Cisco CD-ROMs: Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

Section 1.0 - Introduction

Section 2.0 - All Users

Section 3.0 - Windows Users

Section 4.0 - UNIX Users

Section 5.0 - Macintosh Users

Section 1.0 - Introduction

Cisco CD-ROMs now include the Netscape browser

Cisco is pleased to announce the inclusion of Netscape Navigator on all Cisco CD-ROM products. This change addresses customer requests for a state of the art browser, while allowing Cisco to integrate new media types (audio, video, and so on) in future browser-based documents.

Advantages of new software

The new software consists of the Netscape Navigator v3.01 browser, Verity's Search 97 search engine, and installers. The advantages of the new software are:

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Section 2.0 - All Users

Netscape Communicator not currently supported

Netscape Communicator is not currently supported in this version of the Cisco Documentation CD. Netscape Navigator version 3.01, which is provided with this CD, must be installed to use the CD.

If you would like to use Communicator, perform the following steps:

  1. Launch Communicator (this step must be performed first).
  2. Restart the CD by running LaunchCD.

Netscape browser message appears: "Netscape is unable to locate server <computername:8080>. The server does not have a DNS entry"

To resolve this problem, select Options/Network Preferences. Select the tab called "Proxies" and check the "No Proxies" option.

Important notes about your TCP/IP stack

It is required that you have the TCP/IP network protocol installed and functioning on your system to run the CD search software. It is not necessary that you are connected to a network or the Internet. You should, however, configure your TCP/IP stack properly to allow connection to the loopback address 127.0.0.1 (which corresponds to your own computer).

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Section 3.0 - Windows Users

System requirements for the CD-ROM

Windows PC minimum system requirements:

  • Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, or NT
  • 386 (20 MHz) processor
  • 16 MB RAM
  • 10 MB disk space
  • VGA+ compatible display adapter
  • 256 colors or 16 shades of gray
  • 640x480 resolution monitor
  • CD-ROM drive

How do I install the CD-ROM?

Run setup.exe under the directory INSTALL\WINDOWS, and follow the instructions on the screen. This installs the software required to view the contents of the CD. After installation, Netscape Navigator will launch and Cisco's home page will display.

How do I search the contents of the CD-ROM?

To search the contents of the CD in the future, click the "Start" button, choose the group named "Cisco CD-ROM Products," and select "LaunchCD."

Important notes about your TCP/IP stack (for Windows NT and 95 users)

For Windows NT and Windows 95 users who do not currently have TCP/IP installed, an option is to install Microsoft TCP/IP protocol that is packaged with your operating system. You can install the protocol using the Network Control Panel. If you do not have a network card installed, you should bind the protocol to MS Loopback Adapter in Windows NT and Dialup Network Adapter in Windows 95. If you have other TCP/IP protocols installed, make sure you are configured to connect to the loopback address 127.0.0.1 before attempting the installation.

Instructions for installing the TCP/IP protocol (for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95)

In the Control Panel, double-click on the "Network" icon. Select the "Protocols" tab and click on the "Add" button. Select the TCP/IP protocol and follow the instructions on the screen to install the software. If you do not have a network card, bind the protocol to MS Loopback Adapter in Windows NT and Dialup Network Adapter in Windows 95. For details on installing the protocol, please consult your operating system manual.

Instructions for installing the TCP/IP protocol (for NT 3.51)

In the Control Panel, select the "Network" option. The "Network Settings" dialog box will display. Select "Add Software" and install the TCP/IP protocol. Add the MS Loopback Adapter using the "Add Adapter" button. Make sure you bind the protocol to this adapter. For details on installing the protocol, please consult your operating system manual.

Instructions for installing the TCP/IP protocol (for Windows 3.x)

It is recommended that you quit all running applications before installing the software.

For Windows 3.x users who do not have a TCP/IP stack installed, the installation program will install Cisco Suite 100 TCP/IP stack for you. If you do not have a network card installed on your system, you should bind the protocol to the serial port when you are asked to specify the type of network to which your interface card is connected.

For Windows 3.x users, you should restart Windows when you are prompted (both for TCP/IP installation as well as Win32 installation) so that you are ready to search the CD when installation is complete.

Note:  Occasionally a Program Manager may crash during the TCP/IP installation on Windows 3.x (right after the icon installation). When you see this error, click on the "Ignore" button and the installation will continue. This error does not affect your installation. Restart Windows when you are prompted by the installation program.

Note for Internet Explorer users: Netscape installer may change .htm associations.

If you have the CompuServe dialer installed on your Windows 95 machine:

Steps 1 through 4 and Steps 5 through 9 are required only the first time you launch "LaunchCD." Thereafter, only Steps 5 through 9 are necessary.

If you currently use CiscoRemote, Netscape's Personal Edition, AT&T WorldNet, or EarthLink:

All of the above are running the dialer application from NTS. Presented below is a procedure to work around problems that may be caused between the pre-installed Cisco Remote TCP/IP stack and the TGV TCP/IP stack that comes with the Cisco CD installer.

The same workaround can be used for Netscape's Personal Edition, AT&T WorldNet, or EarthLink. A specific procedure for these applicaions will be available in the future.

The workaround for CiscoRemote Plus and Lite, version 2.x is explained below:

  1. With CiscoRemote previously installed on the target PC, proceed with the installation of the Cisco Documentation CD.

  2. The CD installer will attempt to ping the loopback address of 127.0.0.1 to verify that a "valid" TCP/IP stack is installed. Because CiscoRemote's TCP/IP stack does not support the local loopback interface, the CD installer will not find a "valid" stack and proceed to install TGV's stack.

  3. Install TGV's stack and follow the directions provided with the CD to bind the stack to a network adapter or serial port.

  4. After the installation of TGV's stack, the CD installation will proceed. Afterward, reboot the PC.

  5. After Windows restarts, it will still load the stack from CiscoRemote because it locates the winsock.dll file from the \windows directory. Move this winsock.dll from \windows to the \cisco\bin directory. Ensure that there are no other winsock.dll files in the \windows or \windows\system directories. (By default, TGV stores its winsock.dll file in the \multinet directory, and should be left alone.)

  6. Remove the (CiscoRemote) Net Launcher icon from the Windows StartUp group, so that it will not automatically load during boot up.

  7. Locate the file called nts.ini in the \windows directory. Add or edit the line to the [Winsock] section of this file to: 
         winsock=c:\cisco\bin\winsock.dll

  8. Reboot Microsoft Windows and the TGV stack will automatically load because it is the first winsock it finds. At this point, the Cisco Documentation CD loads via the LaunchCD icon. This has been tested with CD searches and it works fine.

  9. The CiscoRemote dialup will not function until you open the CiscoRemote directory and launch the Net Launcher. This will load the winsock.dll from the CiscoRemote application directory and will function correctly.

  10. The only problem with this scenario is that in order to view the Documentation CD once more, you have to reboot Microsoft Windows, and follow step number 9 to load CiscoRemote.

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Section 4.0 - UNIX Users

What are the minimum system requirements?

System requirements for the CD-ROM:

  • SunOS 4.1.3 and higher
  • Solaris 2.4 and higher (OpenWin and CDE)
  • AIX 4.1 and higher
  • HP/UX 9.04 and higher (DeskVUE)
  • IRIX v6.2 and higher
  • 16 MB RAM free
  • 10 MB disk space free
  • CD-ROM drive

How do I install the CD-ROM?

Run the script INSTALL/UNIX/INSTALL script to start the installation process. This installs the software required to view the contents of the CD. After installation, Netscape Navigator is launched and Cisco's home page displays.

Refer to your OS documentation on how to mount a CD volume. Also make sure that your current X11 DISPLAY environment variable is set appropriately. This environment variable determines the monitor with which the software interface is displayed.

Starting the CiscoCD gives me the message: "netscape: not running on display: 0.0"

This is a normal message. It appears whenever Netscape isn't already running on the machine, and indicates that the CiscoCD is launching a copy of Netscape.

Starting the Cisco CD gives me the message: "Warning: translation table syntax error: Unknown keysym name: osfActivate"

This error can be safely ignored.

This error refers to the mapping of different keystrokes from the keyboard to the browser. Some of the shortcut keystrokes may not work with the browser. This will be fixed in the future.

Important notes about your UNIX path statement

After installation is complete, add Netscape Navigator and Adobe Acrobat Reader to your search path. These applications must be accessible in the search path when you run the CD search software.

There are several ways to add these items to your search path. In C shell, you can add the applications by adding the following to your .cshrc file: 

      set PATH = (/netscape_install_dir /acrobat_install_dir/bin $PATH)

In Bourne or Korne shell, you can add them by adding the following to the .profile file: 

      PATH=/netscape_install_dir:/acrobat_install_dir/bin:$PATH

Important notes about the Adobe Acrobat plug-in for UNIX

The Adobe Acrobat reader plug-in is not currently supported on IBM AIX systems. After installation is complete, configure Adobe Acrobat reader as a helper application. To do so, from Netscape Navigator, select Options -> General Preferences from the menu bar. Select the "Helpers" tab. Edit the helper entry "application\pdf". Type in the full path to the Acrobat reader in the edit box as follows: 

       <full path to Adobe Acrobat Reader>\bin\acroread %s

Important note about the LANG environment variable on AIX

On AIX systems, you are required to set the environment variable "LANG=C" before launching the CD search software. Otherwise, you might see core dumps while running Netscape.

Terminating the search application

To completely terminate the search application, first exit out of Netscape, then type CTRL-C at the shell from where you launched the software. In systems running HPUX, press the DELETE key.

Cautionary note about possible conflicting shell commands

Make sure you do not have Netscape or any shell commands (such as type, cp, mv, and so on) aliased to other commands in your shell before running the installation.

XKeysymBD environment variable

During the installation, the file XKeysymDB is installed to your $HOME\.XKeysymDB directory. Make sure your XKEYSYMDB environment variable is set to point to $HOME\.XKeysymDB or to a directory that contains a valid XKeysymDB file. You might see some key mapping errors when you launch Netscape on some machines. These errors are most often caused by missing key mappings for your keyboard. In most cases, you can ignore these error messages.

HPUX 9.04 upper case file names

When you mount your CD on HPUX 9.04 systems, the filenames displayed might be in uppercase with version information (;1) attached at the end of the files. The installation, as well as the CD search software, will not function properly with these filename conventions. There are patches that you can install on your system to display the filenames in lower case.

For more information, refer to http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/FAQ/9-20.html.

Use the same mount path for the CD-ROM

It is very important that you mount your CD to the same path each time you install and search your CD. This will ensure that the software can locate the data on your CD. On Solaris 2.5.x, which uses dynamic CD mounting, the software might not be able to locate your CD if it is mounted to a different path than is used during installation. To fix this problem, modify the file <path to CD search software>/SEARCH.INI to include the following setting: 
      [S97IS\2.0.0\SearchApp\Common]
      SourceDrive=/cdrom/cdrom0

If you have more than one CD drive, you may need to specify "cdrom1" or "cdrom2" instead of "cdrom0", depending on which drive you are using.

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Section 5.0 - Macintosh Users
What are the system requirements for this CD-ROM?

System requirements for the CD-ROM:

  • System 7.5 and higher
  • AppleScript
  • 680x0 and PowerPC processors
  • 24 to 32 MB RAM
  • 10 MB disk space
  • 256 colors or 16 shades of gray
  • 640x480 resolution monitor
  • CD-ROM drive

How do I install the CD-ROM?

Insert the disk into the CD-ROM drive and select the CISCOCD icon. Open the MAC folder located inside of the INSTALL folder. Double-click on the icon named INSTALL in that folder.

A set of three installers will be launched automatically. Click "Quit" after the completion of each, and wait until Adobe Acrobat Reader has successfully completed installation. You will be prompted to restart your computer after the completion of the Adobe Acrobat Reader installation. After restarting the system, you are ready to use the CD.

To run the Cisco CD-ROM products application, open the Cisco folder on your hard drive and double-click on the LaunchCD icon.

AppleScript Requirements

AppleScript is required on your system to run the installation. If you do not have AppleScript already installed, you should install it using your Apple system software CD. To do so, insert the CD into the CD-ROM drive. From the "System Software Installers" folders, run "Install System Software." Choose "Custom Install" from the pop-up menu. Select the "AppleScript" suboption from under the "Utility" option. Make sure the correct disk is selected as the destination disk, then click "Install."

Apple QuickTime Requirements

To take full advantage of the CD, you need Apple QuickTime installed on your system. Apple QuickTime is pre-installed on your Macintosh computer. If you have removed it from the system, reinstall the software. To do so, insert your Apple system software CD into the CD-ROM drive. From the "System Software Installers" folder, run "Install System Software." Choose "Custom Install" from the pop-up menu. Select the "QuickTime" suboption from under the "Multimedia" option. Make sure the correct disk is selected as the destination disk, then click "Install."

MacTCP not currently supported

The MacTCP protocol is not currently supported. This protocol will be supported in a future release.

Mac CDPub error message: "The application 'SEARCH' could not be opened because 'OTInetClientLib' could not be found"

This happens because MacTCP is the protocol on the machine. MacTCP is not supported in this release of the CD. This will be fixed in the future. Use the CD on a Macintosh that is using Apple's OpenTransport.

Netscape error message: "Document contains no data"

Shut down the browser and restart the CD by running LaunchCD. This problem will be fixed in a future release.

Netscape error message: "Netscape was unable to create a network socket connection"

Shut down the browser and restart the CD by running LaunchCD. This problem will be fixed in a future release.

Netscape crash with type 11 error: "Sorry, a system error occured. 'Netscape Navigator 3.01' error type 11"

Shut down the browser and restart the CD by running LaunchCD. This problem will be fixed in a future release.

OpenTransport requirements

OpenTransport is required on your system to search the CD.

If your computer is not connected to the network or internet, please use the settings described below.

With OpenTransport:

    From Apple Menu, select Control Panel -> TCP/IP

In the configuration dialog box, select the following:

    Connect via: AppleTalk (MacIP)

    Configure: Using MacIP manually

    IP address: 0.0.0.0

If you do not have these setting configured properly before running the CD search application, you will get an error message stating the CD Publisher software cannot initialize.

Multiple versions of Netscape

If you have multiple versions of Netscape Navigator installed on your system, the search software will launch the version of Netscape Navigator that was last installed on your system.

If the version of Netscape that you want to use is not launched automatically by the search application, you can bring up your preferred version of Netscape manually before clicking on the LaunchCD icon. The search application will connect to the version of Netscape that is currently running.

Adobe Acrobat plug-in

Adobe Acrobat reader installs its plug-in to the Netscape Navigator that it finds first, which may not be the same version that the CD search software uses. Therefore, make sure that the PDFViewer file (the plug-in) is installed in the Plug-ins folder of the version of Netscape you last installed in order to utilize in-line document viewing in the browser. The PDFViewer plug-in file can be found at the Web Browser Plug-in folder of the Adobe Acrobat 3.0 folder.

Macintosh OS 8.0 not supported

Macintosh OS 8.0 is not supported in this release. However, it seems to function normally except as noted below:

During installation, you may get an Apple event time-out message.

To resolve this, click "OK" to accept the time-out message. Then, start the Adobe Acrobat installation manually. To start the Acrobat installer, open the Install folder on the CiscoCD. Open the Mac folder, and double-click the "acinstal" icon.

What if the browser does not load a page in the browser window when it is first launched?

This means that your Mac is off the network, and you have a pre-installed browser with a default home page.

Click the "Stop" button on the browser. From the Options Menu, select "General Preferences." In the "Browser starts with" field, select the "Blank Page" radio button. Exit the browser. Relaunch the CD by double-clicking on the LaunchCD icon.

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Posted: Wed Jul 30 13:49:29 PDT 1997

Copyright © 1996 Cisco Systems, Inc.