This is a general FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that covers various subjects releated to Mosaic for Microsoft Windows. The information covers: - Common questions our users have about Mosaic. - Common installation and initial execution problems and solutions. - Information about Winsock.dlls. - Information about viewers and the mosaic.ini - Running Mosaic over a phone line. - Finding an Internet SLIP/PPP provider. - Using Mosaic with from behind a firewall. - Registration and Licensing information. - Misc. Information. After you get Mosaic properly installed, I strongly recommend you read the information that is on-line at the Mosaic for Microsoft Windows Home Page. The URL is: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/HomePage.html Terry McLaren mosaic-w@ncsa.uiuc.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What version of the compression utility PKunzip do I need to unzip Mosaic? You can unzip Mosaic with version 2.04g of the PK software. If you are having problems unzipping the Mosaic file, ensure you are using the proper version of the ZIP utility. If you need copy of the latest PK software you can find this shareware product at the anonymous ftp site oak.oakland.edu. The file pkz204g.exe is in the pub/msdos/zip directory. 2. Do I need to change any of the settings in the mosaic.ini file? Sometimes. As we add additional functionality to Mosaic you may need to add or change parameters in the mosaic.ini file. However, if there any changes or additions to the mosaic.ini file we will make information available in the update.txt file that is included in every release. 3. Are OS/2 and Windows NT supported? OS/2 Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to develop programs for the OS/2 environment. OS/2 users will be able to run version 2.0alpha2 in Windows. Windows NT The current version of Mosaic, v2.0alpha2, is a 16-bit application and it will run in NT. Our next release of Mosaic, v2.0alpha3, will be an NT native 32-bit application. 4. Can I run Mosaic without an Internet connection? Yes, you can run Mosaic on your home computer as a viewer, but you will have to fool Mosaic by using a null winsock.dll. We have such a dynamic link library (dll) on our ftp server, ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, in the PC/Mosaic/nullsock directory. 5. What does the error message "Cannot find winsock.dll" mean? The most common error message users see during the installation is a Windows file error "Cannot find winsock.dll". This is caused when the winsock.dll is not in either the windows/system directory or when the path to the winsock.dll is not defined in the PATH= statement of the autoexec.bat. One of the common misconceptions is that this is a Mosaic error, when in fact it is an error caused by the user not reading the installation instructions of the network software that contains the winsock.dll. To understand how Mosaic interacts with the Network software consider the following: 6. What does the error message "Unable to load TCP" mean? This is a Winsock.dll error message. It can be caused when the winsock is dependent on other .dll files and the files can not be found or you not have enough system resources to launch the program. A solution to the first possible cause is to ensure you have installed your winsock properly or re-install the winsock. A solution to the second possible cause is close other applications. If you have re-installed and closed all other applications and you are still getting the same error message then contact the appropriate author of the winsock.dll for further help. 7. Where do I get a winsock.dll? There are a number of companies that have created these winsock.dlls and you must ensure you have a "1.1 compliant" winsock. If you don't have a 1.1 compliant winsock then you will get an error message like "unable to load TCP/IP" and Mosaic won't run. Note: Information about various winsocks is provided for the convenience of our users. Since we did not develop this software, we can not provide support. If you are having problems with any of these products, then please contact the respective author. Common Commercial winsock.dll providers: - Novell You will need either version 4.1 of Lan Workplace or TCPIP Transport for DOS and their winsock.dll. - PC/NFS users: 1. May have a problem because the name resolving is done with NIS instead of DNS, thus it can't resolve most of the names from Mosaic. Some users have solved this problem by using a DNS to NIS converter. 2. A user recently wrote saying there are some problems in earlier versions of their winsock.dll and a patch can be found at the anonymous ftp site, ftp.york.ac.uk. The file, winsock.zip, is in the /pub/pc/pc-nfs/Patches. A Shareware winsock.dll provider. - Trumpet Software International Winsock was successfully tested during the development of Mosaic. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this software you can find it at the anonymous ftp site ftp.utas.edu.au in the /pc/trumpet/winsock directory. We also maintain a currrent copy of this winsock on our ftp server, ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu, in the /PC/Mosaic/sockets directory. The file is winsock.zip. 8. I have a winsock.dll and Mosaic is not working? Are you using a 1.1 compliant winsock? If your winsock IS 1.1 compliant then it will be documented as such. When in doubt upgrade to the latest version of your network software. BTW, some users have reported an error message in like "Winsock is not 1.1 compliant" associated with this problem. 9. What does the error code "Failed DNS Lookup" mean? This error could be caused by a few things. First, the IP number of the Domain Name Server (DNS) you told your network software is wrong. Second, the name you are trying to resolve is not associated with an IP number. ie. typo or the name does not exist. Third, it is possible that the DNS is down. 10. When I invoke Mosaic I don't see any menus. This occurs when the mosaic.ini file is either NOT in your windows directory or the enviroment variable is wrong. To correct this problem either copy the mosaic.ini file to your windows directory or ensure you've defined the environment variable properly. The environmental variable is defined in your autoexec.bat file. ie. set MOSAIC.INI=c:\complete\directory\path\mosaic.ini 11. Viewers and the mosaic.ini file. The real beauty of Mosaic is its ability to use other already existing products for viewing image files, movie files, post script files, etc. If you already a viewer that are happy with you can simply define it in the mosaic.ini file. (See #12 Installing viewers) If you need to obtain a viewer or viewers to gain this I suggest you see the URL: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/viewers.html This URL will point you to a number of viewers that have been tested with Mosaic. Then it is a matter of selecting Options, Load to Disk... and clicking on the viewer of your choice. If you want to download these viewers without using Mosaic you can find them on our anonymous ftp server in the /PC/Mosaic/viewers directory. 12. Installing viewers This is a general example for defining a new viewer to Mosaic so it knows which viewer to call when it reads the new file type. ie. Configuring Mosiac to read .wav files. Edit your mosaic.ini file to reflect this information. I. In the [Viewers] section of the mosaic.ini file add or edit this information. TYPEn="audio/wav" Where "n" is a unique integer and the "name" is a specific MIME type. In the default mosaic.ini we distribute with Mosaic we have defined the common MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) types. All you have to do is ensure these names point to the proper viewer. There are two ways to define the path to your executable. 1. audio/wav="c:\path_to_your_viewer\XXXX %ls" (explicitly) or 2. audio/wav="XXXX %ls" (This definition implies that the executable is in either the windows directory or it's directory is defined in the path statement of your autoexe.bat.) Note: XXXX is the name of the executable without the extension. ie. mplayer.exe would become "mplayer %ls" II. In the [Suffixes] section define the extensions that this new type will recognize. For example: audio/wav=.wav, wa That's about it. Now when you try to read a .au file Mosiac will know which vie wer to call. IMPORTANT: Since we did not develop the viewers we can not support them. If you are having problems with any of these viewer please contact the respective author. 13. How do I run Mosaic from home? Mosaic will run over a Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point to Point Protocol (PPP) connection. The most difficult aspect is establishing the SLIP/PPP connection. If you are using a commercial winsock you will have to contact your vendor for their SLIP or PPP product. Below is a brief description for establishing a SLIP connection using the Shareware product called Trumpet Software International Winsock version 1.0. This particular product has an internal SLIP driver and an internal modem dialer. If you would like to obtain a copy of this shareware product you can find it at the anonymous ftp site ftp.utas.edu.au. The file is located in the /pc/trumpet/winsock directory. For the convenience of our users we also keep a copy of this Shareware product on our anonymous ftp server, ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu. The file, winsock.zip, is in the /PC/Mosaic/sockets directory. After you have installed the Trumpet Winsock according to it's instructions, envoke tcpman.exe and select "Setup". Trumpet will need the following information about the SLIP server you are connecting to. Get this information from the company that is providing the SLIP service. IP address 0.0.0.0 Name server 0.0.0.0 Time sever 0.0.0.0 Domain Suffix the.name.of.your.domain ie. "ncsa.uiuc.edu" is our domain. Check "Internal SLIP" and enter in the port number and baud rate of your modem. Save the information, click OK, and exit the program. Now, your system should be configured properly. Next, envoke Trumpet again and use the internal dialer option to place the call. Select the "Dialler" pull down menu. You will probably take notice there a few options available, however I will only discuss "Manual login" command. If you are interested in creating a script then please refer to the Trumpet documentation. Once you have selected Manual login you will need to enter the following command in the Trumpet window. atdt xxx-xxxx (where the x's represent the phone number). NOTE: There are two ways to gain access to the Internet via SLIP: A) If you have a static slip account, that is, you were assigned an IP number that doesn't change. - login to the server. - Enter the command "slip". - Hit the escape key. - Double click on the Mosaic icon. B) If you log into a server that assigns you a random IP number. - login to the server. - Enter the command "slip". - Select the "Setup" pull down menu. - Enter this IP in the appropriate field. Note: After you enter the new IP number you will get a message that states you will have to close the application in order for this number to take affect. - Hit the escape key. - Close Trumpet. Note: This action will not cause you to loose your connection. - Double click on the Mosaic icon. 14. How do I gain access to the Internet? Here is a list of some of the companies that can provide nationwide SLIP and PPP access to the Internet. These companies are listed in alphabetical order and we do NOT endorse any particular provider. Colorado Supernet (info@csn.org) Colorado School of Mines 1500 Illinois Street Golden, CO 80401 (800)748-0800 JVNCnet (market@jvnc.net) ** SLIP only ** Global Enterprise Services 3 Independence Way Princeton, NJ 08540 NetCom On-Line Communication Services (info@netcom.com) 4000 Moorpark Avenue Suite 209 San Jose, CA 95117 (408)554-8649 Performance Systems International (info@psi.com) ** World Wide Provider ** 11800 Sunrise Valley Drive Suite 1100 Reston, VA 22019 (703)620-6651 UUNET (info@uunet.uu.net) ** World Wide Provider ** 3110 Fairview Park DR Suite 570 Falls Church, VA 22042 (If you know of any other Nationwide SLIP or PPP service providers let me know and I'll add them to this list.) :) 15. How do I set up Proxy Gateway Support in NCSA Mosaic for Microsoft Windows A proxy gateway allows Mosaic to pass on a network request (in the form of a URL) to an outside agent which will perform the request for Mosaic, and return the results to Mosaic. The intended effect of this is to allow Mosaic clients that are sealed off from the internet to pass their network requests off to a trusted agent that can access the internet for Mosaic. A user of a Mosaic client using a proxy gateway should feel as if they were directly connected to the internet. Proxy gateways are currently only supported in Windows Mosaic version 2.0a2 and later. Proxy gateways in Mosaic are expected to talk the HTTP/1.0 protocol. The URL that Mosaic wants to access is passed to the proxy in the form of an HTTP/1.0 GET request. The proxy then accesses the URL, and returns its results back to Mosaic. Proxy gateways are currently implemented on a per access method basis. This means each URL access method can send its requests to a different proxy. The current access methods are ftp, gopher, wais, news, and http. To add proxy gateway support into Windows Mosaic, you must add a section to your mosaic.ini file of the format: [proxy information] http_proxy=http://aixtest.cc.ukans.edu:911/ ftp_proxy=http://aixtest.cc.ukans.edu:911/ wais_proxy=http://aixtest.cc.ukans.edu:911/ gopher_proxy=http://aixtest.cc.ukans.edu:911/ Not surprising, since client support for proxy gateways has just come out, there aren't a lot of proxy gateways out there. Since proxy gateways are expected to be used to pass through firewalls, you need to Trust your proxy gateway, the best way to get a gateway you trust is to write it yourself. Ari Luotonen at CERN is currently working on a proxy gateway, I have been testing the Mosaic client code against it, and expect Ari will release it as soon as he feels confident in its stability. Now that we have CGI, hopefully someone will write a proxy gateway CGI module, and then you can turn your favorite HTTP server into a proxy gateway. 16. Do I need to register NCSA Mosaic? What is the copyright? You do not need to register to use NCSA Mosaic. However, Mosaic is copyrighted by the University of Illinois and it is available at no charge for non-commercial use. If you interested in licensing Mosaic for commercial use then please refer to the licensing agreement in the next question. 15. Can I get the Source Code? The source code is available by licensing agreement only. In order to obtain a copy of it you must fill out a licensing agreement and mail it to us via some postal service. We will not accept electronic versions of the agreement! However, these agreements are available electronically. Just download the agreement and print it out. You can obtain a copy of this agreement in either of the following ways: a. Download it from our ftp server (ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu or 141.142.20.50) from the PC/Mosaic/source directory. There are various formats of this agreement for your convience. b. Using NCSA Mosaic, go to the following URL: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/WinMosaic/source.html Just select Options... Load to Disk and select one of the available formats. 16. Is NCSA Mosaic available on other platforms? Yes, besides the Microsoft Windows version, NCSA Mosaic is available for the Macintosh and X-Windows platforms. If you interested in obtaining either of these versions you can find more information about them on our ftp server. Mosaic for the X platform can be found in the /Mosaic directory and Mosaic for the Mac platform can be found in /Mac/Mosaic directory. Please download the respective files and read them before you contact us for technical support. If you can find an answer to your question then send email to the appropriate address: mosaic-x@ncsa.uiuc.edu: For X-specific help. mosaic-mac@ncsa.uiuc.edu: For Mac-specific help.