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1.1       harris41    7: <title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
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1.5       harris41   13: <p>&nbsp;</p>
                     14: <p align="center">
1.3       harris41   15: <font size="+3">
1.1       harris41   16: Questions about anything and everything
                     17: </font>
1.3       harris41   18: </p>
                     19: <p>
                     20: Shown below are frequently asked questions others have
                     21: about LON-CAPA installation and system management.  For
                     22: a more complete FAQ, you are strongly encouraged to visit
1.5       harris41   23: </p>
                     24: <p align="center">
1.3       harris41   25: <font size="+2">
1.5       harris41   26: <a href="http://help.lon-capa.org/">http://help.lon-capa.org/</a>
1.1       harris41   27: </font>
                     28: </p>
                     29: <!-- preamble end -->
                     30: <!-- maintext start -->
1.5       harris41   31: <p><font size="+2">FAQ</font></p>
                     32: <blockquote>
                     33: <br />1. <a href="#q1">What is TtH and how do I know I have it?</a>
                     34: <br />2. <a href="#q2">So I think I'm done with the LON-CAPA installation.
1.1       harris41   35: Now what do I do?  How do I begin?</a>
1.5       harris41   36: <br />3. <a href="#q3">Why do I have to worry about choosing a "role"?</a>
                     37: <br />4. <a href="#q4">What kind of computer and operating will this work
1.1       harris41   38: on?</a>
1.7       harris41   39: <br />4a. <a href="#q4a">Will this work on BSD Unix?</a>
                     40: <br />4b. <a href="#q4b">Will this work on Mac OS X?</a>
                     41: <br />4c. <a href="#q4c">Will this work on an old SPARC, Solaris, SGI, NeXT, or
                     42: DEC machine that is collecting cobwebs in my university's technology center?</a>
1.5       harris41   43: <br />5. <a href="#q5">What does LON-CAPA stand for?</a>
                     44: <br />6. <a href="#q6">Who wrote this code?</a>
                     45: <br />7. <a href="#q7">Where is this software being used?</a>
                     46: <br />8. <a href="#q8">What are current plans for the installation?</a>
                     47: <br />9. <a href="#q9">How do I upgrade?</a>
                     48: <br />10. <a href="#q10">What are RPMs?</a>
                     49: <br />11. <a href="#q11">How do I know this will be a secure solution for
1.1       harris41   50: my users?</a>
1.5       harris41   51: <br />12. <a href="#q12">How do I contribute code?</a>
                     52: <br />13. <a href="#q13">Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</a>
                     53: <br />14. <a href="#q14">What are the costs?</a>
                     54: <br />15. <a href="#q15">What kind of computer do I need?</a>
                     55: <br />16. <a href="#q16">Where can I learn more about the technical
1.1       harris41   56: ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</a>
1.5       harris41   57: <br />17. <a href="#q17">How are you similar or different to
1.1       harris41   58: WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</a>
1.5       harris41   59: </blockquote>
1.7       harris41   60: <hr />1. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q1" />What is TtH and how
                     61: do I know I have it?</font></font>
1.1       harris41   62: <p>
                     63: TtH = TeX-to-HTML.
1.7       harris41   64: You should have a file called <tt>tth.so</tt> on your system.  If you do not
                     65: have it (should be located somewhere underneath /usr/lib/perl5), then you
                     66: should download and install the binary
                     67: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/resources/tth.so">
                     68: http://install.lon-capa.org/resources/tth.so</a>
                     69: into your /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.???/ directory (5.??? corresponds
                     70: to the version number of your perl distribution).
1.1       harris41   71: </p>
1.7       harris41   72: <hr />2. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q2" />So I think I'm done
                     73: with the LON-CAPA installation.
1.1       harris41   74: Now what do I do?  How do I begin?</font></font>
                     75: <p>
                     76: You will first need to set up a domain coordinator on your machine.
                     77: See loncapa/doc/how_to_domain_coordinator.txt in your CVS repository checkout.
                     78: After this, it is time to play with the interface.  We do not
                     79: yet have a user manual, but
1.5       harris41   80: <a href="mailto:felicia@lon-capa.org">Felicia</a> is helping answer
1.1       harris41   81: questions related to the LON-CAPA web interface.
                     82: </p>
1.7       harris41   83: <hr />3. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q3" />Why do I have to
                     84: worry about choosing a "role"?</font></font>
1.1       harris41   85: <p>
                     86: A critical feature of the LON-CAPA interface is the idea that a user
                     87: must select a role before doing anything further inside the educational
                     88: system.
                     89: </p>
1.5       harris41   90: <hr />4. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4" />What kind of
1.3       harris41   91: computer and operating will this work on?</font></font>
1.1       harris41   92: <p>
                     93: The operating system LON-CAPA runs on is the Linux operating
1.8       harris41   94: system (RedHat 7.3 is the supported linux distribution).
                     95: LON-CAPA relies on an Intel-based architecture.  In order to
                     96: move beyond this state of affairs, we are beginning to develop
                     97: a BSD-based solution, as well as a set of diagnostic scripts
                     98: which should verify LON-CAPA's performance on any computer platform.
1.3       harris41   99: </p>
                    100: <p>
                    101: For full-time, classroom usage, an adequate LON-CAPA server
                    102: should be/have:
                    103: </p>
                    104: <ul>
                    105: <li>a multiprocessor machine,</li>
                    106: <li>a CPU speed of 1 gigahertz,</li>
                    107: <li>a gigabyte of memory,</li>
                    108: <li>and at least 40 to 80 gigabytes of hard disk space.</li>
                    109: </ul>
                    110: <p>
                    111: A lesser machine can be used for toying around with LON-CAPA
                    112: (LON-CAPA will run for a single user on most any machine).
                    113: </p>
                    114: <p>
                    115: LON-CAPA servers experience significant peaks of activity
                    116: before a homework submission deadline.  To support these critical
                    117: peaks of activity, it is strongly advised that LON-CAPA machines
                    118: fit the above recommendation.
                    119: </p>
                    120: <p>
                    121: If thousands of students start accessing the box as a web server...
1.7       harris41  122: you may want to consider more options.  The design of the LON-CAPA
1.3       harris41  123: system is to naturally and transparently load-balance on multiple
                    124: computer clusters.  So, a simple solution for running an entire
                    125: college campus is to just have an adequate plurality of LON-CAPA
                    126: servers rather than a single, particularly monstrous server.
                    127: </p>
                    128: <p>
                    129: We like to think of high web server usage as "a good problem" though.. :)
1.1       harris41  130: </p>
1.7       harris41  131: <hr />4a. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4a" />Will this work on
1.8       harris41  132: BSD?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  133: <p>
1.8       harris41  134: Active development has begun for supporting LON-CAPA on FreeBSD version 4.7.
1.1       harris41  135: </p>
1.7       harris41  136: <hr />4b. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4b" />Will this work on
                    137: Mac OS X?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  138: <p>
1.8       harris41  139: No.  Plans for Mac OS X involve waiting for completion of a FreeBSD version 4.7
                    140: solution, as well as allowing Mac OS X more time to mature within the freeware
                    141: community.
1.1       harris41  142: </p>
1.7       harris41  143: <hr />4c. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q4c">Will this work on
                    144: an old SPARC, Solaris, SGI, NeXT, or DEC machine that is collecting cobwebs in
                    145: my university's technology center?</font></font>
                    146: <p>
1.8       harris41  147: No.  The needs for predictable performance of a LON-CAPA system cause us
                    148: to emphasize support on a restricted set of platforms.  We welcome developers
                    149: who would like to create porting solutions, however based on our timeline,
                    150: you are even more strongly encouraged to help develop the actual educational
                    151: software technology seen by students and instructors.
1.7       harris41  152: </p>
                    153: <hr />5. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q5" />What does LON-CAPA
                    154: stand for?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  155: <p>
                    156: The Learning Online Network with Computer-Assisted Personalized Approach.
                    157: </p>
                    158: <p>
                    159: An eclectic variant is: Look! Our New Car Answers Pizza Appetites.
1.6       harris41  160: </p>
                    161: <p>
                    162: Or something.
1.1       harris41  163: </p>
1.7       harris41  164: <hr />6. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q6" />Who wrote this
                    165: code?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  166: <p>
1.9     ! harris41  167: The ultimate goal of LON-CAPA is to be a software initiative with a
        !           168: sense of ownership spanning the entire academic and freeware community.
        !           169: As such, LON-CAPA is progressing toward a piece of code that is not
        !           170: characterized by a set of individual authors or any measure of territoriality.
        !           171: </p>
        !           172: <p>
        !           173: To date, LON-CAPA has received code contributions from a growing
        !           174: number of academic institutions and freeware contributors.  LON-CAPA first
        !           175: originated at Michigan State University in 2000 based on a grant funded
        !           176: initiative, <i>Kortemeyer, et. al.</i>.
1.1       harris41  177: </p>
1.7       harris41  178: <hr />7. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q7" />Where is this
                    179: software being used?</font></font>
                    180: <p>
                    181: The existing user sites are:
                    182: </p>
                    183: <ul>
                    184: <li>4 high schools in Michigan</li>
                    185: <li>Westshore Community College and Truckee Meadows Community College</li>
                    186: <li>Universities in Senegal, Hungary, Germany, Canada (Simon Frasier
                    187: University) and Zimbabwe</li>
                    188: <li>Florida State University</li>
                    189: <li>George Washington University</li>
                    190: <li>Michigan State University</li>
                    191: <li>Ohio University</li>
                    192: <li>SUNY Stony Brook</li>
                    193: <li>Florida State University</li>
                    194: <li>University of Massachusetts at Amherst</li>
                    195: <li>University of Michigan</li>
                    196: <li>University of South Carolina</li>
                    197: <li>University of North Carolina, Greensboro</li>
                    198: </ul>
                    199: <hr />8. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q8" />What are current
                    200: plans for the installation?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  201: <p>
                    202: We have been able to run LON-CAPA on RedHat 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, Debian, and
                    203: Mandrake.
                    204: </p>
1.7       harris41  205: <hr />9. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q9" />How do I
                    206: upgrade?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  207: <p>
                    208: You must use CVS over the network.
                    209: Please click on the upgrade button at the top of this web page.
                    210: </p>
1.7       harris41  211: <hr />10. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q10" />What are
                    212: RPMs?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  213: <p>
                    214: Software packages that are (usually) very easy to install.  RPM stands
                    215: for RedHat Packaging Manager software package.
                    216: </p>
1.7       harris41  217: <hr />11. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q11" />How do I know
                    218: this will be a secure solution for my users?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  219: <p>
                    220: LON-CAPA is distributed without warranty as described in the 
1.7       harris41  221: <a href="http://install.lon-capa.org/docs/license/index.html">license</a>.
1.1       harris41  222: </p>
                    223: <p>
                    224: We do think our security strategy is fairly robust.  Important communications
                    225: are encrypted and the server-client validation is instantiated in such
                    226: a way as to prevent any remotely conceivable kind of spoofing.
                    227: </p>
1.7       harris41  228: <hr />12. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q12" />How do I
                    229: contribute code?</font></font>
1.1       harris41  230: <p>
1.5       harris41  231: Send a diff to <a href="mailto:lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org">
1.1       harris41  232: lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org</a>.  It helps if you give it context
                    233: with the -C option.  For example,
                    234: </p>
                    235: <pre>
                    236: diff -u -C3 doc/build/faq.html doc/build/faq.html~ | mail lon-capa-dev@mail.lon-capa.org
                    237: </pre>
1.5       harris41  238: <hr />13. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q13" />
1.1       harris41  239: Is LON-CAPA owned by any umbrella company?</font></font>
                    240: <p>
1.7       harris41  241: No and hopefully never.  That is not what we are about.  We are about a
                    242: freeware-community oriented approach where the software features are directly
                    243: specified by the involved academic institutions and instructors.
1.1       harris41  244: </p>
1.5       harris41  245: <hr />14. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q14" />
1.1       harris41  246: What are the costs?</font></font>
                    247: <p>
                    248: Time &amp; Money.  You and/or somebody else needs the time to learn how to use
                    249: the LON-CAPA system.  You and/or somebody else needs the money to set up and
                    250: maintain a working computer server(s) for your institution.
                    251: </p>
                    252: <p>
                    253: More importantly, if your institution wants a sound future and a
                    254: increased ability to configure the LON-CAPA software, we recommend
                    255: that you assume some responsibility for contributing code to the
                    256: freeware project.
                    257: </p>
1.5       harris41  258: <hr />15. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q15" />
1.1       harris41  259: What kind of computer do I need?</font></font>
                    260: <p>
1.7       harris41  261: You need a RedHat 7.3 Intel-compatible computer.
                    262: For more information on RedHat compatible hardware, visit
                    263: <a href="http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/">http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/</a>.
                    264: We do not currently support the SPARC, SGI, Macintosh, or other hardware
                    265: architectures.
1.1       harris41  266: </p>
1.5       harris41  267: <hr />16. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q16" />
1.1       harris41  268: Where can I learn more about the technical
                    269: ideas surrounding the LON-CAPA project?</font></font>
                    270: <p>
                    271: You will find the technical manual to be very handy; please visit
1.5       harris41  272: <a href="http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html">
1.1       harris41  273: http://www.lon-capa.org/technical.html</a>.
                    274: </p>
1.5       harris41  275: <hr />17. <font color="blue"><font size="+1"><a name="q17" />
1.1       harris41  276: How are you similar or different to
                    277: WebCT, Blackboard, etc?</font></font>
                    278: <p>
1.5       harris41  279: I would suggest two major differences:
                    280: </p>
1.1       harris41  281: <ol>
                    282: <li>In LON-CAPA, the <strong>user</strong> is the fundamental data object.  
                    283: Other educational software systems seem to focus on the <strong>virtual
                    284: classroom</strong> as the fundamental data object.</li>
                    285: <li>I look at it like this.  Many strictly profit-based enterprises aim to
                    286: significantly please 80% of their users.  LON-CAPA started out, in the
                    287: beginning, aiming for a much higher percentage since the whole project
                    288: was about doing what no one had done before.
                    289: </li>
                    290: </ol>
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