| Technical Issues, Problems, and Solutions | |||
*** TECH ALERT - APRIL 2007 New Installation Procedure to Avoid Security Policy Conflicts Setting Up and Using the Program Trouble Shooting Technical Trade-offs and Constraints There is a huge range in the quality and number of computers available to educators across the country. There is also a huge range in the level of confidence and expertise which users bring to the equipment. Ripple Effects has worked hard to configure very high-end software in a way that's accessible to users with low-end equipment, minimal training, and a low comfort level with technology. Fortunately, the Company has been able to design around a wide range of human aptitudes and abilities, with very little compromise. Dealing with wide variations in equipment has required more trade offs.
The single biggest constraint in using Ripple Effects software is that it has to be copied onto your hard drive, and it requires a lot of room. The things that make the program so engaging-the video, animations, and voices reading everything aloud, also take up lots of space. How much depends on the overall size of the program, from 650MB for Ripple Effects for Kids to 1.2 GB for Ripple Effects for Teens. Even in the network version of the program, the contents that take up so much space MUST be installed on each computer, so you still need up to 1.3 GB of local hard drive space. See the Kids or Teens or Coach User Guides for the system requirements for each product . Color Sound To get the best sound on a Mac, go to the Apple menu by clicking on the Apple icon in the upper left hand corner of your monitor. Select "Monitors & Sound," and from there, set your sound output to the highest level available - 44.100 kHz if it's an option. The higher number will give you better quality sound. We've made the video size as small as possible, with out losing it's emotional impact. Even with this, however, the video portions of the program are so large that they need a whole CD-ROM or DVD to contain them. The video frame size we arrived at is larger than that for videos in many other programs. However, our testing has shown that any thing smaller is not effective as either a behavioral model or a catalyst for emotional response.
Preparing the Program for Use on Your Computer There are three places you can find help preparing Ripple Effects software to run on your computer: here, your manual, and the "read me" file that accompanies the program. In order for Ripple Effects software to run properly, it needs certain folders to live in specific locations on your hard drive. There's a program included with the software that makes sure that the folders are set up correctly, with the right names, and in the right relationship to each other, on your hard drive. If a folder is named incorrectly, or saved within the wrong parent folder, the software won't work. Imagine if you addressed an envelope with a street address in Boston, and a zip code for Tennessee. When the letter arrived in Tennessee, it would never find the street in Boston, even if both pieces of information were correct. The easiest way to make it work is to use the Installer to set up the program, and then do not move, rename, or delete any program files or folders. Here's what goes on behind the scenes with the installation process. Installation on Windows
Installation on Mac
Use on Networks Performance will be affected by the size and processing speed of the server, the width of the connecting wire and the number of users accessing the program at the same time. The primary advantage of networked use is that users can access their saved files from any computer connected to the server, and don't have to rely on returning each time the same computer system in order to find their records. Copying a Customized Topic List
Before you can begin this process, you have to have done at least a minimum installation onto the computer where you want to add your customized topic list. If you haven't done this yet, find disk 1, click on the installer, and install it. Now you are going to copy your reconfigured topic list from the floppy into the folder on your hard drive where the program will look for it. Specifically, you need to copy the file "topics.txt" from the floppy, into the folder on your hard drive called "CONFIG." The program will look for the file "topics.txt" in this specific folder. If the program doesn't find it there, it will act as if the file doesn't exist, and show all the topics in the program. Once Ripple Effects is installed, you can copy a customized list by following these steps:
Now, when you launch the program, the topics that show up in the cell phone should not include those topics blocked in your customized topics list. Another option is to use the "find file" option in your Mac or Windows operating system. Choose find file, and type in the name "CONFIG." This will find the CONFIG folder for you, and you can copy the "topics.txt" file into it. Remember, any time you copy files into Ripple Effects program folders, make sure you don't change any names of files or folder, or move files or folders from one place of another, except as described above with the (customized) topics file. Moving files or folders can prevent the program from working, since it is expecting to find the files it needs in the locations set up by the installer.
Projection Capability
Internet Access To take advantage of this function, you must have a web browser installed on your computer. If there is any problem with web access from within the program, you can use your browser to access the site directly by typing in http://www.rippleeffects.com To block access, log in using your serial number as your password. Choose block web access and select "block web access". Users won't be able to go to the web from within the program.
Trouble Shooting Here are some situations or questions that could potentially come up, with explanations of why they could occur and what to do to solve them: problem: You tried to log in to Relate but got an error message that says "You clicked on the CD to start the program, but it won't work from the CD. You have to click on the files that are stored on your computer hard drive to start this program. Look for a file called "Relate.exe" on your hard drive, and click on that to get started." explanation: You may have inadvertently tried to start your program off the CD instead of off your hard drive. You have to run it on your hard drive for it to work. solution: Quit out of the program, then restart by clicking on the Relate icon on your hard drive. Try ejecting the CD from your CD-ROM drive, just to make sure you aren't clicking on it. If the program isn't already on your hard drive, insert the disk and click "Start Here" to get the program copied onto your computer.
problem: The movies don't play. explanation: There is a problem with QuickTime, the program that enables videos to play in Ripple Effects software. Either QuickTime isn't installed on you computer at all, or the wrong version is on your computer. solution: The right version of QuickTime is included on your CD-ROM. Click on install QuickTime to set it up. problem: The movies are all choppy or go VERY SLOW. There are a few things that could cause this: explanation 1: The speed of your CD-ROM drive may be the culprit. If you are playing parts of the program off your CD-ROM (the minimal or medium installation options) and the CD-ROM drive is slower than a 4X, the playback speed can't get all the information it needs in the amount of time it has to have for the movies to play smoothly. It's kind of like playing a 45 rpm record on a turntable set for 33 rpm. solution 1: The only solution to this is either to install the movies on your hard drive, get a faster CD-ROM, or install them on a removable hard drive. explanation 2: You may have too little RAM - the memory that's used for processing. This is the small number (4, 8, 16, 24; the big number is your storage space.) This is roughly equivalent to a measurement of how many balls a juggler can keep in motion at once. So even though your computer has the potential to work faster, that potential can't be realized because it can't juggle as many processes as it needs to at once. solution 2: More RAM. Fortunately it's usually not too expensive and often easy to install. explanation 3: Your computer's processing speed may be too slow. This is mainly a function of age and the kind of chip it's working off of. Pre-Pentium processors may not be able to work fast enough to keep the program running smoothly. solution 3: Alas, the only solution to this one is a faster computer.
explanation 1: Your speakers are either not plugged in, not turned on, or have the volume turned down. solution 1: Make sure the wires going from the speakers to the computer are connected. Check to see if a power button needs to be turned on (often by pushing in.) Check the volume control, and turn it up. explanation 2: Your sound quality preferences are set too low. solution 2: If you have a Mac, to get the best sound: Go to the apple menu by clicking on the Apple icon in the upper left hand corner of your monitor.
Unfortunately, you can't change your sound output quality on the PC.
problem: Most of the program looks all right, but the photos look like everyone is bruised. explanation: Your computer either isn't set to, or can't support, the "thousands" color setting. As a result it's reducing everything to 256 colors. By bunching colors together, it's losing subtle differences in skin tone variation and exaggerating contrast. solution: To make sure your color is at the best level possible, if it's an option on your computer, set your monitor to 1000's of colors (16 bit). To do this on the Macintosh: Go to the apple menu by clicking on the Apple icon in the upper left hand corner of your monitor. Scroll down to and select the "control panel." Then scroll down to and select "Monitors & Sound." In the monitors section, you'll see a list with different display options, most likely it will look like this: 256, Thousands, Millions. Make sure your monitor is set to display in thousands of colors by clicking on the word Thousands. For PCs, to make sure your color is set at the best level possible:
problem: When you see the Ripple Effects programs on other people's computers it takes up more of the screen than on yours. explanation: Your monitor preferences are probably set higher (and thus your screen size smaller) than theirs. Monitor preferences set resolution levels on the screen in pixels per inch. The more pixels per inch you choose, the smaller space they need to be concentrated in. solution: You can change the size of your screen by changing the resolution of your monitor. Just select one of the numbers shown on the right side of the screen. Choose 640 x 480 for maximum size, 832 x 624 if you want things to appear somewhat larger. Choose 1024 x 768 if you want the screen to be a little smaller. You can experiment by clicking on different numbers, and see which you prefer. The larger the numbers, the smaller things will be on your monitor.
problem: You know you saved "memories" after writing in the brain, but your memories aren't showing up in the journal/brain. explanation 1: If you're using a Non-network version, then your records are only stored on the computer you signed in on. Most likely, you were on another computer and your memories are being held there. A CD-ROM is like a store bought recording; it plays but it doesn't record. So if you put the same CD-ROM in different computers, unless the computers are linked in a single network, each of the hard drives of the computers could be holding the information you did on that computer. solution 1: Upgrade to a networked version of the program, or always use the same computer. explanation 2: Someone else had signed in and the program was already running for them, when you took over. If so, your memories will be stored under their name. solution 2: Always sign in and start the program from scratch, using your own password, if you are going to enter things in the brain, or do your profile. Make sure you quit when you are done.
problem: You clicked on the Ripple Effects program icon and it didn't work. explanation: You may have done a minimal installation, in which case you need the CD-ROM disk in the CD-ROM drive in order to run the program. solution: Insert the Relate disk into the CD-ROM drive, then click the Relate icon on your computer desktop.
problem: When logging in, you get a message saying you've typed something incorrectly, or that it doesn't recognize your name or password, even though you know you've already logged in and set up an account. explanation: You could have typed your first name, last name, or password incorrectly. But, more likely, you logged in on a completely different computer, and your information is stored on that other computer, not the one you're on. solution: Use the computer where you set up your account the first time. problem: When logging in the first time, you get a message saying that someone has already signed in with your name. explanation: The program needs a unique name in order to track each individual user. Another user may have the same first and last names as you. solution: Sign in using a nickname.
problem: You click on the web button, and it doesn't connect you to the Ripple Effects web site. explanation 1: The computer you are on may not be connected to the internet, either because a) it has no modem, b) there's no phone line or cable to connect to, or c) there is both a modem and phone line or cable to the internet, but it isn't connected properly. solution 1: Check to see if you have a modem. If you do, make sure it's connected to a phone line, which is connected to the internet, then try again. If you're missing either the modem or the phone line, you can try connecting from a different computer. However, you must do all activities and entries in your brain/journal from the same computer. explanation 2: A second possibility is that your organization has some blocking mechanism that prevents or limits web access. Your system administrator can work directly with the supplier to exempt the Ripple Effects site from the filtering software. explanation 3: A third reason your web connection might not work is that you have either no web browser, or an old one. Browsers are the software that enable web access. The Ripple Effects site is designed to work with Netscape or Explorer. solution 2/3: Try installing one of these browsers, then re-connecting to the web. explanation 4: You may have defaults set on your web browser. If you do, the browser might go to that default destination, even if it is supposed to go to the Ripple Effects site. solution 4: Type the URL (http://www.rippleeffects.com) directly into the browser window, and/or check your browser default settings.
Customer Service For instance, if you have any questions about how to get around in the program, or what various buttons are for, the quickest way to get an answer is to click on the help button in the upper right hand corner of the screen. For questions about content, your fastest solution will usually be to consult your user guide or the Technology Guide, or this web site. If you don't find what you need, please contact us and let us know the problem. For technical questions, your best first resource is someone in your building who's familiar with the equipment. If you don't have access to such a person, or they're unable to figure out what's happening, we can also help you trouble shoot technical problems. The more information you have about the technical details of your system, the better we'll be able to help. To Reach Us: |
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