--- doc/build/Attic/faq.html 2002/04/23 12:14:44 1.3 +++ doc/build/Attic/faq.html 2003/02/03 18:18:03 1.10 @@ -1,15 +1,17 @@ - + + + Frequently Asked Questions - + -
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Questions about anything and everything @@ -18,211 +20,15 @@ Questions about anything and everything Shown below are frequently asked questions others have about LON-CAPA installation and system management. For a more complete FAQ, you are strongly encouraged to visit -
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http://help.lon-capa.org/

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FAQ

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1. What is TtH and how do I know I have it? -

-TtH = TeX-to-HTML. -You should have a file called tth.so on your system. If you do not -have it, then you should download and install the binary -http://install.lon-capa.org/3.1/binaries/tth.so -into your -/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.???/ directory. - -

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2. So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation. -Now what do I do? How do I begin? -

-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 -Felicia is helping answer -questions related to the LON-CAPA web interface. -

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3. Why do I have to worry about choosing a "role"? -

-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. -

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4. What kind of -computer and operating will this work on? -

-The operating system LON-CAPA runs on is the Linux operating -system. LON-CAPA relies on an Intel-based architecture. -

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-For full-time, classroom usage, an adequate LON-CAPA server -should be/have: -

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-A lesser machine can be used for toying around with LON-CAPA -(LON-CAPA will run for a single user on most any machine). -

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-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. -

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-If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server... -well 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. -

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-We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :) -

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4a. Will this work on BSD Unix? -

-No. -

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4b. Will this work on Mac OS X? -

-No. -

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5. What does LON-CAPA stand for? -

-The Learning Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach. -

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-An eclectic variant is: Look! Our New Car Answers Pizza Appetites. -

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6. Who wrote this code? -

-This code was originally written by a group of staff and graduate assistants -at Michigan State University. We are now receiving software contributions -from several other universities. The technical design behind the project -was constructed by Gerd Kortemeyer. -

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7. Where is this software being used? -
8. What are current plans for the installation? -

-We have been able to run LON-CAPA on RedHat 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, Debian, and -Mandrake. -

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9. How do I upgrade? -

-You must use CVS over the network. -Please click on the upgrade button at the top of this web page. -

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10. What are RPMs? -

-Software packages that are (usually) very easy to install. RPM stands -for RedHat Packaging Manager software package. -

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11. How do I know this will be a secure solution for -my users? -

-LON-CAPA is distributed without warranty as described in the -license. -

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-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. -

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12. How do I contribute code? -

-Send a diff to -lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org. It helps if you give it context -with the -C option. For example, -

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-diff -u -C3 doc/build/faq.html doc/build/faq.html~ | mail lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
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13. -Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company? -

-No and hopefully never. That's not what we're about. -

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14. -What are the costs? -

-Time & 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. -

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-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. -

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15. -What kind of computer do I need? -

-You need a RedHat 6.2-7.2 Intel-compatible computer. -We do not currently support the SPARC and SGI hardware architectures. -

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16. -Where can I learn more about the technical -ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project? -

-You will find the technical manual to be very handy; please visit - -http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html. -

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17. -How are you similar or different to -WebCT, Blackboard, etc? -

-I would suggest two major differences -

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  1. In LON-CAPA, the user is the fundamental data object. -Other educational software systems seem to focus on the virtual -classroom as the fundamental data object.
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  2. 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. -
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