README file for AXIS, a front-end for EMC 
Copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2006 Jeff Epler <jepler@unpythonic.net> and
    Chris Radek <chris@timeguy.com>



ABOUT AXIS
==========

AXIS is a front-end for EMC with file preview and live plot.

The AXIS user interface is intended to be self-documenting by use of
familiar controls and plain English tooltips and menus.  A few less
evident features are documented by Help > Quick Reference.

Python 2.2 or newer with Tkinter is required.  Hardware accelerated
OpenGL is nice, but not required.

AXIS is believed to be compatible with the "cradek_stable" branch of
EMC1, the version of EMC1 on BDI-Live and BDI-4.xx, and EMC2.  AXIS is
not currently compatible with the CVS HEAD of EMC1.

AXIS's home page is http://axis.unpythonic.net/


INSTALLATION
============

In the AXIS source directory, run the installer as root:
    $ env EMCROOT=/xxx python setup.py install

For EMC1, EMCROOT is the absolute path to the directory where the "emc" and
"rcslib" directories reside.  For EMC1, you may also be required to give
the value for PLAT, the non-realtime platform that EMC is configured to
use.  In this case, the commandline would look like
    $ env EMCROOT=/xxx PLAT=yyy python setup.py install

For BDI4 and EMC2, EMCROOT is the absolute path to the "emc" directory.
It should not be necessary to specify PLAT for BDI4 and EMC2.

In some cases there is already an installed version of AXIS, but the
necessary environment to rebuild the extension modules is not present or
is difficult to set up.  In this case, use the environment variable
SIMPLEINSTALL to (re)install everything but the extension modules:
    $ env EMCROOT=/xxx PLAT=yyy SIMPLEINSTALL=yes python setup.py install
This doesn't always work, and even if it does you will be deprived
of any bugfixes or improvements to the extension modules.

For BDI 4.30, the install command is (all on one line)
    $ sudo env EMCROOT=/usr/local/emc SIMPLEINSTALL=yes python setup.py install
However, two serious memory leaks in the extension modules have been
fixed since the last version of AXIS packaged for BDI 4.xx.

To make EMC actually use AXIS as the front-end, find the "DISPLAY" line
in your ini file.  Change it to read "DISPLAY = axis".


LICENSE
=======

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA


Portions of the program, located in the "thirdparty" subdirectory of the
source distribution, are covered by other licenses.  Please see those
files for details.
