Installation Notes

Version Information

This version of the REMOTE Simulator is version 1.0 alpha.  It supersedes all previous releases; any users who encounter problems previously released versions of REMOTE are encouraged to upgrade to this release. 
 

System Requirements

In order to properly run the REMOTE Simulator, you will a machine capable of running JDK 1.2 beta 3, and Java3D alpha 3.  These applications require one of the following minimum configurations: 
  • Pentium II, 200MHz, 64 MB RAM, running Win NT 4.0 or Win 95
  • Solaris Sparq, running Solaris 2.5 or later
  • Solaris x86, running Solaris 2.5 or later
Although other systems may have ports of the JDK available to them, it is unlikely that Java3D ports have been created for these platforms at present.  Most prominent of the platforms missing Java3D implementations are: Macintosh, AIX, and Linux. 

Versions of the JDK and Java3D are available from JavaSoft's Java Developer Connection (membership is free, and entitles you to early access to new libraries).  The following sites contain everything you need to have installed on you system to run REMOTE: 

In addition to the hardware required, machines must also have OpenGL 1.1 installed on the machine, in order for the 3D portion of the application to operate correctly; alternately, computers can use accelerator cards which support OpenGL 1.1.  Solaris users using OpenGL 1.1.1 must install OpenGL patch 106022-02 or later, which fixes several major bugs in the Solaris release of OpenGL.  OpenGL 1.1 is included as a part of the Win NT 4.0 release; for other platforms, you can download the drivers from the following sites:  Further information on the OpenGL standard is available from www.opengl.org.
 

Installing REMOTE

The version 1.0 alpha release download consists of a single JAR file, which can be unpacked using the jar utility which accompanies the JDK 1.2 beta 3 release.  In order to install REMOTE, ensure you have included the /bin directory located below your JDK directory as a part of your system's CLASSPATH.  Place the remote1_0alpha.jar in a new directory for the application and from the command prompt type: 
jar xvf remote1_0alpha.jar
The class files, resource files, and application documentation will be uncompressed under the current directory.  Once completed, you may delete the remote1_0alpha.jar file, as it is no longer required (though you may wish to save it for future installations). 

Check that the installation has correctly unpacked the following directory structure: 

<REMOTE directory> 
  | 
  |-docs 
  |  | 
  |  |-api 
  | 
  |-examples 
  | 
  |-help 
  | 
  |-images 
  | 
  |-rbt
 

Setting the CLASSPATH and PATH

The CLASSPATH variable is used by the JDK to search for libraries which are required to run the Java Virtual Machine, and the REMOTE application itself.  Win 95 users can set their CLASSPATH in the autoexec.bat file, using the command: 
set CLASSPATH = <directories separated by semi-colons>
Under Win NT, users can set their CLASSPATH by using the Environment Settings, available under the System section of Control Panels.  In UNIX, users can set the CLASSPATH as a part of their shell login script, using: 
setenv CLASSPATH = <directories separated by colons>
Users must ensure that their CLASSPATH includes: 
  • <JDK directory>/lib/classes.zip
  • <Java3D directory>/appext/j3dutils.jar
  • <Java3D directory>/appext/vrml97.jar
  • <Java3D directory>/sysext/j3daudio.jar
  • <Java3D directory>/sysext/j3dcore.jar
  • <Java3D directory>/sysext/vecmath.jar
  • <REMOTE directory>/remote.jar
In addition, the system PATH variable (set in a similar fashion) must include a pointer to the following directories: 
  • <JDK directory>/bin
  • <Java3D directory>/bin
On Windows platforms, one more environment variable needs to be set in order to provide a workaround for a bug in JDK 1.2 beta 3;  at runtime, JDK 1.2 beta 3 loads all available fonts, resulting in a greatly increased startup time.  To solve this problem, REMOTE users should create a new directory under the REMOTE directory called fonts.  Copy the Arial, Courier, Times, and WingDings fonts from the <Windows directory>/fonts directory to the newly created directory.  Now create an environment variable called JAVA_FONTS, and point it to this new directory. 

Now that REMOTE is installed, you are ready to begin learning how to use the REMOTE Simulator. 
 

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Copyright (c) 1996-2001 Brendon Wilson.
All Rights Reserved.