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4: <title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
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14: Questions about anything and everything
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16: </font>
17: </p>
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21: <p><font size='+2'>FAQ</font></p>
22: <ul>
23: <br />1. <a href='#q1'>What is TtH and how do I know I have it?</a>
24: <br />2. <a href='#q2'>So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation.
25: Now what do I do? How do I begin?</a>
26: <br />3. <a href='#q3'>Why do I have to worry about choosing a "role"?</a>
27: <br />4. <a href='#q4'>What kind of computer and operating will this work
28: on?</a>
29: <br />4a. <a href='#q4'>Will this work on BSD Unix?</a>
30: <br />4b. <a href='#q4'>Will this work on Mac OS X?</a>
31: <br />5. <a href='#q5'>What does LON-CAPA stand for?</a>
32: <br />6. <a href='#q6'>Who wrote this code?</a>
33: <br />7. <a href='#q7'>Where is this software being used?</a>
34: <br />8. <a href='#q8'>What are current plans for the installation?</a>
35: <br />9. <a href='#q9'>How do I upgrade?</a>
36: <br />10. <a href='#q10'>What are RPMs?</a>
37: <br />11. <a href='#q11'>How do I know this will be a secure solution for
38: my users?</a>
39: <br />12. <a href='#q12'>How do I contribute code?</a>
40: <br />13. <a href='#q13'>Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</a>
41: <br />14. <a href='#q14'>What are the costs?</a>
42: <br />15. <a href='#q15'>What kind of computer do I need?</a>
43: <br />16. <a href='#q16'>Where can I learn more about the technical
44: ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</a>
45: <br />17. <a href='#q17'>How are you similar or different to
46: WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</a>
47: </ul>
48: <hr />1. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q1' />What is TtH and how do I know I have it?</font></font>
49: <p>
50: TtH = TeX-to-HTML.
51: You should have a file called tth.so on your system. If you do not
52: have it, then you should download and install the binary
53: http://install.lon-capa.org/3.1/binaries/tth.so
54: into your
55: /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.???/ directory.
56:
57: </p>
58: <hr />2. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q2' />So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation.
59: Now what do I do? How do I begin?</font></font>
60: <p>
61: You will first need to set up a domain coordinator on your machine.
62: See loncapa/doc/how_to_domain_coordinator.txt in your CVS repository checkout.
63: After this, it is time to play with the interface. We do not
64: yet have a user manual, but
65: <a href='mailto:felicia@lon-capa.org'>Felicia</a> is helping answer
66: questions related to the LON-CAPA web interface.
67: </p>
68: <hr />3. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q3' />Why do I have to worry about choosing a "role"?</font></font>
69: <p>
70: A critical feature of the LON-CAPA interface is the idea that a user
71: must select a role before doing anything further inside the educational
72: system.
73:
74: </p>
75: <hr />4. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q4' />What kind of computer and operating will this work
76: on?</font></font>
77: <p>
78: The operating system LON-CAPA runs on is the Linux operating
79: system. LON-CAPA relies on an Intel-based architecture.
80: </p>
81: <hr />4a. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q4' />Will this work on BSD Unix?</font></font>
82: <p>
83: No.
84: </p>
85: <hr />4b. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q4' />Will this work on Mac OS X?</font></font>
86: <p>
87: No.
88: </p>
89: <hr />5. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q5' />What does LON-CAPA stand for?</font></font>
90: <p>
91: The Learning Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.
92: </p>
93: <p>
94: An eclectic variant is: Look! Our New Car Answers Pizza Appetites.
95: </p>
96: <hr />6. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q6' />Who wrote this code?</font></font>
97: <p>
98: This code was originally written by a group of staff and graduate assistants
99: at Michigan State University. We are now receiving software contributions
100: from several other universities. The technical design behind the project
101: was constructed by Gerd Kortemeyer.
102: </p>
103: <hr />7. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q7' />Where is this software being used?</font></font>
104: <hr />8. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q8' />What are current plans for the installation?</font></font>
105: <p>
106: We have been able to run LON-CAPA on RedHat 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, Debian, and
107: Mandrake.
108: </p>
109: <hr />9. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q9' />How do I upgrade?</font></font>
110: <p>
111: You must use CVS over the network.
112: Please click on the upgrade button at the top of this web page.
113: </p>
114: <hr />10. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q10' />What are RPMs?</font></font>
115: <p>
116: Software packages that are (usually) very easy to install. RPM stands
117: for RedHat Packaging Manager software package.
118: </p>
119: <hr />11. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q11' />How do I know this will be a secure solution for
120: my users?</font></font>
121: <p>
122: LON-CAPA is distributed without warranty as described in the
123: <a href='http://mycrow.mph.msu.edu/docs/license/index.html'>license</a>.
124: </p>
125: <p>
126: We do think our security strategy is fairly robust. Important communications
127: are encrypted and the server-client validation is instantiated in such
128: a way as to prevent any remotely conceivable kind of spoofing.
129: </p>
130: <hr />12. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q12' />How do I contribute code?</font></font>
131: <p>
132: Send a diff to <a href='mailto:lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org'>
133: lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org</a>. It helps if you give it context
134: with the -C option. For example,
135: </p>
136: <pre>
137: diff -u -C3 doc/build/faq.html doc/build/faq.html~ | mail lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
138: </pre>
139: <hr />13. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q13' />
140: Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</font></font>
141: <p>
142: No and hopefully never. That's not what we're about.
143: </p>
144: <hr />14. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q14' />
145: What are the costs?</font></font>
146: <p>
147: Time & Money. You and/or somebody else needs the time to learn how to use
148: the LON-CAPA system. You and/or somebody else needs the money to set up and
149: maintain a working computer server(s) for your institution.
150: </p>
151: <p>
152: More importantly, if your institution wants a sound future and a
153: increased ability to configure the LON-CAPA software, we recommend
154: that you assume some responsibility for contributing code to the
155: freeware project.
156: </p>
157: <hr />15. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q15' />
158: What kind of computer do I need?</font></font>
159: <p>
160: You need a RedHat 6.2-7.2 Intel-compatible computer.
161: We do not currently support the SPARC and SGI hardware architectures.
162: </p>
163: <hr />16. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q16' />
164: Where can I learn more about the technical
165: ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</font></font>
166: <p>
167: You will find the technical manual to be very handy; please visit
168: <a href='http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html'>
169: http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html</a>.
170: </p>
171: <hr />17. <font color='blue'><font size='+1'><a name='q17' />
172: How are you similar or different to
173: WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</font></font>
174: <p>
175: I would suggest two major differences
176: <ol>
177: <li>In LON-CAPA, the <strong>user</strong> is the fundamental data object.
178: Other educational software systems seem to focus on the <strong>virtual
179: classroom</strong> as the fundamental data object.</li>
180: <li>I look at it like this. Many strictly profit-based enterprises aim to
181: significantly please 80% of their users. LON-CAPA started out, in the
182: beginning, aiming for a much higher percentage since the whole project
183: was about doing what no one had done before.
184: </li>
185: </ol>
186: </p>
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188: </body>
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