programs on your desktop ActiveSync window.

If you are removing Pocket Scheme in anticipation of installing a new version, remember also to remove it from the desktop host, if any.

Removal from the desktop host computer

Connect your Pocket or Handheld PC to its desktop host. On the desktop system, open the ActiveSync winodw, select Tools - Add/Remove Programs, select Goetter Pocket Scheme, and press the Remove button. This will remove Pocket Scheme from both the desktop system and the currently connected mobile device.

Alternately, if your mobile device is not available for connection, open the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, and ask therein to remove Pocket Scheme. This method does not require a connected mobile device, and will not remove Pocket Scheme from a connected device. You can subsequently remove the software from any mobile devices by any of the methods described below.

Removal from the mobile device

If your device is docked with the desktop, you can remove Pocket Scheme through ActiveSync. On the desktop system, open the ActiveSync Window, select Tools - Add/Remove Programs, clear the Goetter Pocket Scheme checkbox (which should be checked, indicating that Pocket Scheme is installed on the currently connected device), and press the OK button. (Note the difference between this procedure and that to remove the software completely from the desktop, described above.)

Otherwise, you can remove Pocket Scheme by selecting Settings - System - Remove Programs from your device's Start menu, selecting Goetter Pocket Scheme in the program list, and pressing the Remove button. (On the Handheld PC: open the Control Panel, select Remove Programs, select Goetter Pocket Scheme, and press the Remove button.)

Palm-size PC

As of version 1.0.2, Pocket Scheme no longer supports the Palm-size PC platform. Users of the Casio E-10, E-105, Everex Freestyle, or similar first- and second-generation keyboardless devices must instead use version 1.0.1, the last version of Pocket Scheme to support this platform.

Download pscheme-pspc.zip to a convenient temporary directory on your desktop computer, then proceed with the instructions for desktop installation.

Note that the documentation, user notes, and sample code at this site all describe the most recent version of Pocket Scheme. These resources may or may not work on version 1.0.1. Noteworthy features of this old version include more primitive numerics, a bug in force-output to the standard display, and a couple of bugs in the relationship between the procedures peek-char, file-position, and binary streams. Good luck!

Smartphone

Smartphones running WM 5.0 or later can run Pocket Scheme for the Pocket PC. We have no reports of successful operation on earlier vintages of Smartphones.

Source Code

Here follows the complete source code to Pocket Scheme. You may modify and redistribute this source under the terms of the Artistic License. Read the license for details of your rights and obligations as a source user.

• pscheme-src.zip contains a ZIP archive of the complete source tree for a recent version of Pocket Scheme.

You will need MSVC++ 6 to build Pocket Scheme for desktop Windows, and eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0, plus the various CE SDKs modified per the instructions in the included build.txt, in order to build Pocket Scheme for Windows CE. You will also need a strong stomach in order to read my code. Even if you can't build a binary from source, you should feel free to read and review the code. I welcome any and all feedback, including problem reports, fixes, patches, extensions, and suggestions.

(Note that the included build instructions describe the build process as of version 1.0.2, some time in 2000. The build has changed substantially since then, and the tools are of somewhat more recent vintage. I will try to update these instructions with the next public release.)

Which version do I have?

If you're not certain which version to download from the Support matrix above, try answering the following questions:

1. Is your device a Handheld PC (H/PC), or is it a Palm-size or Pocket PC (P/PC)? The H/PC has a built-in keyboard, a clamshell form factor, and has a screen wider than it is tall. The P/PC usually lacks an intrinsic keyboard, has a one-handed form factor, and has a screen taller than it is wide. Almost all contemporary devices are P/PCs. H/PCs are very rare nowadays.
2. If your device is a P/PC, is it the older Palm-size PC, or the most recent Pocket PC? If it has a Windows logo and Start button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, it's a Palm-size PC, whereas the Pocket PC has a simple Windows logo in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This site does not support direct-to-device installation for the Palm-size PC. Your device is certainly a Pocket PC. Palm-size PCs are extraordinarily rare in 2006.
3. If your device is a Pocket PC, is it running WM2003, or is it running an older version of the operating system? If you're not certain which version you have, open the Control Panel and check the information beneath the System option. Anything released since about October 2003 is running — surprise! — WM2003.
4. If your device is a H/PC, is it an older H/PC, running CE 2.0, or is it the somewhat more recent H/PC Professional, running CE 2.11 yet confusingly called version 3.0? If you're not certain which release of H/PC you have, open the Control Panel and check the information beneath the System option. All H/PCs of recent vintage will run 2.11. For our purposes, the new Handheld PC 2000 (which really does run CE 3.0) is a H/PC Pro.
5. If your device dates from 2003 or earlier, or is a clamshell-style Handheld PC, does it use the Hitachi SH3 microprocessor, a microprocessor from the MIPS R4000 family, the StrongARM SA-1100, or the Hitachi SH4? If you're not certain which processor your device uses, again, open the Control Panel, select the System option, and read the processor type advertised there. WM2003 devices all use an ARM-class processor under one name or another, and so don't need to check this.
6. If you're still stuck, then download the All collection and install through a desktop Windows computer.

Once you have the answers to these questions, you are ready to select the image of Pocket Scheme to download.

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Last modified: Tue Jul 10 14:33:11 Pacific Daylight Time 2007

Copyright 1998-2007, Ben Goetter. All rights reserved.