1. What are the software requirements?
   All you need is a Java-powered browser (e.g. Netscape, Explorer, Mozilla ) and a video player ( Real, QuickTime ) which you can download free of charge in the most basic configuration. If they are properly tuned, you can verify that
   • you can execute the virtual experiments by pressing the Start/Stop button in the applet under this link.
   • you can watch and listen to the video recordings under this link.
   • you can login to your personal account (select User->login) making sure that your name appears under User->profile.
   • advanced students verify that the mathematical symbols (å, Õ, ò, Ö2 ) are properly displayed as a summation, product, integral and the square root of two.
   Read further below if any one of the tests failed.
2. How should I properly tune my web browser?
   To be able to identify yourself and login to your personal account, you have to enable cookies:
   • Netscape Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Accept
   • Explorer Tools->Internet Options->Security->Medium
   • Mozilla Edit->Preferences->Privacy&Security->Cookies->Enable
   Work around a javascript problem in Mozilla by allowing pop-up windows
   • Mozilla Edit->Preferences->Advanced->Scripts->Raise allowed.
   Enable access to the Java console from the Explorer menus and force it to keep synchronized
   • Explorer Tools->Internet Options->Advanced->Java Console enabled
   • Explorer Tools->Internet Options->Temporary Files->Check for newer versions->Automatically)
   Disable the automatic storage of passwords if you are not the only user of your console.
3. Why are these (å, Õ, ò, Ö2 ) strange symbols rather than sum, product, integral and root of two?
   The problem can appear on UNIX workstations running X11 where the bowser associates the wrong iso-8859-1 font. You can read the detailed instructions from Ian Hutchinson, an MIT professor who is the author the TeX to html translation software or directly follow the browser specific actions below:
   • Netscape can be fixed simply by adding the following line to your ~/.Xdefaults (or ~/.Xresources):
     

     Netscape*documentFonts.charset*adobe-fontspecific: iso-8859-1

     being careful to finish with a carriage return, but no blank line. Restart the X server (or execute the command xrdb .Xdefaults) and restart Netscape, selecting Document-specified fonts in Edit->Preferences.
   • Linux / Mozilla, Safari, Firefox use anti-aliased fonts that can be downloaded as a file symfontconfig.tar.gz unpacked with tar xzf symfontconfig.tar.gz and installed with cd symfontconfig; ./install.sh. You will be asked for the root password to complete the installation.
   • Other UNIX/Mozilla, Safari, Firefox create a directory with a file (e.g. ~/fonts.dir/fonts.alias) containing

     ! 100dpi aliases to fool your browser into symbol support in iso8859 encoding.
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--11-80-100-100-p-61-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--11-80-100-100-p-61-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--14-100-100-100-p-85-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--14-100-100-100-p-85-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--17-120-100-100-p-95-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--17-120-100-100-p-95-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--20-140-100-100-p-107-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--20-140-100-100-p-107-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--25-180-100-100-p-142-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--25-180-100-100-p-142-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--34-240-100-100-p-191-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--34-240-100-100-p-191-adobe-fontspecific
     ! 75dpi browser symbol aliases.
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-61-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-61-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-74-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-74-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--14-140-75-75-p-85-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--14-140-75-75-p-85-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--18-180-75-75-p-107-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--18-180-75-75-p-107-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--24-240-75-75-p-142-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--24-240-75-75-p-142-adobe-fontspecific
     -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-p-51-iso8859-1 -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-p-51-adobe-fontspecific
             

     This has to be loaded with xset +fp ~/fonts.dir just before executing the browser.
   In most cases, it is necessary to restart the X-server for the modifications to appear in your browser; the best way to do that may simply be to reboot.
4. Why does my browser sometimes hang when I quickly surf from one page to the next?
   To reduce the time to load web pages that are often visited, your browser automatically copies pictures and applets into a local cache directory. If you abruptly change before this operation is complete, your browser will store a corrupted executable, and you will be forced to tell the browser to refresh all the elements in that web page.
5. What type / version of video players can be used?
   Because of the extreme compression that is required to reduce the bandwidth to around 16 Mbytes/hour, you imperatively have to use RealPlayer (Version 8 or higher) or QuickTime (Version 2003 or later) to play the video lectures.
6. How can I force my browser to update my new applet / graphs?
   To reduce the communication, your web browser stores old components of the web pages in a temporary cache. Pushing the F5 key or the browser Reload button generally updates the text, but does not update the pictures and the applets, which then remain out of synchronization with the server.
   • With Netscape, you can force an update of all the components within a frame by clicking RIGHT in the white area, and then selecting Reload while simultaneously pressing the SHIFT key.
   • With Internet Explorer, start by clicking in the white area, then press the CONTROL or the OPTION key simultaneously with the F5 key several times until the status bar tells you that the browser is indeed downloading the new class files as you want.
   • With Mozilla, the easiest is to go to another page (to release the current references to the applet), open the Java console with Tools->Web Development->Java Console, press x to clear the classloader cache, and then go back to the applet page.
   In some cases, the browser insists and refuses to update the content: a robust solution to force the update is then to exit, re-start the browser and re-open the web page. Remember never to interrupt your browser when you see (e.g. on the status bar) that it is refreshing your applet... or you risk to corrupt your cache.
7. How can I produce a numerical output from applets?
   With most applets, a simple click in the plot window generally displays approximative coordinates in the browser status bar. A more precise output can be obtained by pressing the Print Console button in the VMarket applet and reading the solution from the Java console:
   • with Netscape select Communicator + Tools + Java Console
   • with Explorer select Tool + Internet Options + Advanced + Java console enabled and then View + Java Console
   • with Mozilla Tools->Web Development->Java Console
8. If everything else fails...
   Ask for help in the user forum, describing exactly what is your problem so that others can reproduce it. Do not forget to specify which operating system (Windows, Linux, Mac, SunOS, etc), browser (Netscape, Mozilla, Explorer, etc), version you are using and include an exact copy of the string appearing on the top of the table
   
9. Print this page

FAQ -- Administrative matters (Swedish Netuniversity)

1. Who can participate / free of charge?
   The government generously covers all the tuition costs for regular and PhD students who are officially registered in a university in Sweden (e.g. KTH/Stockholm, Chalmers/Gothenburg, HHS/Stockholm) or a universty with a similar level in Europe (e.g. EPF/Lausanne, HEC/Paris, University/Gdansk). To benefit from this financial support, the participants have to be officially registered in the Ladoc student credits system--see below.
2. What is the registration procedure?
   Students who already have an active Ladoc account at KTH can simply fill-in the course registration form without forgetting to specify their complete personal number.
   Students and professionals from within Sweden but outside KTH have to complete the additional KTH registration form (select Blankett) and send it in time to the KTH registrator -- NB: previous years, it was possible to accept a limited number of post-deadline registrations up to one week before the course start by sending the form directly to the course leader (Andre Jaun, NADA, KTH, SE-100 44 Stockholm).
   Students from outside Sweden are kindly requested to send an e-mail to the course leader, specifing their educational background, exact date of birth and the e-mail address of a professor to contact for reference in their home university.
3. What are these bonus points used for continuous assessment?
   Read more under this link.