Installation

Backing up your databases

Please backup your databases before installing LispMe. It's very unlikely that LispMe destroys other databases and it never happened in the final tests, but better safe than sorry...

Deleting older versions

Please delete any older versions of LispMe with the Memory application before installing V3.2. The DB format has changed and a crash is possible when LispMe finds an earlier version of its memory dump, though LispMe now employs a heap check to recognize old databases.

Choosing versions

Starting with V3.0, only PalmOS3 and later are supported and only one executable LispMe.prc is included in the distribution. Sorry, but there's no LispMe for PalmOS1 or PalmOS2 anymore. The reasons for this are:

I wanted to include floating point numbers and the FP support in V1.0 is positively braindead. Including gcc's FP library would fatten LispMe's code, but OS2 includes decent IEEE FP routines (not for I/O, these are still braindead) and supports shared libraries. So using the ROM FP code for basic operations and the freely available MathLib for transcendental functions induced minimal overhead for FP in LispMe.
The ever-increasing memory needs of newer LispMe versions can't be fulfilled by PalmOS1 anymore. Believe me, I tried, but it wasn't usable anymore...
Last but not least: Scrollbar for output field
Even PalmOS2 had memory restrictions and missing API calls I hadn't time and motivation to circumvent.

LispMe checks the OS version and uses different API calls in some circumstances (for color support, e.g.). So it's easy: If you're running PalmOS1 or PalmOS2, forget it, if you're running PalmOS3 or later, just install LispMe.prc.

Needing math?

LispMe supports transcendental functions like atan. However, LispMe does not implement these functions, but uses a standard Pilot library called MathLib for this purpose. LispMe will work without MathLib, but you can't use transcendental functions without it. MathLib is included in this package for your convenience. So if you already installed MathLib or decide to dispense with it, go to the next section. Otherwise install MathLib.prc.

Want to develop interactive programs?

To create dialogs for LispMe, there're several possibilities. To create resources directly on your Pilot, you can install RsrcEdit.prc.

In any case you should install GUIdemo.prc in the gui subdirectory. This file contains combined resources of the 5 User interface Sample programs. Please note that GUIdemo.prc has changed in V3.1.

Installing Parentheses Hack

You have to install HackMaster (or one of its successors, like X-Master) to use Parentheses Hack. You probably already installed it, but if not, go here to get it. Parentheses Hack simplifies entering of LispMe programs, but isn't really necessary for LispMe to work.

Beginning with version 3.2, LispMe has builtin parentheses matching, so you don't need Parentheses Hack anymore. (It's nevertheless useful for an external editor you write Scheme code with!)

Just use your favorite installation tool to install ParHack.prc and activate it via HackMaster. Don't forget to deactivate Parentheses Hack in HackMaster before installing a new version!

Setting up MemoPad and installing demos

LispMe expects all memos to be loaded in the MemoPad category LispMe. If this is the first time you install LispMe, you should create a MemoPad category LispMe (case does matter) in your desktop MemoPad. Import the file samples.csv into this category (unselect the private field in the import dialog), even if you already installed an earlier version of LispMe, since some demos have changed. If you modified earlier demos, you have to carefully mix your changes with the new demos.

Alternatively, you can use the install-memo tool from the Pilot Link suite to transfer each .txt file in the sample directory. Invoke it with

    install-memo -c LispMe port samples/*.txt

The new or changed sample programs are

; Standard library
; IR Chat

The memo ; Builtins is no more needed since LispMe now handles primitive operations according to the standard, so you can delete it if you upgraded from an earlier version.

Pilot setup

If you've been using LispMe 2.4 or ealier, the startup dialog will be unfamiliar to you, but LispMe supports multiple sessions now, so you have to create a new session and give it a name first. See here how to create, modify and delete sessions.

You should change the session's memory preferences. Select Memory Sizes according to these guidelines:

The sizes you select directly affect the size of the database LispMe uses.
The default memory sizes are much too low for some demos to load. To load the standard library you need at least 8k. Some other demos require even more.
If you don't need floating point, leave the setting at its minimum (8 bytes)
Set the atom size to the maximum you'll probably need (atoms aren't garbage collected)
The heap size almost doesn't affect performance. 4 times collecting a 32k heap is about the same as 32 times collecting a 4k heap. (Unless your code struggles along the maximum size and forces a garbage collection every few machine steps)
The output size doesn't affect performance,

That's it!

Have a look at the demos and have fun with LispMe!

Removing LispMe

Are you sure you really want to do this? OK, removing LispMe from your Pilot involves two steps:

Remove all starter icons. The easiest way to do this is starting Lispme, going to the sessions dialog and uncheck all checkboxes in the column labeled Icon
Removing LispMe itself in the standard app launcher. All session datbases will be deleted, too.

If you omitted the first step, that's no problem, just delete each starter application with the launcher.