Install 3DNA on Windows via MinGW/MSYS

[xiangjun]

Again, thanks for your persistence. In the end, you may find the learning experience well worth it!

3DNA should work if you have installed MinGW/MSYS properly. Given the difficult you experienced with installing Cygwin, let's focus on MinGW/MSYS. To get you up and running ASAP, please answer the following questions:

• Which version of Windows are you using?
• Where have you put the 3DNA v2.3 download (i.e. file x3dna-v2.3-mingw-win.tar.gz)?
• Have you extracted the tarball file into its folder x3dna-v2.3?
• In your MinGW/MSYS shell, what do you get with the command: "tar"?

Xiang-Jun

[MingyuSun]

It is really kind of you!
1,I have two laptop, one is window7, another is window10, I mainly used window7, but I can try both if needed.
2,I put the download file both in C and D, as showed in the attachment.(if I need to used it in another laptop with window 10, there seems to be only one disk.
3,I have not. Sorry. I know nothing about tarball file, I am searching for it now.

[MingyuSun]

I am really sorry that I just noticed there is another question.
I just try, and I attached the outcome here. I also tried tar --help and tar --usage, many others will appear after that.

[xiangjun]

Okay. Now we have enough info to move forward. Please do the following:

• Double click msys icon to open a new shell.
• In the newly opened shell, type 'pwd'. It should show your home directory, something like: /home/xiangjun (in my case).
• Move (or copy) the downloaded tarball x3dna-v2.3-mingw-win.tar.gz into your home directory. Hopefully, you know how to get this step done.
• To verify that the x3dna-v2.3-mingw-win.tar.gz tarball is in indeed in your home directory, type "ls -l" (lower case L). Report back what you get with a screenshot.
• If the above steps all go well, run: "tar zxvfp x3dna-v2.3-mingw-win.tar.gz". Report back what you get with "ls -l" as above.

Xiang-Jun

[MingyuSun]

I am really sorry, I have not got that done. I tried three times, including try to reopen the shell after extracting the x3dna. A difference is the /home/ in my case. I showed you in the attachment.

[xiangjun]

Well, you seemed to get up to step #2. If you are the admin, then '/home/administrator' is your home directory. Now you need to move/copy or download x3dna-v2.3-mingw-win.tar.gz into that directory. On Windows, it should be in C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\home or something like that.

No matter in Cygwin or MinGW/MSYS, you need to have the corresponding 3DNA v2.3 tarball accessible in that environment. Your "ls -l" output shows that home directory is empty. Did you also notice the "No such file ..." error message?

Let's focus on MinGW/MSYS for now. You may use Cygwin as an exercise afterwards.

[MingyuSun]

I am really grateful for your kindness and patience! Thanks a lot! I think I have installed it. I am still trying to learn about the usage. Anyhow, I already have a great time time with it. You can't image how happy I am. And I will do the homework you left for me.