Installing IPython on win2k

[Tim G]

Dave Merrill wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to python, and ipython, but not to programming, having
trouble
> getting ipython installed on windows 2000, python 233. Any help would
be
> much appreciated; I'm sure I'm being some basic flavor of dense...

First of all, rest assured that it does work (and quite
easily) so welcome to Python and iPython and I hope
the going's a bit smoother as you go along.

> Then downloaded ipython-0.6.6.zip and unzipped it. When I
double-click
> setup.py, I get only a brief wait cursor; nothing else happens, and
> importing ipython as a test fails.

First of all, ipython isn't really an import into python; you run
it and it runs python (if you understand me). So when you've
installed it, I think it puts an item on your start menu. On
linux, it puts an executable ipython onto your path.

I've just downloaded and run the setup.py, and it does
create a Start Menu item which will start iPython. Look
out for that and see if it does the business.

> Both files in the scripts dir, ipython and pycolor, have no filename
> extension, which seems odd to my newbie eye. I tried renaming them to
.py,
> still no difference.

This is a unixism. Some unix types decry the use of file extensions
because the information the extension gives -- which executable
program to use -- is already embedded in the first line of a file.

>
> My apologies for this basic question, and my no doubt ignorant
flailing
> about. Very much looking forward to getting this working.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dave Merrill

Good luck and happy hunting

TJG