Index
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What
do I need to know before I start?
You should be comfortable with manipulating files on your computer. Namely, creating directories, moving files, copying files and deleting files. If you are not comfortable doing this yet then downloading and setting up programs will be more difficult, and you should probably start out by learning these basics first. Any bookstore will have several beginner books to choose from, as will most public libraries.
What
are the General Steps in Downloading Software
- Create a temporary directory somewhere on your hard drive. You will use this directory to download your programs into. Make sure this directory is empty before each download.
- When you click on a program file to download, you will either be asked if you want to save it to disk or to view it (run it). You want to save it to disk. When you tell it to do that, or if your program assumed you wanted to save to disk in the first place, you will be asked where you want to save it. Locate your temporary directory and select that as the place to download to.
- Most programs you will download from the Internet are compressed files. A compressed file is basically a bunch of files jammed into one for easier downloading. The unfortunate thing about compressed files is that you have to decompress them before the files inside them are usable.
- Once you have downloaded this file or any self extracting file onto your hard drive, locate the file using File Manager (Windows 3.1) or Windows Explorer (Windows 95) and run it, that is, double click on it. This will extract all the files inside of it. If you don't see any extra files yet you may have to refresh the screen. Do this by pressing the F5 key.
- Now look at the files that are left, look for one that is called "README", "README.txt", "UPDATE.txt, or something like that. These are the instructions, READ THEM. As much as we like to think that we know what we're doing, some programs throw you a curve and have special instructions. Save yourself some grief and get into the habit of reading README files.
What
are the ".hqx" or ".sit" files?
- ".hqx" files are BinHex4 format files for Macintosh systems.
- ".sit" files are files compressed using Stuffit from
Aladdin
Systems.
These formats translates binary data into printing ASCII characters in a manner similar to the Unix UUENCODE/UUDECODE programs. Some Internet connections cannot reliably transfer binary data because they use 7-bit (rather than 8-bit) protocols. The "hqx" and "sit" files, containing only ASCII characters, can be safely transmitted over these lines.
The side-effect of BinHex-ing a file is that it becomes larger than the original. This is because the BinHex format translates runs of 3 binary bytes into 4 ASCII characters.
How
do I decode ".hqx" or ".sit" files?
To decode BinHex4 or StuffIt files, you need an application like Aladdin Systems' Stuffit Expander. This utility is available for download via anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.aladdin.com/, and also from the Info-Mac archives. There is also an applet called "DeHQX" available at many Info-Mac archives.If you are using Netscape Communicator 4 or IE 4, Stuffit expander is installed automatically for you.
How
do I download Evaluation Kits and Docs for Windows?
For Windows users, the kits for Theatre Manager are stored in single executable file, which is a self-extracting ZIP archive. To download the kit, simply click on its name. If your browser asks you to provide a filename, make sure it ends with the ".EXE" suffix.When the download has completed, run the EXE file you have downloaded, which will expand the archive into the current directory. BE SURE TO READ THE README FILE BEFORE CONTINUING THE INSTALLATION.
You can get a trial version of WINZIP at http://www.winzip.com/
How
do I download Evaluation Kits and Docs for Macintosh?
For Macintosh users, the kits are stored in an Aladdin Systems Installer archive which has been BinHex'd.You must have a program which can un-BinHex these files, such as Aladdin Systems' Stuffit Expander (see 'How do I decode "hqx" files?'). If you have this utility or one like it, and you are using Netscape, you can configure Netscape to automatically un-BinHex the files as they download.
After you have downloaded and un-BinHex'd the archive, double-click on the installation icon to start the installation.