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sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 8:26 am
by Jordan_tango
Hey all, the search function didn't like "windows" so I'm not sure if something has been posted about this before...

I'm trying to run sbcl on my windows XP machine, for a class. I'm admittedly new to all this so apologies in advance for my primitive understanding of the topic. The class runs Common Music on Macs, but seeming as I will find it difficult to get access to the labs, I'd like to have a version running on my personal machine. I was suggested to try sbcl etc...

What I've done so far:

I downloaded sbcl-1.0.24-source.tar, emacs-22.3-bin-1386, slime and clm-4.tar. I created a folder in my c directory and called it home. and two inside that called jordan and bin. I installed emacs to C:\home\bin\emacs and sbcl to C:\home\bin\sbcl. I extracted SLIME to C:\home\bin\emacs\site-lisp\slime and clm to C:\home\clm-4. This was all done following this guide http://www.pchristensen.com/blog/articl ... indows-xp/. I continued following the guide, making the necessary modifications to .emacs etc.

When i open emacs i firstly open the directory C:\home\clm-4, where i can see a list of files including all.lisp. Then I run slime by doing M-x slime. Then i enter the command (load "all.lisp") but i get the error:

***
couldn't fork child process: No such file or directory
[Condition of type SIMPLE-ERROR]

Restarts:
0: [RETRY] Retry SLIME REPL evaluation request.
1: [ABORT] Return to SLIME's top level.
2: [ABORT] Abort
3: [CLOSE-CONNECTION] Close SLIME connection
4: [ABORT] Exit debugger, returning to top level.
***

Plus more... My tutor thought the problem might be a lack of a c compiler, although i do have cygwin installed. In any case i got a hold of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition and extracted it to c:\home\ms-visual-c (wasn't sure about where it should go). This didn't sort the problem, however.

Does anybody know where I'm going wrong? Maybe the wrong complier, or sbcl is the wrong place to start??

Thanks very much,
Jordan

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:00 pm
by nuntius
After it is built, SBCL does not need (or even use) an external C compiler.

The word I have is that SBCL on MSWin is 90+% done. There's just a couple known (but significant) problems that prevent it from being fully usable. The original developer, Alastair Bridgewater, never used MSWin as his primary platform and currently doesn't even have access to it; but he would be very happy to guide any hackers seeking lisp fame and fortune. Apparently, this wouldn't require much lisp knowledge, just a willingness to learn some x86 assembly and MSWin internals...

I'd try to run Common Music on another lisp. Does it have a list of supported OSs and implementations?

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 5:51 am
by Harleqin
I don't know what you mean by "opening this directory in emacs", but my first guess is that you didn't actually change the "working directory". Try to use the full path in your load command, as in (load "C:\home\clm-4\all.lisp").

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:32 am
by Jordan_tango
Hi,

thanks nuntius, so do you think I should try getting in contact with Alastair Bridgewater? As for other implementations, my tutor suggested using Allegro CL for a windows OS. I'm unsure how to get it running though...

Thanks too Harleqin, I'll give that a go when I get back, but when I open the directory as I have been doing, a list of files is printed, "all.lisp" being one of them... suggesting i'm in the right directory no?

Thanks, more suggestions are more than welcome!

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:07 am
by nuntius
Jordan_tango wrote: thanks nuntius, so do you think I should try getting in contact with Alastair Bridgewater? As for other implementations, my tutor suggested using Allegro CL for a windows OS. I'm unsure how to get it running though...
If you have time to dig in and fix this, then Alistair would be happy to show you what's broken. If you need this working next week, then I'd advise using another lisp for the time being.

Here's the link to Allegro's free (slightly crippled) version.
CLisp runs well on MSWin, but it might be too slow for realtime music.
Corman Lisp is another excellent option; I think it has the tightest integration with MSWin.

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:23 pm
by Balooga
nuntius wrote: Corman Lisp is another excellent option; I think it has the tightest integration with MSWin.
Corman Lisp doesn't work correctly with ASDF, so not exactly newbie friendly.

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:49 pm
by Jordan_tango
If you have time to dig in and fix this, then Alistair would be happy to show you what's broken. If you need this working next week, then I'd advise using another lisp for the time being.
Ok, do you have a contact email for him? I searched but couldn't find one. Just PM me. I'll try getting it to work in the long run, but look for alternatives in the mean time.
Here's the link to Allegro's free (slightly crippled) version.
CLisp runs well on MSWin, but it might be too slow for realtime music.
Corman Lisp is another excellent option; I think it has the tightest integration with MSWin.
Thanks very much for these. I downloaded Corman Lisp and went through a few tutorials. In class we open CM and type

Code: Select all

(use-system :clm)
Then we load an instrument we've been working with:

Code: Select all

(load "music/clm/samp1.ins")
Then we create sound files using with-sound commands such as:

Code: Select all

(with-sound (:srate 44100 :output "music/clm/test.wav")
   (samp1 "music/clm/rainstick.wav" 0
       :duration 5
       :srt 1.5))
This creates and plays test.wav.

Is there a way I could follow a similar process on corman lisp? i.e. would I be able to load this instrument and issue with-sound commands? (i tried to do this, but failed)

Thanks again

Re: sbcl on windows XP

Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:35 pm
by findinglisp
If you're just trying to get something working for a class, I would try either the free edition of LispWorks or CLISP. CLISP is free and works great on Windows. The free edition of LispWorks should work well on Windows, but has some limitations in terms of program size. For a class, however, I would think you can probably live with the limitations. LispWorks also comes with an editor and things which might save you trouble trying to install Emacs and such if you aren't otherwise familiar/comfortable with those.

My own Windows environment is CLISP/Windows.