--- doc/build/Attic/faq.html 2002/02/13 15:04:31 1.2 +++ doc/build/Attic/faq.html 2003/01/30 00:02:23 1.9 @@ -1,147 +1,248 @@ - + + + Frequently Asked Questions - + -
  -

- - +

 

+

+ 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 +

+

+ +http://help.lon-capa.org/

-
-

FAQ

- -
1. What is TtH and how do I know I have it? + +
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. - +You should have a file called tth.so 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 + +http://install.lon-capa.org/resources/tth.so +into your /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.???/ directory (5.??? corresponds +to the version number of your perl distribution).

-
2. So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation. +
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 +Felicia is helping answer questions related to the LON-CAPA web interface.

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

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

+

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

+
    +
  • a multiprocessor machine,
    • +
  • a CPU speed of 1 gigahertz,
    • +
  • a gigabyte of memory,
    • +
  • and at least 40 to 80 gigabytes of hard disk space.
    • +
+

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

+

+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. +

+

+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.

-
4a. Will this work on BSD Unix?

-No. +We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :)

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

-No. +Active development has begun for supporting LON-CAPA on FreeBSD version 4.7.

-
5. What does LON-CAPA stand for? +
4b. Will this work on +Mac OS X? +

+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. +

+
4c. Will this work on +an old SPARC, Solaris, SGI, NeXT, or DEC machine that is collecting cobwebs in +my university's technology center? +

+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. +

+
5. What does LON-CAPA +stand for?

The Learning Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.

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

-
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. +Or something. +

+
6. Who wrote this +code? +

+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. +

+

+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, Kortemeyer, et. al..

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

+The existing user sites are: +

+
    +
  • 4 high schools in Michigan
    • +
  • Westshore Community College and Truckee Meadows Community College
    • +
  • Universities in Senegal, Hungary, Germany, Canada (Simon Frasier +University) and Zimbabwe
    • +
  • Florida State University
    • +
  • George Washington University
    • +
  • Michigan State University
    • +
  • Ohio University
    • +
  • SUNY Stony Brook
    • +
  • Florida State University
    • +
  • University of Massachusetts at Amherst
    • +
  • University of Michigan
    • +
  • University of South Carolina
    • +
  • University of North Carolina, Greensboro
    • +
+
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.

-
9. How do I upgrade? +
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.

-
10. What are RPMs? +
10. What are +RPMs?

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

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

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.

-
12. How do I contribute code? +
12. How do I +contribute code?

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

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

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

-
14. +
14. What are the costs?

Time & Money. You and/or somebody else needs the time to learn how to use @@ -154,25 +255,29 @@ increased ability to configure the LON-C that you assume some responsibility for contributing code to the freeware project.

-
15. +
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. +You need a RedHat 7.3 Intel-compatible computer. +For more information on RedHat compatible hardware, visit +http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/. +We do not currently support the SPARC, SGI, Macintosh, or other hardware +architectures.

-
16. +
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.

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

-I would suggest two major differences +I would suggest two major differences: +

  1. In LON-CAPA, the user is the fundamental data object. Other educational software systems seem to focus on the virtual @@ -183,7 +288,7 @@ beginning, aiming for a much higher perc was about doing what no one had done before.
-

+