Sd - Downloading for PC Compatibles

Both Sd and Sdtty are available for PC compatibles running Microsoft Windows.  (Note: summary of availability.)  They are believed to run under DOS, or Windows 3.1, NT4.0, 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11.

Sdtty (but not Sd) is available, in source form, for other systems with 64-bit hardware.

Sd and Sdtty are compiled for 64-bit systems. We believe that all modern computers can handle this. Version 39.29, the last one for 32-bit systems, will continue to be made available; see below.

The program is no longer maintained for Windows 3.1 or DOS. You can get the (very old) version 34.7 for those systems. See below. If you must download install3.exe below, you will get version 34.7.

For Windows, you can download the file "install.exe" from this web page onto your computer. It contains both Sd and Sdtty, and a copy of the manual and release notes. You can also download the documentation files shown below. The documentation files contain the same documents, packed into convenient form, that you can browse or download from the Documentation page.

Download the file(s) from your Web browser. 

Downloading things from the internet can be dangerous, and a lot of software is in place to protect you. The Sd installation program, that you will download below, is a "self-extracting archive". Such things are particularly dangerous, because they disgorge executables from inside themselves onto your computer. So it may seem that your anti-virus mechanisms are going out of their way to make the installation difficult. This is as it must be.

There are three pieces of software in place to protect your computer from viruses:

1. The browser itself (actually, an anti-virus package that has been installed with it) may try to stop you from downloading "install.exe". You may get a popup saying something like "Take me back to safety" or "I understand the risks, take me there anyway." Choose the latter.
2. Your operating system (actually, whatever anti-virus package you may be using) may find the creation of the new "install.exe" suspicious, and may warn you, or, depending on how aggressive it is, simply delete it. You may need to temporarily disable that check. For BitDefender, that could consist of starting the antivirus package, clicking on "protection", and "antivirus", and "open". Then choose "advanced", "bitdefender shield", and click it off for a few minutes.
3. Once "install.exe" is safely on your computer and you have launched it, your operating system may recognize that it could be dangerous because it changes the software on your computer. It may ask permission to run it. Say yes.

   Your mileage may vary, of course.

   All versions of install.exe are scanned for viruses before release, and the computer on which Sd is developed is scanned frequently.

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   • Modern Windows: download install.exe which has Sd and Sdtty for PC compatibles running Windows.

     After downloading, you should have a file named install.exe. Do the actual installation by launching that file. (Or perhaps the system will do that for you.) It will ask you for the location in which to place the program. Unless you are doing something extremely unusual, type ``C:\sd''. That's the location where it has traditionally been stored. It will overwrite the previous program, but will not affect other files, such as written sequences or your sd.ini file.

   • Old Windows: Nearly all modern computers should be able to handle the 64-bit program. If yours doesn't, download install32.exe, which has Sd and Sdtty version 39.29 for 32-bit Windows, and follow directions.

   • Windows 3.1 or DOS: download install3.exe which has Sdtty version 34.7 for PC compatibles running Windows 3.1 or DOS. You probably don't want this. Only extremely old computers (prior to 2002) will need it.

   • Linux: download linux.tgz into your chosen directory. It is typically ~/sd, that is, a created sd directory subordinate to your home directory. But it can be anywhere.

     After downloading, you should have a file named linux.tgz,which is a gzipped Unix archive. Unpack it (that is, tar -zxvf linux.tgz) into the chosen directory. It will create the "sdtty" executable, along with the calls database. It will overwrite the previous program, but will not affect other files, such as written sequences or your sd.ini file. If this program does not work for you, download the source files and compile.

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   You can also download the documentation files in "bulk" form to your computer.

   Use these for Windows or DOS:

   • Download textdoc.zip which has all documentation in plain text form.
   • Download pdfdoc.zip which has all documentation in Acrobat form.

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   Use these for Linux or other varieties of Unix:
   • Download textdoc.tar.gz which has all of the above documents in plain text form.
   • Download pdfdoc.tar.gz which has all of the above documents in Acrobat form.

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4. Launching any or all of these:

    > textdoc
    > pdfdoc
   

   will unpack the requested documentation files.

5. You may now delete the .exe or .tgz files or save them for backup purposes.

6. If you are upgrading from a previous version, read the Release Notes.