Cygwin runs under Windows and provides a lot of Linux comparability. It is more limited than full Linux but can be used for many purposes if a full Linux is not available.

Because of Windows security on drive C:, you may want to install Cygwin on another drive. I always have a D: and more drives, so I installed it on D:.

Cygwin can be installed on a portable hard drive or flash drive. I do not recommend a cheap flash drive as cheap flash drives tend to be slow.

A 1TB 2-1/2 inch drive and enclosure (get separately and put together) is fast but in the range of $70.

You can get a smaller and thinner M2.SATA SSD drive and enclosure (get separately and put together) this is fast but in the range of $70 (for a 240 GB).

I have found the portable hard drive a better option though not as compact as an M2 SATA SSD drive.

The Cygwin web site is at https://www.cygwin.com .

Download and run setup-x865_64.exe to both do an initial installation or to update an existing installation.

That means you should remember where you saved the installation/update executable file.

The step in the installation on 2020-03-13 are now presented.

One you double-click or start the installation, you will need to answer several Windows security prompts. The "Cygwin Setup" window appears.

• Click "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Choose Installation Type" window appears.

• Select "Install from Internet".
• Select "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Choose Installation Directory" window appears. The default is C:\cygwin64. I use D:\cygwin64 but you should only change this if you know what you are doing.

• Under "Install For" use the default of "All Users (RECOMMENDED)".
• Select "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Select Local Package Directory" window appears.

• Keep the default setting, unless you know what you are doing. This will be the default download directory. Note: Do not use my custom setting show in the image.
• Select "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Select Connection Type" window appears.

• Keep the default setting of "Use System Proxy Settings", unless you know what you are doing.
• Select "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Choose Download Site(s)" window appears.

• I usually use http://mirror.cs.vt.edu (Virginia Tech) but any site should work. Some my be slower or faster than others.
• Select "Next".

The available package information will be downloaded and displayed.

The "Cygwin Setup - Select Packages" window appears.

• Under "View" select "Not Installed". There are a huge number of packages from which to select.
• Typing a package name in the "Search" window can narrow down the number of choices.

Note: If you later need more packages, you need to run the install again. Just click "Next" until you get to this window, then select the desired packages and continue.

The following packages are needed to create, modify, run, and submit programs. See the next sections on how to do this.

Note: The text editor nano is recommended so that has one text editor in a Linux environment, even if, say, Notepad++ is your favorite editor in the Windows environment.

To select, say, curl, do the following.

• In the "Search" edit box, type "curl". A list of choices appears.
• Under "Package", on the line for "curl", double-click on line under "New" to select (or pick) the desired version.
• Continue until all desired packages have been selected.
• When all have been selected, select "Next".

The "Cygwin Setup - Review and confirm changes" window appears.

A large number of "Install" packages will appear. There is no easy way to check these, even for me, as the above required packages require many other packages.

• Select "Next".

The installation (download and copy) starts. This can take a while to complete (took about 10 minutes for me). The percentage complete is displayed in the title bar of the window as the installation progresses.

This minimal installation of Cygwin required the following for my system.

The "Cygwin Setup - Installation Status and Create Icons" window appears.

• Keep the check for "Create icon on Desktop".
• Keep the check for "Add icon to Start Menu".
• Select "Finish".

Now start Cygwin, either from the "Desktop" or the "Start Menu". It is suggested that you right click on the taskbar and lock/pin to taskbar to make it easier to start in the future.

The Cygwin command window appears. Here is where you type commands.

Note that certain starter files are copied. The .bashrc file will need modified for the RIDES system for classroom use.

The greeting terminal session window contains the following.

In this case, the following hold.

• ROBIN is the user of the machine.
• TX4 is the name (host name) of the machine.

The files listed can be modified to customize the Cygwin session.

• /home/ROBIN//.bashrc
• /home/ROBIN//.bash_profile
• /home/ROBIN//.inputrc
• /home/ROBIN//.profile

Note the double forward slashes and the dot (period) at the beginning of these (special) file names.

At the command line, type the following commands to insure that the required packages were installed.

If packages x is missing, the error will say something to the effect as follows.

If any commands are not found, go back and install them (using the above methods).

Type nano and press Enter. The nano text editor screen should appear. Press Ctrl-X to exit.

Type gcc and press Enter.

You should get the following.

This means that gcc was installed (but there was no C code file to process).

Type perl and press Enter. You should see nothing as perl is waiting for you to type a perl command. Press Ctrl-C.

Type make and press Enter. You should see the following.

• Type zip and press Enter. You should see the zip options.
• Type unzip and press Enter. You should see the zip options.