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 <p><font size="+2">FAQ</font></p>  
 <blockquote>  
 <br />1. <a href="#q1">What is TtH and how do I know I have it?</a>  
 <br />2. <a href="#q2">So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation.  
 Now what do I do?  How do I begin?</a>  
 <br />3. <a href="#q3">Why do I have to worry about choosing a "role"?</a>  
 <br />4. <a href="#q4">What kind of computer and operating will this work  
 on?</a>  
 <br />4a. <a href="#q4a">Will this work on BSD Unix?</a>  
 <br />4b. <a href="#q4b">Will this work on Mac OS X?</a>  
 <br />4c. <a href="#q4c">Will this work on an old SPARC, Solaris, SGI, NeXT, or  
 DEC machine that is collecting cobwebs in my university's technology center?</a>  
 <br />5. <a href="#q5">What does LON-CAPA stand for?</a>  
 <br />6. <a href="#q6">Who wrote this code?</a>  
 <br />7. <a href="#q7">Where is this software being used?</a>  
 <br />8. <a href="#q8">What are current plans for the installation?</a>  
 <br />9. <a href="#q9">How do I upgrade?</a>  
 <br />10. <a href="#q10">What are RPMs?</a>  
 <br />11. <a href="#q11">How do I know this will be a secure solution for  
 my users?</a>  
 <br />12. <a href="#q12">How do I contribute code?</a>  
 <br />13. <a href="#q13">Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</a>  
 <br />14. <a href="#q14">What are the costs?</a>  
 <br />15. <a href="#q15">What kind of computer do I need?</a>  
 <br />16. <a href="#q16">Where can I learn more about the technical  
 ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</a>  
 <br />17. <a href="#q17">How are you similar or different to  
 WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</a>  
 </blockquote>  
 <hr />1. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q1" />What is TtH and how  
 do I know I have it?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 TtH = TeX-to-HTML.  
 You should have a file called <tt>tth.so</tt> on your system.  If you do not  
 have it (should be located somewhere underneath /usr/lib/perl5), then you  
 should download and install the binary  
 <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/resources/tth.so">  
 http://install.lon-capa.org/resources/tth.so</a>  
 into your /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.???/ directory (5.??? corresponds  
 to the version number of your perl distribution).  
 </p>  
 <hr />2. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q2" />So I think I'm done  
 with the LON-CAPA installation.  
 Now what do I do?  How do I begin?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 You will first need to set up a domain coordinator on your machine.  
 See loncapa/doc/how_to_domain_coordinator.txt in your CVS repository checkout.  
 After this, it is time to play with the interface.  We do not  
 yet have a user manual, but  
 <a href="mailto:felicia@lon-capa.org">Felicia</a> is helping answer  
 questions related to the LON-CAPA web interface.  
 </p>  
 <hr />3. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q3" />Why do I have to  
 worry about choosing a "role"?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 A critical feature of the LON-CAPA interface is the idea that a user  
 must select a role before doing anything further inside the educational  
 system.  
 </p>  
 <hr />4. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4" />What kind of  
 computer and operating will this work on?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 The operating system LON-CAPA runs on is the Linux operating  
 system (RedHat 7.3 is the supported linux distribution).  
 LON-CAPA relies on an Intel-based architecture.  In order to  
 move beyond this state of affairs, we are beginning to develop  
 a BSD-based solution, as well as a set of diagnostic scripts  
 which should verify LON-CAPA's performance on any computer platform.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 For full-time, classroom usage, an adequate LON-CAPA server  
 should be/have:  
 </p>  
 <ul>  
 <li>a multiprocessor machine,</li>  
 <li>a CPU speed of 1 gigahertz,</li>  
 <li>a gigabyte of memory,</li>  
 <li>and at least 40 to 80 gigabytes of hard disk space.</li>  
 </ul>  
 <p>  
 A lesser machine can be used for toying around with LON-CAPA  
 (LON-CAPA will run for a single user on most any machine).  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 LON-CAPA servers experience significant peaks of activity  
 before a homework submission deadline.  To support these critical  
 peaks of activity, it is strongly advised that LON-CAPA machines  
 fit the above recommendation.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server...  
 you may want to consider more options.  The design of the LON-CAPA  
 system is to naturally and transparently load-balance on multiple  
 computer clusters.  So, a simple solution for running an entire  
 college campus is to just have an adequate plurality of LON-CAPA  
 servers rather than a single, particularly monstrous server.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :)  
 </p>  
 <hr />4a. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4a" />Will this work on  
 BSD?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 Active development has begun for supporting LON-CAPA on FreeBSD version 4.7.  
 </p>  
 <hr />4b. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4b" />Will this work on  
 Mac OS X?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 No.  Plans for Mac OS X involve waiting for completion of a FreeBSD version 4.7  
 solution, as well as allowing Mac OS X more time to mature within the freeware  
 community.  
 </p>  
 <hr />4c. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4c">Will this work on  
 an old SPARC, Solaris, SGI, NeXT, or DEC machine that is collecting cobwebs in  
 my university's technology center?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 No.  The needs for predictable performance of a LON-CAPA system cause us  
 to emphasize support on a restricted set of platforms.  We welcome developers  
 who would like to create porting solutions, however based on our timeline,  
 you are even more strongly encouraged to help develop the actual educational  
 software technology seen by students and instructors.  
 </p>  
 <hr />5. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q5" />What does LON-CAPA  
 stand for?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 The Learning Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 An eclectic variant is: Look! Our New Car Answers Pizza Appetites.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 Or something.  
 </p>  
 <hr />6. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q6" />Who wrote this  
 code?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 The ultimate goal of LON-CAPA is to be a software initiative with a  
 sense of ownership spanning the entire academic and freeware community.  
 As such, LON-CAPA is progressing toward a piece of code that is not  
 characterized by a set of individual authors or any measure of territoriality.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 To date, LON-CAPA has received code contributions from a growing  
 number of academic institutions and freeware contributors.  LON-CAPA first  
 originated at Michigan State University in 2000 based on a grant funded  
 initiative, <i>Kortemeyer, et. al.</i>.  
 </p>  
 <hr />7. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q7" />Where is this  
 software being used?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 The existing user sites are:  
 </p>  
 <ul>  
 <li>4 high schools in Michigan</li>  
 <li>Westshore Community College and Truckee Meadows Community College</li>  
 <li>Universities in Senegal, Hungary, Germany, Canada (Simon Frasier  
 University) and Zimbabwe</li>  
 <li>Florida State University</li>  
 <li>George Washington University</li>  
 <li>Michigan State University</li>  
 <li>Ohio University</li>  
 <li>SUNY Stony Brook</li>  
 <li>Florida State University</li>  
 <li>University of Massachusetts at Amherst</li>  
 <li>University of Michigan</li>  
 <li>University of South Carolina</li>  
 <li>University of North Carolina, Greensboro</li>  
 </ul>  
 <hr />8. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q8" />What are current  
 plans for the installation?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 We have been able to run LON-CAPA on RedHat 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, Debian, and  
 Mandrake.  
 </p>  
 <hr />9. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q9" />How do I  
 upgrade?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 You must use CVS over the network.  
 Please click on the upgrade button at the top of this web page.  
 </p>  
 <hr />10. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q10" />What are  
 RPMs?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 Software packages that are (usually) very easy to install.  RPM stands  
 for RedHat Packaging Manager software package.  
 </p>  
 <hr />11. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q11" />How do I know  
 this will be a secure solution for my users?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 LON-CAPA is distributed without warranty as described in the   
 <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/docs/license/index.html">license</a>.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 We do think our security strategy is fairly robust.  Important communications  
 are encrypted and the server-client validation is instantiated in such  
 a way as to prevent any remotely conceivable kind of spoofing.  
 </p>  
 <hr />12. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q12" />How do I  
 contribute code?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 Send a diff to <a href="mailto:lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org">  
 lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org</a>.  It helps if you give it context  
 with the -C option.  For example,  
 </p>  
 <pre>  
 diff -u -C3 doc/build/faq.html doc/build/faq.html~ | mail lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org  
 </pre>  
 <hr />13. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q13" />  
 Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 No and hopefully never.  That is not what we are about.  We are about a  
 freeware-community oriented approach where the software features are directly  
 specified by the involved academic institutions and instructors.  
 </p>  
 <hr />14. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q14" />  
 What are the costs?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 Time &amp; Money.  You and/or somebody else needs the time to learn how to use  
 the LON-CAPA system.  You and/or somebody else needs the money to set up and  
 maintain a working computer server(s) for your institution.  
 </p>  
 <p>  
 More importantly, if your institution wants a sound future and a  
 increased ability to configure the LON-CAPA software, we recommend  
 that you assume some responsibility for contributing code to the  
 freeware project.  
 </p>  
 <hr />15. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q15" />  
 What kind of computer do I need?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 You need a RedHat 7.3 Intel-compatible computer.  
 For more information on RedHat compatible hardware, visit  
 <a href="http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/">http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/</a>.  
 We do not currently support the SPARC, SGI, Macintosh, or other hardware  
 architectures.  
 </p>  
 <hr />16. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q16" />  
 Where can I learn more about the technical  
 ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 You will find the technical manual to be very handy; please visit  
 <a href="http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html">  
 http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html</a>.  
 </p>  
 <hr />17. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q17" />  
 How are you similar or different to  
 WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</font></font>  
 <p>  
 I would suggest two major differences:  
 </p>  
 <ol>  
 <li>In LON-CAPA, the <strong>user</strong> is the fundamental data object.    
 Other educational software systems seem to focus on the <strong>virtual  
 classroom</strong> as the fundamental data object.</li>  
 <li>I look at it like this.  Many strictly profit-based enterprises aim to  
 significantly please 80% of their users.  LON-CAPA started out, in the  
 beginning, aiming for a much higher percentage since the whole project  
 was about doing what no one had done before.  
 </li>  
 </ol>  
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