With pd-0.47 this is a simple guide how to install GEM on Windows:
- create C:/Users/You/AppData/Roaming/Pd (the user specific standard path on Windows) if it doesn't exist yet.
- open Pd -> find externals -> search for 'gem' -> download
- create a new patch and create [declare -stdlib gem -stdpath gem]. the gem library is now loaded and gem abstractions can be found in this patch all subpatches.
for OSX and Linux it's the same except for the user specific standard path (see Alex' HOWTO).
if you don't want to create a [declare] all the time, you can add "gem" to "Startup..." and the Gem folder path to "Path..."
once the folder is created, installing another library (which is not a single binary pack) is as simple as:
- search and install from deken
- [declare -stdpath libname] or add the folder path to "Path..." (the latter needs a restart of Pd).
How is that complicated? Or more complicated than:
install Extended, or install Purr Data, or copy the lib binaries from those into my course material, or use a live Linux distro, or use a preinstalled RasPi, or do every other crazy/complicated thing
Of course there can be always improvements made to deken but I think we got to a point where it's already really easy and convenient to use. I think we just have to communicate things and Alex' HOWTO is a great starting point. 14 pages (with a huge font size) is not a lot and it contains essential information every Pd user has to know.
but for a workshop situation like yours you can just use a quick guide like above.
Christof
Gesendet: Sonntag, 30. Juli 2017 um 12:30 Uhr Von: "Derek Holzer via Pd-list" pd-list@lists.iem.at An: pd-list@lists.iem.at Betreff: Re: [PD] New users and external path struggles
Chiming in here as well. At least one factor instigating this current thread was me asking in the Facebook group if there is a simple, canonical way of installing GEM via deken.
Of note: every reply apart from Alexandre's told me I should install Extended, or install Purr Data, or copy the lib binaries from those into my course material, or use a live Linux distro, or use a preinstalled RasPi, or do every other crazy/complicated thing *besides* use deken. This is how the user community perceives the situation at this moment.
Disclaimer: I am aware that GEM does not run on 64 bit, and I could not use Extended because I required the [metro] object from Pd >= 0.45
I just did a one day workshop last weekend, and after giving the participants pre-flight instructions on how to install GEM that worked fine for me, 10 out of 12 could not create the GEM objects.
If it's only a 5 hour workshop and you spend more than an hour dealing with each participant's individual system to install and config while the others sit around and wait, what this tells me is that the deken system might not be ready for prime time yet.
Alexandre's document is great, but new users will not read 14 pages to install libs they have never used before. I miss Extended for this ease-of-use terribly, and I wonder how after two decades of Pd these issues still haven't been addressed completely in a systematic way which allows people to simply install and go (as Extended did once upon a time).
I guess it's important to debate whether it's "correct" to allow Pd to create directories etc etc, but the real crash test should still be whether a classroom full of undergrad art students on mixed platforms, and who don't just-so-happen-to-have a background in CompSci as well, can get things up and running without stress.
Best Sunday wishes to all. Derek
-- derek holzer noise.art.technology http://macumbista.net
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