dsktool.rb and Ruby Questions

["Bill Buckels" <bbuckels@mts.net>]

I am working in Windows Xp. Being new both to Ruby and dsktool.rb here's 
what I did:

1. Created a directory c:\dsktool with a cmd prompt shorcut to start in 
c:\dsktool, then
Visit http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=3844&release_id=24071 and download

http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/40056/dsktool-0.5.1.gem

Into the c:\dsktool directory.

2. Visit http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/ and use Ruby 1.8.6 One-Click 
Installer -

http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/29263/ruby186-26.exe

I installed ruby in its entirety with the exception of the european 
keyboard.

3. Here's where the problems started:


C:\dsktool>gem install dsktool-0.4.2.gem
ERROR:  While executing gem ... (RuntimeError)
    Error instaling dsktool-0.4.2.gem:
        dsktool requires png = 1.0.0

This certainly was not noted on the jamtronix site. I think the only 
allusion was "If all goes well" or something fluffy like that.

So I uninstalled ruby and reinstalled ruby. The uninstaller truncated my 
path environment I think. When I reinstalled ruby I needed to add 
c:\ruby\bin to the path manually so the installer seems not to have worked a 
second time which again did not surprise me.

Reinstalling didn't work any better because I tried to use gem again and 
still the same error message. So I couldn't use the dsktool.rb program.

Darn! So here I am with a truncated path, and some cr*p that doesn't work. I 
think under the circumstances that is a fair and proper reaction and don't 
go blaming Bill Gates. Read further.

Total disk space required:

For Ruby:

    Total Files Listed:
          21518 File(s)     80,717,143 bytes
           9029 Dir(s)  86,752,182,272 bytes free

For dsktool and the ruby installer (optional):

     Total Files Listed:
               3 File(s)     25,990,539 bytes
               2 Dir(s)  86,752,161,792 bytes free


I am not surprised. Initially I thought that this whole ruby business 
smacked of a heavily documented expert runtime system that would prevent the 
average Windows user from running programs written in ruby. I still do.

At this point I have some questions:

1. Is ruby destructive bloatware? Or is there someone in their right mind 
who would install over 21,000 files to run a program and then not be able to 
run it?

2.  Is it  irresponsible to suggest that the world at large who happen to be 
Windows users consider it and programs that run in it seriously?

These are reasonable questions based on my experience so far.

"jonnosan" <jonnosan@gmail.com> wrote in message
15974ed8-7b02-4410-99f0-badc11f3a07a@v13g2000pro.googlegroups.com">news:15974ed8-7b02-4410-99f0-badc11f3a07a@v13g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
>the last version of dsktool  ( http://dsktool.jamtronix.com/ ) does support
>formatting of and writing to CP/M disk images.

But does ruby support Windows and does ruby support dsktool.rb I wonder?

This might be the worst thing I have experienced my 30 years of computing 
next to things like a hard disk crash. I will recover without problems of 
course but would the average Windows user?

Unless and until someone can tell me how to get this fixed quickly and 
without much effort on my part, I will consider proclaiming loudly and 
clearly on my website at www.cpm8680.com and in fact at every opportunity 
the same accounting that I am sharing with you today.

Now if the problem is mine, which although possible, should have been 
experienced by others and noted very clearly, I will of course mention this 
as well. But I've got about 100 or so C compilers and the java run time and 
other stuff on here that all works. Even Apple Commander works:) MSys and 
MinGW work. Cygwin works. Qt works. I got compilers running in DosBox, Apple 
II, Apple GS, C64, C128, and Amiga emulators and a dog and a pony and they 
all work. I've got assemblers running on CP/M floppies, etc.etc. This 
program doesn't.

And considering the initial effort to run dsktool.rb I think this is all an 
indefensible joke.

My next question is:

What do I do next? In one sentence if someone has the answer.

For the rest of you Windows users I would suggest holding-off on trying what 
I am doing although I would be delighted to hear from someone who is not a 
ruby developer and was able to accomplish this in a straight forward manner. 
I would even be happy to hear from a ruby developer who can answer my 
questions reasonably.

Not ready for prime time I think. However it is someone else's turn to 
speak.

This should be good:)

Have Fun!

Bill Buckels

PS - jonnason, you must be very brave.
PS - the cpmtools binaries under Windows don't take much space and don't 
need anything special to run. why would someone want dsktool.rb ?