PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO MINERAL SPECIES DETAILED INSTALLATION AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS: Contents: 1. Installing Netscape Browser Software 2. Best way to launch Photographic Guide (Win 95/98) 3. Alternate Methods of Launching the CD (Win 95/98) 4. Opening CD from Web Browser (all operating systems) 5. More methods of opening the CD (Windows) 6. Running the CD 7. Known Operational Issues 8. Using This CD With a Macintosh ======================================================================================= 1. Installing Netscape Browser Software In order to use the Photographic Guide to Mineral Species you first must have a web browser installed on your computer. You can install a version of Netscape from the CD if you need a web browser or want to upgrade. We recommend running this CD with version 4.0 or better of Netscape. Note that some features will not work with Microsoft Internet Explorer or with Netscape version 3.0. We have provided Netscape Communicator Version 4.5 for Windows 95/98 (not available for Windows 3.1), Netscape Communicator Version 4.08 for Macintosh Power PC, and Netscape Navigator Version 3.04 for Windows 3.1. To install Netscape browser software, see the instructions contained in the NETREAD.TXT file contained in the Netscape director. To access this file from Windows 95/98, press the 'START' button, select run, then enter the following: D:\NETSCAPE\NETREAD.TXT then press 'OK', where 'D' is the drive letter of your CD player. ======================================================================================= 2. The Best Way to Launch Photographic Guide to Mineral Species For Windows 95, 98 (For Windows 3.1 see paragraphs 4 or 5): As everything else with Microsoft Windows operating system, there are many ways to run this CD, all starting with loading the CD into you CD player. You will need to identify the drive letter of your CD player. (Double click ‘MY COMPUTER’ on the desktop, and look for a letter next to a picture of a CD player). The best way to launch the CD is to create a desktop icon. Follow these steps: Creating desk-top icons in Windows 95, 98: Right click on some blank region of the desktop. In the menu that opens, select NEW, then select SHORTCUT. For ‘Command line’, enter the following, where ‘X’ is your CD player drive letter: X:\PG2MS.htm, then click ‘next’, then click ‘finish’. A new icon will appear on your desktop. Provided a web browser is installed, by double clicking this icon (with the Photo Guide CD in the CD player), the Photographic Guide to Mineral Species will run in your web browser! ======================================================================================= 3. Alternate Methods of Launching the CD If for some reason the method above does not work, try some of these alternate methods: For Netscape users: Right click on some blank region of the desktop. In the menu that opens, select NEW, then select SHORTCUT. For ‘Command line’, enter the following, where ‘X’ is your CD player drive letter, and include all colons (:), quotes ("), and spaces, and enter all on one line: "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\netscape.exe" -browser "X:\PG2MS.htm" then click 'next', the click 'finish'. A new icon will appear on your desktop. Provided a web browser is installed, by double clicking this icon (with the Photo Guide CD in the CD player), the Photographic Guide to Mineral Species will run in your web browser! For Microsoft Internet Explorer users: Right click on some blank region of the desktop. In the menu that opens, select NEW, then select SHORTCUT. For ‘Command line’, enter the following, where ‘X’ is your CD player drive letter, and include all colons (:), quotes ("), and spaces, and enter all on one line: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Iexplore.exe" "X:\PG2MS.htm" then click 'next', the click 'finish'. A new icon will appear on your desktop. Provided a web browser is installed, by double clicking this icon (with the Photo Guide CD in the CD player), the Photographic Guide to Mineral Species will run in your web browser! ======================================================================================= 4. Opening CD from Web Browser (all operating systems) You can always open the CD from your web browser. To do so, start your web browser, but do not connect to the Internet. For Netscape Communicator users: From the menu select File, Open Page; click on ‘Choose file’, then enter X:\PG2MS.htm (where 'X' is the drive letter of your CD player), click ‘Open’, then click ‘Open’. For Microsoft Internet Explorer users: From the menu select File, Open, click on ‘browse’, then enter X:\PG2MS.htm (where 'X' is the drive letter of your CD player), click ‘Open’, then click ‘OK’. You may need to modify this procedure for older or different browsers. ======================================================================================= 5. More methods of opening the CD (Windows) Windows 95/98 If all else fails, try the following: click on 'START' button, select run, then enter X:\PG2MS.htm (where 'X' is the drive letter of your CD player) and ignore any error messages that may result! For Windows 3.X Our advice is to upgrade! Until you do, you can launch the CD by first going to Program Manager, then on the menu select File, Run, enter X:\PG2MS.htm (where 'X' is the drive letter of your CD player) then select ‘OK’, and ignore any error messages that may result! If this doesn't work, go to File Manager, then use File Manager to browse to your CD drive, then double-click on PG2MS.htm, or follow the Opening CD from Web Browser instructions, above. ======================================================================================= 6. Running the CD. The Photographic Guide to Mineral Species is a web-site on a CD! Using this product is analogous to browsing the web, only you browse your CD instead. We hope that using the Photographic Guide will be self explanatory. Once the CD is loaded, you will see the Title screen appear. After a pause, the main program will open, or you can click the figure to continue. Click on HOW TO USE, in left frame, for further instructions. Selecting TABLE of CONTENTS, in the banner frame, will bring up HOW TO USE and other information. =========================================================================================== 7. Known Operational Issues Older CD players (1x or 2x speed) may have trouble loading the CD, the only solution we have found is to repeatedly insert the CD until it ‘takes’. When loading, sometimes an error message, beginning ‘file or one of its components not found’ appears, but the CD appears to be loading in the background. Click OK and ignore the message, this is some sort of Windows problem and does not effect the running of the CD. To avoid this, try some of the alternate means of starting the CD as suggested above. Using older versions of browsers, such as Internet Explorer 3.0 or Netscape 3.0, may result in some features not working properly, if at all, and the display of occasional error messages, which can be safely ignored. We recommend upgrading to Netscape Communicator 4.5, which can be loaded from the CD. =========================================================================================== 8. Using This CD With a Macintosh We are not regular Mac users and have only limited experience with testing the Photographic Guide to Mineral Species on the Macintosh. Our tests show that full, or nearly full, functionality of all features work as easily with the Mac as they do on a PC. Again, we recommend using the lastest versions of web browsers for full functionality, and use of step 4, above, for starting the CD. You can also double click on the file 'PG2MS.HTM' in the CD player folder that appears after loading the CD, provided HTM files are properly associated. Note that we cannot provide further assistance or advice on using the CD on a Mac.