System Support for FACS CD

To summarize the following discussion, if you use a recent Windows® or Macintosh®, you should have no trouble reading the Manual and viewing its multimedia, although you may have to install some additional programs (available on the CD ROM or the Web). Other operating system have a range of limitations, at least for the present time, which are described in detail below.

The Manual and Investigator's Guide are in Portable Document Format (PDF) for reading with Adobe® Acrobat Reader® or eBook Reader®. Acrobat Reader runs on Windows®, Macintosh®, Linux®, OS/2®, and most versions of UNIX®, but eBook Reader only runs on Windows and cannot play the video, although it has other useful features. The Acrobat Reader version numbers available for these platforms vary, and earlier versions might not support all the functions available in the FACS Manual. At the time of writing, the latest version of Reader is available for Windows and Macintosh, and the installation files for these systems are included on the CD ROM, together with version 4.05 for Linux. These readers are free from the Adobe Web site and come in several languages. In summary, the text of FACS can be read on almost any computer platform using Acrobat Reader, but only Windows and Macintosh support viewing the images internally to the reader, and other systems may have trouble linking to an external viewer, as explained below.

The latest readers support an internal and external viewer for both the images and the videos. All versions of the readers support viewing the images internally to the reader. All tested systems support viewing the images via links in an external viewer. You control what external viewer is used by setting your operating system's associations between file types and applications.

QuickTime® is needed to view the videos internally, and you may need to install this program separately for Acrobat version 5. A QuickTime player can be obtained free from Apple Computer, but is only available for Windows and Macintosh. There is no support in Acrobat for other systems for viewing the videos internally as yet.

To play the videos using links from the document to an external viewer requires an MPEG 1 video player. The latest versions of Windows Media Player plays MPEG 1 on Windows and QuickTime plays MPEG 1 on Windows or Macintosh. There are many other players that can be substituted for these. You control the player used by setting your operating system's associations between file types and applications. In other operating systems, choice of the windowing shell, the player, and the version of the system affects the ease of getting videos to play in an external viewer.

If your system does not support viewing the video with the reader either internally or externally, you can play them manually using your preferred player. Either QuickTime or MPEG 1 players can be used.

A Java® runtime at version 1.1.8 or later is required to run the FACS Score Checker, a program that aids score entry and checks practice scoring. Virtually all operating systems have suitable Java runtimes available, and runtimes for the Linux and Windows are included on the CD ROM. However, PC DOS and Windows 3.x cannot run the appropriate Java runtime. Java runtimes for each system can be found on the system vendor's Web site, and Sun's Web site has versions for Linux, Windows, and Solaris®.

The table below shows compatibility of various systems with the different requirements for using FACS online. These summaries were constructed from information on various vendors's Web sites. Not all the possible combinations were tested. In summary, recent Windows and recent Macintoshes work best with the new FACS. You may have trouble getting Linux, the various UNIXs, and older Macs to view the videos in an external viewer using the links from within the document (instead, the videos can be viewed with any suitable player manually). You can read the document under older OSs, e.g., Windows, OS/2 (except DOS), but the functions of the readers are backlevel.

Operating System	Available Readers	Internal Video Player (QuickTime®)	External Image or Video Viewing	Java® for FACS Score Checker
Windows® 98, NT® 4, 2000, Me, XP, etc.	Acrobat® 5 eBookReader®	available	set up preferred player/viewer using system associations	good support available
DOS or Windows 3.x	no reader for DOS; Acrobat 3 for Windows 3.1	not available	not tested	not supported
Linux®	Acrobat 4.05	not available now	should work, but difficulties can arise in viewing videos depending on version, windowing shell, and viewer	available
UNIX®	Acrobat various	not available	not tested	available
OS/2 Warp®	Acrobat 3.0	not available	works, but default video player has limited functions	available, but may be hard to get
Classic Macintosh® pre 8.6	Acrobat 4	available	not tested; should work	available, but may be quirky
recent Classic Macintosh & OS X®	Acrobat 5	available	set up preferred player/viewer using system associations	good support available
Summary	Windows 98 on, NT® 4.0, XP® and late model classic Macs and OS X® have best support; older Macs, Linux, and various UNIX lag a bit; OS/2, and Windows 3.1 have basic function, DOS not supported	internal viewing of video supported only on Macintosh and recent versions of Windows	Windows 98 on, NT 4.0, XP and late model classic Macs and OS X are supported; other windowing systems should work (if not, you can view videos by starting viewer separately and loading the file); others not supported	Windows 98 on, NT 4.0, XP and late model classic Macs and OS X have good support for Java; OS/2, older Macs, Linux, and various UNIX have adequate Java; Windows 3.1 and DOS not supported

The following are registered trademarks of their respective owners: Adobe, Acrobat Reader, eBook Reader of Adobe Systems, Inc.; DOS, Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP of Microsoft Corp.; Macintosh and QuickTime of Apple Computer, Inc.; PC DOS and OS/2 Warp of IBM Corp.; Linux of Linus Torvalds, UNIX of The Open Group; Java and Solaris of Sun Microsystems.