[Squeakland] Squeak fails to run after install: security problems?

[Scott Wallace]

Hi, Simon,

Both the squeakland.org-based "development" variant of the current  
Squeakland image and the squeak.org-based "Squeak3.8.1" would likely  
suit your purposes pretty well.

Urls for these two are:

http://www.squeakland.org/installers/SqueakPluginImage-dev.zip

and

http://ftp.squeak.org/3.8/Squeak3.8.1-6747-full.zip


If you adopt either of these, you'll also want to obtain the  
SqueakV3.sources file from:

http://ftp.squeak.org/3.8/SqueakV3.sources.gz

and also get the VM appropriate to your platform, if you don't  
already have it, from:

http://ftp.squeak.org/3.8/

And if you use the Squeakland development image, be sure to load code  
updates.


The "squeakland.org" alternative is essentially the same as the  
standard Squeakland "plug-in" image currently in use in schools  
around the world, but additionally comes with a "changes" file, which  
anyone orchestrating Morphic from straight Smalltalk code (as opposed  
to etoy scripts) is likely to want.  Projects created with this image  
will be freely readable by all recent (from the past two years)  
Squeakland images on any platform, and conversely projects created  
with any recent Squeakland will be usable into your development image.

The "squeak.org" alternative has the advantage that it comes with  
SqueakMap and Monticello (and some other packages) pre-installed.  A  
marginal downside however is that it does not come with the  
Connectors package pre-installed, which the Squeakland image does have.

It's possible to install SqueakMap and Monticello into a Squeakland- 
based image, and to install packages found on SqueakMap into such an  
image.  It is unfortunate that Squeakland releases are not listed on  
SqueakMap, so no SqueakMap packages indicate which, if any, versions  
of Squeakland image they are appropriate for.  However, in nearly  
every case it works fine to load packages designated for "Squeak3.8"  
into Squeakland images.

----------------------

Your needs could also, as you suggest, be served by 3.9, the latest  
"stable" release from squeak.org.  However, afaik 3.9 projects are  
incompatible with 3.8 images, and vice-versa, and I think that most  
education-oriented users, below university level at any rate, are  
using Squeakland images.  Also, all of the active enhancements, bug- 
fixes, documentation writing, and support that have been done for  
etoys within the past couple of years have been done in 3.8-based  
systems and on the Squeakland mailing list.

OTOH discussions about programming in Morphic, about use of  
SqueakMap, etc. are are much more likely to be found on the squeak- 
dev mailing list:

http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/squeak-dev

and/or the Squeak "beginner's list":

http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners

so you would probably benefit from subscribing to those lists as well  
as the Squeakland mailing-list, regardless of which version you  
decide to use.

Hope this helps,

   -- Scott


On Feb 7, 2007, at 1:46 PM, Simon Guest wrote:

> For background, I have served my time as a professional
> programmer (C, C++, Java, Ada, Perl, Python, Haskell, but no
> Smalltalk) for 15 years or so, but recently left all that to become a
> maths teacher.  I am looking for ways of presenting mathematical ideas
> in an interesting and dynamic way to my classes of 11 to 18 year olds,
> and also for software that the students themselves can get their hands
> on.
>
> It seems to me that Smalltalk and Squeak in particular (via Morphic)
> provide a very malleable medium for creating such dynamic interactive
> stuff.  By contrast, Powerpoint, for instance, simply forces me to
> follow a carefully prepared script, rather than allowing for
> interaction and investigation in a classroom context.
>
> I have done a tiny amount of Smalltalk programming to produce some
> classroom demonstrators of simple concepts, but find sadly I have
> little time to do anything substantial.  So, onto Morphic and/or Etoys
> and direct manipulation, which I have used successfully to illustrate
> some ideas in the classroom.
>
> What I like about Squeak is:
> - direct manipulation with Morphic is very productive
> - Etoy scripting sometimes does just what I want, and when it does,
> it's a quick way of building something (perhaps the balance will
> change as I get better at Smalltalk)
> - there's some good stuff on SqueakMap
>
> Questions I have include these:
>
> 1. When I find something doesn't work, I'm not sure if it's because it
>    broke recently, or never worked.  This is part of the "which
>    version should I be using?" question.  For example, if what I'm  
> building
>    starts filling up the screen, I saw I could shift-drag to select a
>    group of objects, and use Extras->Put In a Window, which would  
> enable
>    me to temporarily minimize a group of morphs.  But this gives
>    MessageNotUnderstood.  Is there a version of Squeak in which this
>    works?  Would it be easily fixable in the current developer  
> version?
>
> 2. From what you say, and my experiments, it seems Etoys still works
>    OK in the latest developer version (well, I have been using 3.9).
>    But discussion on squeak-dev seems to suggest Etoys are not a
>    priority in this development strand, so do I need to be using a
>    different version to maintain a good experience of Etoys?
>
> 3. The Squeak plugin looks like a good way to deploy Squeak content to
>    others in school.  But I'm not sure what to do if something I want
>    to use is not in the Squeakland image.
>
> I guess I'm halfway between dabbling in Smalltalk and dabbling in
> Etoys, and am not sure which version is right for me.
>
> I think I've rambled too much here.  Sorry about that.
>
> cheers,
> Simon