Installing under Windows

SPECTRUM and selected auxiliary programs can be run under Windows using the precompiled binaries available on the distribution page. These binaries were compiled using MinGW (http://www.mingw.org/). It is not necessary for you to download and install MinGW to use these binaries, however, as they will run in a DOS (or C prompt) window. The binaries come in the form of a zipfile, spectrumXXX.zip, which should be downloaded and unzipped in a folder. I recommend that these binaries be installed in a folder directly under the c: prompt, for instance, c:$\backslash$spectrum, instead of under ``My Documents'', as the blanks that are permitted in Windows folder and file names are not fully compatible with a program written for a Linux/UNIX environment. You will also have to install the file stdatom.dat, the linelist file, and the stellar atmosphere models into the same directory.

These executable binaries all have the extension .exe, and were compiled under XP. They should operate under Vista, but I have not had the opportunity to test them. To run SPECTRUM open a C: prompt window, and change to the spectrum directory (for instance, cd c:$\backslash$spectrum). To carry out the test outlined in the next section, simply type spectrum at the prompt and respond appropriately to all of the questions.

SPECTRUM may be run under Windows using a GUI. Please see §  for more information.