Software/Hardware Requirements for Light and Color

Quick Index

For using the activity from the Web

• Web Browser: Netscape Navigator 3.0/Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0
• Computers: Any system that can run Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0
• Operating Systems: Any system that can run Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0
• Hints and Tips: How to configure the browswer
• TroubleShooting: OK, its not working. What Now!

Other requirements if one downloads and uses the activity locally

• Down Loading: Instructions
• Disk Space:10MB
• Operating Systems: Any that can handle long file names. This is pretty much anything except DOS and early Windows (anything before Windows95).

Back to Light And Color

Web Browser

This activity was designed for use with Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Earlier versions of Netscape Navigator/Microsoft Internet Explorer will not work.

This activity has not been tested with any other browser.

Netscape 3.0+ can be found at http://www.netscape.com

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0+ can be found at http://www.microsoft.com

Back to Light And Color

Computers

IBM compatible PC hardware requirements

CPU	486 or higher, any speed
Main Memory	Minimum: 8MB Recommended: 16MB
Operating System	Windows 95/98/NT
Display	Color required: Minimum 256 colors Recommended: 16K colors or better. Configured for 640x480 or larger.
Printer	None required
Disk Space	Only that required by Netscape Navigator Downloading the activity requires 10MB

Macintosh hardware requirements

CPU	Any that will support Netscape 3.0
Main Memory	Minimum: 8MB Recommended: 16MB
Display	Color required: Minimum 256 colors Recommended: 16K colors or better Configured for 640x480 or larger.
Printer	None required
Disk Space	Only that required by Netscape Navigator Downloading the activity requires 10MB

Back to Light And Color

Operating Systems

Any operating system that can support Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, such as Windows95/98, WindowsNT, or Macintosh System 7 or later.

Most UNIX systems.

Back to Light And Color

Hints and Tips

• Display should be set to 800x600 pixels or 1024x768 pixels size.
• Maximize the Navigator window to fill the screen.
• Configure Navigator to hide the Location Toolbar and Personal Toolbar. This can be done from the View Menu item.
• Make Sure JavaScript and Java are enabled. To check, do the following:
  1. Go to the Edit menu item.
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click on Advanced
  4. Check both Enable Java and Enable JavaScript
     JavaScript must be enabled. If Java is greyed out, one of the modules, Making Waves, will not work, but the rest of the activity will.

Back to Light And Color

Trouble Shooting

• Something doesn't seem to work.

  Always the first thing is to Clear The Cache. To clear the cached under Navigotor 4.0:

  1. Go to the Edit menu item.
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click on plus sign next to Advanced
  4. Click on Cache
  5. Click on Clear Memory Cache
  6. Click on Clear Disk Cache
  7. Click on OK
  8. Try the activity again

• The Animations don't work or seem to be skipping.

  This is a Navigator Bug. On a page with any type of animation, you need to make sure the page has stopped loading. Watch in the lower left corner where the status of the download is displayed. Wait for the messages to stop changing and the "Document Done" message to appear.

• In Making Waves, when I move the scrollbar to the right, the waves the robot makes get shorter; they do no go across the whole page and the longer versions of the rope are still visible. Just looks broken.

  The Java applet that does the robot waving the rope has broken under newer versions of Java, specifically Java 1.3 and Java 1.4. Under Internet Explorer, there is an option to turn off any newer version of Java installed and the instructions for this are below. Otherwise, one must use Netscape 4, upgrade to Netscape 7.1 or greater, or obtain a new version of Java, Java 1.4.1 or better.

  To disable Sun Java in Internet Explorer:

  • Go to the Tools menu item.
  • Select Internet Options...
  • Select the tab Advanced at the top-right of the dialog box.
  • A long list of options will now appear, with the first two main sections called Accessibility and Browsing.
  • Scroll down the list and find a section called Java (Sun). It should have a checkbox with a line that starts with Use Java 2...
  • Click on the box so the checkmark disappears and the box is empty.
  • Click on OK.
  • Now make sure ALL Internet Explorer windows are closed. An easy way to do this is to simply reboot the computer.
  • Restart the activity.

• In Making Waves on the Macintosh, the button "Check Measurements" does not do anything.

  It is known that Internet Explorer on the Macintosh does not support the necessary features to enable this page to work. Specifically, "Java to Javascript Communications" is not enabled. It also appears, through testing, that this is also true of Safari and Netscape 6. There is currently no known workaround.

DownLoading Instructions