Index
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 What
do I need to know before I start?
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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.
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What
are the General Steps in Downloading Software
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- 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.
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What
are the ".hqx" or ".sit" files?
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- ".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.
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How
do I decode ".hqx" or ".sit" files?
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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.
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How
do I download Evaluation Kits and Docs for Windows?
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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/
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How
do I download Evaluation Kits and Docs for Macintosh?
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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.
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