Running multiple versions of GH on same machine

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Permalink Reply by Victor Leung on January 9, 2011 at 8:48pm

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/grasshopper-080001-availa...

I have got this relevant topic replied by David, but can I do the reverse? Having a old copy in the Rhinoceros 4.0\Plug-ins\ folder, and have a new version on a external folder?

And as a student, without administrative right, can I copy the installation from a machine (my home computer) to be used on another machine (run through a thumb drive perhaps?)?

Tks a lot.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on January 10, 2011 at 2:35am

Hi Victor,

 

Grasshopper actually doesn't require an installer as such. We could solve this by simply copying the files onto the disk, then instructing Rhino to load the GrasshopperPlugin.rhp

 

We also designed the installer to work without administrator privileges (precisely because many of our users are under the oppressive rule of inflexible IT departments), it will just put the files in the User Documents instead of Program Files. It is possible to configure Windows to block even an installer like this, but has that really happened here?

 

On the other hand, isn't it the IT departments job to make sure people can use the software they need? And if teachers are worried that old scripts no longer work in the new version, they should test that, and, when they find it indeed no longer works file a bug report since Grasshopper is supposed to be backwards compatible up to the moment when trees were added as a feature.

 

You can always revert to older versions if you keep the installer files available, so upgrading is by no means a permanent state of affairs.

 

--

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Victor Leung on January 10, 2011 at 3:45am

Thank you very much David, 

 

The department configured Windows such that no one is able to modify the programmes folder in the system drive. So GH installer doesn't work in this sense. But thanks for the explanation and the attention that "many worked under a oppressive rule of inflexible IT departments"

 

For backward compatibility, I'm not sure, but definitely some functions do change a bit. For example many thought that the new rectangle command draws rectangle from the corner of a plane instead of the middle. But in fact it is because the new rectangle takes a domain input not a double input anymore, and because a double plugged into a domain input, will be automatically casted into a domain that starts with zero and ends in that double,. Many would find the rectangle starts to draw from the corner of a plane immediately, but did not notice that they in fact plugged the wrong type of data. 

 

I'll test it out whether I could run the rtp from a external folder tomorrow. Thanks for replying.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on January 10, 2011 at 5:20am

Ok, so when you run the installer without administrator priviliges, it doesn't install files into the User folder instead (there should also be a message informing you this happened). It won't be able to uninstall the existing Grasshopper if that one is in Program Files, but when Rhino starts you should be able to drag+drop the GrasshopperPlugin.rhp from the user folder into Rhino and load the newer Grasshopper instead.

 

--

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Chris Tietjen on January 10, 2011 at 12:56am

Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which, literally, means "For this". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and which cannot be adapted to other purposes.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself...A policy of adding hogs to solve computer issues...hmmm, I wonder if that's like counting sheep??

Chris

Permalink Reply by Victor Leung on January 10, 2011 at 12:59am

yea yea yea, ad hoc, Chris

The counting sheep hypothesis is helpful.