Spin™ Download Mirror Site

Free Trial Download

Download Spin, and try it out for 30 days for free. The download is a complete and fully functional version of Spin and is not limited in any way, except that it will stop working in 30 days.

After you download Spin, you will need to register here to get a free key to unlock Spin for 30 days.

You should also go to the Spinterest mailing list page and sign up to be notified about updates and changes to Spin.

See also the Spin Installation Guide.

Updates

Platforms

Spin requires a JDK (Java Developer's Kit) or SDK (Software Developer's Kit) to run, not just a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) or JRE (Java Runtime Environment) because it requires a Java compiler to compile scripts.

Applications created using Spin should run on any computer that has a Java Virtual Machine (unless you use any components that have platform dependencies).

Download SpinInstall.exe (13.5MB). Run the installer and follow the instructions.

The installer will ask you to select a Java Virtual Machine for your application. The default is "Install JRE specifically for this application." This choice installs IBM's JRE and Jikes compiler. We strongly encourage you to run Spin using this version of Java. You should do this even if you already have a different version of Java installed on your computer. Windows can have multiple versions of Java installed at the same time.

The only reason to use a different version of Java is if you are using components in Spin that require a specific version of Java (for example, Java 2). In this case, the version of Java that you want to use must be installed before you install Spin. When you install Spin, the installer will let you select the version of Java that you want to use.

In addition to the IBM JRE, Spin is compatible with Sun's JDK 1.1.8 and Java 2 SDK (JDK 1.2.2) (and above). Spin requires the JDK, not just a JVM.

Note that if you know you will not be using Spin's version of Java and you want to save the download time, Zat has a smaller version of SpinInstall.exe (8.0MB). This installer does not include Java, but is otherwise identical.

You must download and install the Apple MRJ 2.2 Installer and the MRJ Software Development Kit (SDK) 2.2. Then download and install SpinInstall.bin (8.4MB).

The Spin installer is MacBinary encoded and will automatically be decoded after downloading. If it does not, you can decode it using the free StuffIt Expander Once decoded, double click on SpinInstall and follow the instructions.

The Spin installation also includes a file 'Spin.bin' that is a double-clickable Spin executable with registered Mac filetypes for zac (Zat capsule) and zap (Zat project) files. Installation of this file will allow you to simply double click on Zat capsule and project files to open them directly in Spin. To install it, expand the file 'Spin.bin' with StuffIt Expander, then rename the resulting file from 'Spin.bin.1' to 'Spin' (after deleting the original 'Spin' executable).

Spin requires MRJ 2.1.4 (or above) and the MRJ SDK from Apple. To see what version of MRJ you have on your machine do a "Get Info" command on System Folder : Extensions : MRJ Libraries : MRJLib. If no such file exists, then you do not have MRJ.

Spin should also work with more recent versions of the MRJ. See Apple's MRJ site for newer versions. Make sure you also install the MRJ Software Development Kit (SDK). Spin requires the Java compiler in the SDK in order to run.

Download SpinInstall.bin (7.7MB).

Before installing, you must have the JDK (Java Developer's Kit) for your UNIX platform installed. Note that just having a Java runtime (JVM) is not enough — a Java compiler is required to run Spin. You can download the JDK from Sun's Java site, or from your computer's vendor. We have had good luck with versions of the JDK from IBM.

Make SpinInstall.bin executable (using chmod) and run it to install Spin (it is a shell script with an appended binary file). If you are on a system which gives you a choice of JVMs to run the installer, keep picking them one at a time starting with the most recent until you find one that works.

Once Spin is installed, to run Spin you should be able to start it using the installed 'Spin' executable. Unfortunately, on some systems, including Solaris, this does not work. We have included a shell script, Spin.sh, for you to use instead.

If all else fails, contact us at info@zat.com and tell us exactly what you did and exactly what happened (also tell us exactly what system you are running on, which version of the JDK, etc.) You can also try the generic installer, which follows.

Download install.zip (7.7MB).

Before you install, you must have the appropriate JDK (Java Developer's Kit) for your machine. Note that just having a Java runtime (JVM) is not enough — a Java compiler is required to run Spin. You can download the JDK from Sun, IBM, or from your computer's vendor.

To run the installer,

Make sure the JDK file classes.zip (found in the lib subdirectory of the JDK installation directory) is in your CLASSPATH.

On Unix or Unix-like operating systems, type
jre -nojit -cp install.zip install

On other platforms invoke Java on install.zip and specify that the main class of the installer is named install.

If you system doesn't have the concept of a system CLASSPATH, try using the -classpath option to specify the path to the JDK classes.zip file explicitly in the command to invoke Java.

See also the Spin Installation Guide.

Download SpinDocs.zip (0.5MB) +++ NOT AVAILABLE YET +++ Use the online documentation for now.

On the Macintosh, you can expand this file using the free StuffIt Expander.

JDK Documentation