Q158599: Mac Encarta 97: Readme.txt: Getting Connected
Article: Q158599
Product(s): Microsoft Home Multimedia Titles
Version(s): 1997 edition
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbfaq
Last Modified: 24-MAY-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia for Macintosh
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SUMMARY
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The following article contains the Getting Connected section of the Microsoft
Encarta 97 Encyclopedia Readme.txt file. This section describes how to access
and utilize the online components of Encarta 97.
MORE INFORMATION
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Readme File
To use the Encarta Yearbook, Web Links, Encarta Online, and
monthly online updates, you will need access to the Internet through an
Internet Service Provider (ISP).
You may already have an ISP through your employer or academic
institution. However, if you want to use the Internet for personal use,
you may need to find an ISP that sells Internet access to the general
public. There are many to choose from, including national ISPs like
Alternet, MCI, NetCom, and PSI; hundreds of metropolitan/regional ISPs;
national online consumer services like America Online, CompuServe, The
Microsoft Network and Prodigy; and many bulletin board systems and local
freenets.
Some ISPs have proprietary accounts based on their own software (e.g.
America Online, CompuServe, Netcom's NetCruiser accounts or PSI's
Pipeline accounts). Increasingly, you'll also be able to use popular
Internet applications like Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator "on
top of" these accounts and their software, but you may find yourself
limited to the software they supply. If you are considering using an
ISP with proprietary software, be sure to ask if they have a Macintosh
version - some are Windows-only - and find out if the Macintosh version
has similar features to the Windows version.
Most Macintosh users access the Internet with their modem through a SLIP
or PPP account using a freeware control panel (although there are
commercial versions and Apple has recently released its own PPP control
panel designed for use with Open Transport 1.1.1). Whether you will use
SLIP or PPP depends on what software you have and which protocol your
ISP supports, but PPP is the more flexible protocol and has lately become
much more prevalent. These accounts let you run graphical Internet
applications that work and feel just like Macintosh applications should.
If your computer has enough memory, you can even run several Internet
programs concurrently with Encarta Encyclopedia.
Setting up a SLIP/PPP control panel and configuring the MacTCP control
(included with System 7.5.x or separately available for about $40) or
the TCP/IP control panel (included with Open Transport in System 7.5.2
and later) can be a bit overwhelming for the average user. Your ISP should
walk you through this process, providing you with critical
information like DNS addresses and search domains, as well as the essential
phone numbers and modem settings to get you up and running on
their service.
When Encarta Encyclopedia launches an Internet application like Internet
Explorer to handle jumping to a location on the Web, the browser will
assume that you have a TCP/IP connection already established when you
launch. Some SLIP/PPP control panels will automatically dial up and
initiate a session when you launch an Internet application, but often the
time lag required for dialing and negotiating the connection exceeds the
timeout on the request, so you should usually connect to your ISP prior
to using Encarta Web Links or other features that connect you to the
Internet.
Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it may take up to
several minutes for your Web browser to successfully connect with a site
that you have launched from Encarta Encyclopedia. You should wait to see
if the connection is successful before returning to the encyclopedia and
attempting to initiate another link. Attempting to connect with multiple
Internet sites simultaneously is not recommended.
Encarta Encyclopedia uses Internet Config to determine which Web browser
should be used to connect to the Web. If you aren't currently using
Internet Config, it will be installed for you when you run the Encarta
Installer and your Internet Preferences will be preset to use Internet
Explorer to handle the following Internet resource types: Web (http),
FTP (ftp), Gopher (gopher), E-mail (mailto) and Usenet News (news). If
you want to use a different browser or override any of these defaults,
you can launch the Internet Config application and change the Helper
application for that resource type. User Documentation for changing
these settings is provided in the Internet Config 1.3 folder.
NOTE: Some older Web browsers don't support the standard AppleEvent
required to open URLs using Internet Config. In this case, the browser
will launch, but you must manually enter the URL to jump to the correct
page.
TIPS ON DOWNLOADING ENCARTA UPDATES
To keep your encyclopedia current, you should connect to the Encarta Web
site every month to download new installments of Yearbook updates, Web
Links and the Month in Review. Each monthly update file is free and can
be downloaded to your hard disk and integrated into the Encarta
Encyclopedia content so that you can access information on current
events. The Encarta Installer copies a sample update installment - July
1996 - that you can display right away and use to become familiar with
these update features.
In-depth instructions for downloading updates are provided within the
Downloads screen. However, here are some tips on streamlining the
downloading process on your Macintosh:
When you click to download an update file in your Web browser, Internet
Config's file mapping feature can actually identify Encarta update files
based on the file extension and set the file's type and creator, then
automatically launch Encarta 97 Encyclopedia to integrate the update.
The file mapping entry to enable this feature is already included in the
preconfigured Internet Preferences and Internet Explorer preferences that
get installed to your hard drive if prior versions don't already exist.
If you're already using Internet Config, Encarta 97 Encyclopedia will
automatically add this file mapping entry to your existing Internet
Preferences file the first time you launch Encarta. As long as you use an
Internet Config savvy application like Internet Explorer or Anarchie,
downloading updates is as simple as clicking on the filename, waiting for
the file to download, and following the directions that appear on your
screen.
NOTE: If you use a Web browser that isn't fully Internet Config enabled,
you will need to save the downloaded update file in the Updates folder,
located within the Encarta 97 Encyclopedia folder, then manually
integrate the update using the Integrate button from the Downloads
screen.
Encarta updates should be downloaded with binary encoding, not plain
text. Most Web browsers and FTP clients default to this mode.
The same update files are used for both the Windows and Macintosh
versions of Encarta 97 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition. Since the update
file is internally compressed and has no resource fork, there's no need
to use StuffIt Expander to decompress or decode the archives posted
online.
Make sure you have adequate free disk space available to download and
integrate the update file. In the process of integrating the update,
Encarta will decompress and copy the information within the update file
to several internal databases, then delete the original file when the
integration is complete. Consequently, you need enough free space on
your hard disk to hold at least two complete copies of the update file.
Be sure to only download update files for the North American version of
Encarta 97 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition. Update files for Encarta 96
Encyclopedia, Standard or International releases can not be integrated
with content on your CDs.
Additional query words: 1997 multi media multimedia multi-media mmtitles kbmm macmm
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Keywords : kbfaq
Technology : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbHomeProdSearch kbEncartaSearch kbEncartaEnCyc1997Mac
Version : :1997 edition
Issue type : kbinfo
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