How can I obtain update information from the Internet at work and put it on diskette to update my computer at home?

There are two parts to this answer:

1. Ado-file updates
2. Executable updates

I. Ado-file updates

Every other month, we produce STB “software”. The software is available for free over the Internet to both subscribers and nonsubscribers. The “software” may be saved to the diskette from Carnegie Mellon’s STB mirror site, http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/stata.

An up-to-date list of STB-mirror sites may be found at stata.com/support/stb/faq/#other.

The STB media consists of

1. The STB software itself (containing the user-contributed material)
2. The first part of the official updates
3. The second part of the official updates

For updating Stata, it is (2) and (3) that you care about. When you go to one of these STB mirror sites, at the bottom of the list you will see clickables for

update1v6.zip

update2v6.zip

Download the two files. Unzip them, preserving the directory structure. Copy all the files, including subdirectories, for update1v6.zip to one diskette and update2v6.zip to a second diskette.

Take the two diskettes home. Once home, remember to install the update1 diskette before installing the update2 diskette. You will do the following:

1. Insert the update1 diskette, type

        . update from a:

and follow the instructions.

2. Insert the update2 diskette, type

        . update from a:

and follow the instructions.

Often the instructions after inserting the first diskette will literally be to “do nothing”. The instructions will say that because the updates on that diskette have previously been applied. Even so, do not skip the first diskette. It might tell you to do something, and you must install the diskettes in order.

This way you can install updates on your home computer every other month.

Alternatively, the STB “software” is available on media that can be ordered with a STB subscription. Contact stata@stata.com for pricing information

II. Binary executable updates

Stata does not update the executable very often and, even when we do, it is typically (not always) done to solve minor hardware problems. Because you have already installed the ado-file updates, your whatsnew.hlp file is up to date, so to find out whether it is worth the effort, type help whatsnew in Stata. We list the executable updates (even if you have not yet installed them) so that you can see what has changed.

You can obtain the binary executables from our website:

1. Point your browser to stata.com
2. Click “User support”
3. Click “Updates”

or you can go directly to: stata.com/support/updates.

You can copy the updated executables from our website, put them on diskettes, and take them home.