You can install BRAHMS on Windows systems. BRAHMS will not run under other operating systems unless they are Windows compliant. Fully installed, BRAHMS requires less than 40 Mbytes. The help file, if downloaded, requires an additional 30 Mbytes or so. You will of course need extra space for data, images, map resources files, etc.
The entire BRAHMS system is provided in a single zip file. You need to expand this zip file to where ever you want to locate the BRAHMS6 folder.
Everything you need to operate BRAHMS is contained with this BRAHMS6 folder and thus it is unlikely you will need any special administration level rights if your PC is hooked up on a network and/or their are other local restrictions.
The BRAHMS6 folder is read only and can thus be installed to a read only application folder/drive.
Installation steps
The following notes apply to single-user and networked multi-user systems.
- Before you start, check where your active users file is. This will be useful later on. To do this, log in to BRAHMS with Admin access, choose Admin > Users and access permissions and make a note of the path to USERS.DBF provided on that screen. The default location is brahms6\users but the file may have been re-located.
- Log out of BRAHMS and, if running BRAHMS on a network, kick everyone out of the system. Clearly, you can't delete or rename the BRAHMS6 folder if it is being used.
- If upgrading an existing database, it makes sense to back up the database(s) to be upgraded. Remember, when you make backups, don't overwrite your last backup file. Make a new one to a zip file that includes the date in the file name - and copy the archive to another disk.
- Delete any BRAHMS work folders on your workstation. These are used for temporary files. The work files will be named C:\tempfiles-BRAHMS or similar. These folders don't include any original data, just temp files. If you run BRAHMS on a network, individual users will need to delete these folders on their workstations. But don't worry because - when the user(s) next log in, if they have not done this, BRAHMS issues a reminder. The work folders will be automatically re-created when they log into the new version.
- If upgrading an existing version of the BRAHMS software that has been in use, initially rename your current BRAHMS6 folder to BRAHMS6OLD or similar. By maintaining the old system, you will be able to revert to this folder if there is a problem with the new installation. Also, you will be able to restore your existing user and project list AND your multi-user key (if you have one) from the old system after successful installation of the new.
- Goto the Software page on the BRAHMS website and download the installation zip file to your desktop or any temp folder.
- Extract the zip file to a selected folder. If you expand to C:, this will create C:\BRAHMS6. If you expand to C:\My programs. this will create C:\My programs\BRAHMS6. If you expand to N:\Why I like Thomas the Train. this will create N:\Why I like Thomas the Train\BRAHMS6. Spaces in folder names are permitted.
- Create a desktop shortcut to the file BRAHMS.EXE which will be located in your new BRAHMS6 folder. If you (and other network users) already have a shortcut, these should still work, assuming BRAHMS is installed to the same location as before.
- Obtain an activation key from the BRAHMS website, unzip this file and copy the key file brahmskey.mem to your BRAHMS6 system folder (the same location as BRAHMS.EXE).
- Do you have a multi-user key? It probably has not changed so copy the file brahmskeymu.mem from the BRAHMS6OLD folder to the new folder.
- Log in. If your database requires upgrading - you'll see a message as below:
Just select yes then sit back and relax ... Some additional notes on BRAHMS upgrading are available.
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