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DLOC Teletraining Instructions

This page provides a step-by-step procedure for installing and running a DLOC presentation. You may want to print this page to use as a guide. Once registration is complete, there are just a few steps remaining to prepare for the teletraining sessions:
  1. Create directories
  2. Download the Presentation
  3. Install the Presentation
  4. Run the Presentation

Steps to follow...

  1. Create directories
    • When a presentation is installed on your computer, it should be placed in a specific directory. The required directory structure for DLOC is:


      1. c:\lessons\DLOCFY08\Topic5Les25 - Warning Decision Case Study
      2. c:\lessons\DLOCFY08\Topic7Les19 - Application and Case Study


    • To make this process simpler, we have created an MS-DOS batch file to create the required presentation directories for you. Execute this file from any location on your hard disk. Click to Download: dlocmd.bat (You may need to right click and "Save Target As..." for the dlocmd.bat file. Remember to execute this batch file once it is saved on your hard drive.)


  2. Download the Presentation
    • After creating your directory structure, download the presentation files for each IC. You can access them from the DLOC Course Outline Page.
    • It is suggested that you put the presentation files in the previously created directories when you download them. This makes it much easier in the next step.
    • After downloading, a listing of your directories should look like this:
         C:\lessons\DLOCYF08
                         \Topic5Les25
                                \Topic5Les25.exe                   
      
                         \Topic7Les19
                                \Topic7Les19.exe                   

      Now you are ready to install the presentations.

  3. Install the Presentation
    • To install the presentations, simply execute each "exe" file you just downloaded. When you execute them, you will see a dialog box that looks like this:

      Example of the GUI that is launched when starting a VisitView self-extracting executable file

      Note that the "Target Directory" defaults to the current directory ("orient" in this example, since we're extracting the orientation presentation).

    • This is just what we want, so press the "Extract" button. A large number of files will be extracted into this directory. Luckily, there are only a very few files that we need to be concerned with.

  4. Setting Up Your PC
    • Setting up your PC is even easier than before...
    • Minimum PC Requirements: 166 MHz CPU, More than 64 MB RAM, 60 MB hard drive space available.
    • Screen Resolution: It is best to use a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. This is due to the size of the graphics in the DLOC presentations (800 x 600 pixels). If you choose to use a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, you will be unable to advance slides in visitlocal (backup) mode.
    • NO Additional PROGRAMS Running! VISITview will perform best if you close all programs before starting VISITview.


  5. Run the Presentation
    • Running the VISITview presentation is as simple as executing a DOS batch file. There are four files that you need to be familiar with as a student. The file choice is dependent on the server in use:
      • visit.bat - connects to the ROC server. This is the default file. Use this file unless otherwise instructed. When you run visit.bat, you will see a sign in dialog box:
        Example of a VISITview user sign in window

        Be sure to enter your 3-letter office identifier as your "user id".

      • visitlocal.bat - Use this during the lesson only when you have lost connectivity and your instructor gives you permission. You will be able to run the lesson locally but you will not see any annotations from the class and you will need to manually advance the pages.

    • If, for some reason, the ROC VISITview server is not functioning, your instructor may ask you to switch to a different server. To do this, simply execute the batch file your instructor asks you to when in the teletraining session. (You close the current VISITview client, and run the desired batch file.) Here are the other batch files for running on a different server:

      • visit-cira.bat - a backup file that connects to a server at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) in Colorado State University.
      • visit-cimss.bat - a backup file that connects to a server at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) in the University of Wisconsin.
  6. Pre-Session Events A few things must be accomplished to ensure a smooth teletraining session:
    1. Download and install the presentation (see above).
    2. Set up your computer.
    3. Close all programs.
    4. Your speaker phone should be near your PC.
    5. Test your setup and Internet connection. We have prepared a good test presentation for you! See the Test Hookup Page!
    6. Check your email on the Thursday the week prior to the session. WDTB will be sending out an email describing the procedures for the telephone conference call!
    7. 15 Minutes prior to the conference, dial into the telephone conference call.
    8. Start visit.bat and sign in with your office identifier.
    9. Your instructor will give you more detailed instructions if the ROC VISITview server is down.

Try it out...

A test presentation is available for use in testing connections with the ROC server.

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Page last modified: September 11, 2008 9:40

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