Preliminaries

These instructions are meant to provide reference for the average installation of the Java Plug-in for operation with machines running Netscape Communicator. We provide basic instructions for:

• Installation For A Single-User Unix Account
• Installation On A Unix Network: a single copy of Netscape is shared by multiple users.

If your case does not fall under one of these then please consult one of the following sources for help:

• http://java.sun.com: for general information about Java technology.
• http://java.sun.com/products/plugin: for information about the Java Plug-in.
• ies_help@cavs.msstate.edu: for help with ISIP applets.

What you will need

Before you start the installation, you will need to download a version of the Java Plug-in appropriate for your machine. This can be found at http://java.sun.com/products/plugin. At the time of writing this text, the most stable version of the plug-in was version 1.1.2. A more recent version should work fine though one should typically avoid deploying beta releases of software across their network.

Installation For A Single-User Unix Account

1. Download:
   
   
   We will assume that you have downloaded the appropriate version of the Java Plug-in and named the distribution file as "plugin_install.sh"
   
   
   
2. Decompression and installation:
   
   
   You will need to extract the plug-in with the command /bin/sh plugin_install.sh.
   
   The installation script will prompt for you to agree to licensing terms for the plug-in. Be sure to read these carefully (though the plug-in is freely distributed to all sites, there may be issues of which your organization needs to be aware).
   
   The installation script will install files in $HOME/.netscape/.
   
   
   
3. Restarting your browser and confirming installation:
   
   
   You will almost certainly need to restart your browser at this point. After doing so you should check that the plug-in was installed. For example, in Netscape Navigator, click on the "Help" menu and select "About Plug-ins". You should see an entry for the "Java(TM) Plug-in".
   
   If this works, you can now try to use an applet which requires the Java Plug-in. For instance, try http://www.cavs.msstate.edu/research/isip/projects/speech/experiments/
   
   If this does not work then you should first make sure that you followed the instructions in this text and those on the plug-in web-site carefully. Otherwise, contact the technical support at http://java.sun.com or email ies_help@cavs.msstate.edu with problems specific to our applets.

Installation On A Unix Network

1. Download:
   
   
   We will assume that you have downloaded the appropriate version of the Java Plug-in and named the distribution file as "plugin_install.sh".
   
   
   
2. Decompression and installation:
   
   
   We will also assume that you want to install the plug-in into PLUGIN_HOME and that your netscape distribution is installed at NETSCAPE_HOME. We use PLUGIN_HOME=NETSCAPE_HOME=/usr/local/netscape.
   
   You will need to extract the plug-in with the following commands:
   
   
   1. export HOME=PLUGIN_HOME or setenv HOME PLUGIN_HOME
   2. /bin/sh plugin_install.sh
   
   This will create a ".netscape" directory under PLUGIN_HOME.
   
   The installation script will prompt for you to agree to licensing terms for the plug-in. Be sure to read these carefully (though the plug-in is freely distributed to all sites, there may be issues of which your organization needs to be aware).
   
   
   
3. Modifying environment for the plug-in:
   
   
   You will now need to tell Netscape where to find the plug-in. This is done by setting two environment variables: NPX_PLUGIN_PATH and JAVA_PLUGIN_PATH.
   
   You can do this as part of a wrapper used to invoke netscape or you can add this into the users' environment (e.g. via the .bashrc or .cshrc files) by:
   
   
   • export NPX_PLUGIN_PATH="PLUGIN_HOME/.netscape/plugins:NETSCAPE_HOME/plugins"
   • export JAVA_PLUGIN_PATH="PLUGIN_HOME/.netscape/java"
   
   For our setup this is:
   
   
   • export NPX_PLUGIN_PATH="/usr/local/netscape/.netscape/plugins:/usr/local/netscape/plugins"
   • export JAVA_PLUGIN_PATH="/usr/local/netscape/.netscape/java"
   
   
   
4. Restarting your login and confirming installation:
   
   
   For these changes to take effect (particularly if you do not invoke Netscape via a wrapper routine. otherwise you can try just restarting Netscape first.) the users will need to log out and log back in.
   
   After doing so you can check that the plug-in was installed. For example, in Netscape Navigator, click on the "Help" menu and select "About Plug-ins". You should see an entry for the "Java(TM) Plug-in.
   
   If this works, you can now try to use an applet which requires the Java Plug-in. For instance, try http://www.cavs.msstate.edu/research/isip/projects/speech/experiments.
   
   If this does not work then you should first make sure that you followed the instructions in this text and those on the plug-in web-site carefully. Otherwise, contact the technical support at http://java.sun.com or email ies_help@cavs.msstate.edu with problems specific to our applets.