MathPiperIDE is a cross-platform application and it runs on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.  The download files for MathPiperIDE can be found on the project website here:

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper/downloads/list

The MathPiperIDE download file includes MathPiper and installation instructions for it are below.

Installing Sun's Java Implementation

MathPiperIDE is a Java-based application and therefore a current version of Sun's Java (at least Java 6) must be installed on your computer before MathPiperIDE can be run.

Installing Java On A Windows PC

Many Windows PCs will already have a current version of Java installed. You can test to see if you have a current version of Java installed by visiting the following web site:

http://java.com/

This web page contains a link called "Do I have Java?" which will check your Java version and tell you how to update it if necessary.

The 64 Bit Version Of Windows Needs The 64 Bit Version Of Java

If you are using the 64 bit version of Windows, then you will need the 64 bit version of Java. The 64 bit version of Java can be obtained here:

https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_Developer-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=jre-6u16-oth-JPR@CDS-CDS_Developer

Installing Java On A Macintosh

Macintosh computers have Java pre-installed but you may need to upgrade to a current version of Java (at least Java 6) before running MathPiperIDE. If you need to update your version of Java, visit the following website:

http://developer.apple.com/java.

Installing Java On A Linux PC

Locate the Java documentation for your Linux distribution and carefully follow the instructions provided for installing a Java 6 compatible version of Java on your system.

Downloading And Extracting

MathPiperIDE is hosted at Google and the URL for the project website is:

http://code.google.com/p/mathpiper

MathPiperIDE can be obtained by selecting the downloads tab and choosing the correct download file for your computer. Place the download file on your hard drive where you want MathPiperIDE to be located. For Windows users, it is recommended that MathPiperIDE be placed somewhere on c: drive.

The MathPiperIDE download consists of a main directory (or folder) called mathpiperide which contains a number of directories and files. In order to make downloading quicker and sharing easier, the mathpiperide directory (and all of its contents) have been placed into a single compressed file called an archive. For Windows systems, the archive has a .zip extension and the archives for Unix-based systems have a .tar.bz2 extension.

After an archive has been downloaded onto your computer, the directories and files it contains must be extracted from it. The process of extraction uncompresses copies of the directories and files that are in the archive and places them on the hard drive, usually in the same directory as the archive file. After the extraction process is complete, the archive file will still be present on your drive along with the extracted MathPiperIDE directory and its contents.

The archive file can be easily copied to a CD or USB drive if you would like to install MathPiperIDE on another computer or give it to a friend. However, don't try to run MathPiperIDE from a USB drive because it will not work correctly.

(Note: If you already have a version of MathPiperIDE installed and you want to install a new version in the same directory that holds the old version, you must delete the old version first or move it to a separate directory.)

Extracting The Archive File For Windows Users

Usually the easiest way for Windows users to extract the MathPiperIDE archive file is to navigate to the folder which contains the archive file (using the Windows GUI), right click on the archive file (it should appear as a folder with a vertical zipper on it), and select Extract All... from the pop up menu.

After the extraction process is complete, a new folder called MathPiperIDE should be present in the same folder that contains the archive file. (Note: be careful not to double click on the archive file by mistake when you are trying to open the MathPiperIDE folder. The Windows operating system will open the archive just like it opens folders and this can fool you into thinking you are opening the MathPiperIDE folder when you are not. You may want to move the archive file to another place on your hard drive after it has been extracted to avoid this potential confusion.)

Extracting The Archive File For Unix Users

One way Unix users can extract the download file is to open a shell, change to the directory that contains the archive file, and extract it using the following command:

tar -xvjf <name of archive file>

If your desktop environment has GUI-based archive extraction tools, you can use these as an alternative.