IEEE-OES Digital Archive

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Instructions for Changing the CD-ROMs

In the course of accessing certain links in the Digital Archive CD-ROM set, a window will appear in your web browser application asking "Please enter CD-ROM # and then click OK" (where # is the number of the CD-ROM that contains the requested files). Platform-specific instructions for changing the CD-ROMs are provided below.

While the CD-ROM changing mechanism works very well for certain platform and browser combinations, the mechansim has a few quirks and exhibits erratic behavior on some browsers and platforms due to varied interactions among the browser, the CD-ROM drive, and the ASTAware search engine. The recommendations below will address most of the issues that you are likely to encounter and suggest reasonable solutions.

Windows 95/98/NT/2000 Users

Basic Instructions: Open the CD-ROM drive by physically pressing the Eject button on the CD-ROM drive of your Windows PC. Then insert the CD-ROM with the appropriate number. Wait until the CD-ROM stabilizes (this may take up to 30 seconds). A sure sign is that you will find a name or an icon next to your CD-ROM drive letter in Windows Explorer. Then press OK in the Window that prompted you to change the CD-ROM.

When a CD-ROM is Inserted, the Screen Refreshes to Start Page: You are likely to encounter this problem if you are using Internet Explorer. Once this happens, clicking OK in the window that prompts you to change CD-ROMs will not take you to the desired file. More likely, it may give an error message. This problem is due to the fact that the Internet Explorer is trying to refresh when a CD-ROM is inserted and the refresh seems to have a quirky behavior. Moreover, this problem is only likely to occur when you are not using the ASTAware search engine. There are three solutions to work around this problem.

  1. Disable Auto-Insert Notification: If you disable auto-insert notification of your CD-ROM, the problem will be solved and you will be able to change the CD-ROMs following the basic instructions. Use the instructions for disabling auto-insert notification.
  2. Use Netscape Browser: In our experience, Netscape browsers do not suffer from this problem.
  3. Use ASTAware Search Engine:If you access the Digital Archive through ASTAware search engine (using index.htm as your starting point), you are not likely to encounter this problem.

No Response or Error Message When You Click OK: In some cases, (especially if you are an Internet Explorer user), you are likely to get an error message or no response when click the "OK" button in the Window. In either case, the desired file is not loaded into your browser. This error is probably caused by your Internet Explorer trying to refresh its content when you change the CD-ROM. As a consequence of the refresh, the "state" of CD-ROM changing script can be lost. You have a couple of alternatives to deal with this problem.

  1. Ignore the error message (or inactivate script error messages by unchecking the box "Display a notification about every script error" under Tools>Internet Options>Advanced) and proceed to click the DjVu file link in the minipaper once again to display the DjVu file.
  2. You can permanently disable the "refresh" feature of the CD-ROM by turning off the so called Auto-Insert Notification.

File Not Found Message: If by chance you inserted the wrong CD-ROM and pressed OK, you will get error message(s) indicating that the requested DjVu file is not found. In order to get back the prompt for changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C and Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

If, for any reason, the DjVu file is not displayed after changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C and Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

Unix/Linux Users

On some UNIX platforms, changing CD-ROM, while ASTAware search engine is running, may not work. In this case, there are two options: 1. Shutdown ASTAware search engine and use the Digital Archive without the search engine by loading the file "start.htm" from the root directory of the CD-ROM. OR 2. Shutdown ASTAware search engine, insert the desired CD-ROM and restart the ASTAware search engine.

Solaris users: make sure that you used the pathname /cdrom/cdrom0 to access the Digital Archive contents for the first time. This generic pathname will remain valid when you change the CD-ROMs.

On UNIX platforms, one has to issue an explicit eject or unmount command to eject the CD-ROM from the drive. Then insert the CD-ROM with the appropriate number. Wait until the CD-ROM stabilizes (this may take up to 30 seconds). A sure sign is that you will find a directory corresponding to the Digital Archive as well as the cdrom0 directory under the directory /cdrom. Then press OK in the Window that prompted you to change the CD-ROM.

If by chance you inserted the wrong CD-ROM and pressed OK, you will get error message(s) indicating that the requested DjVu file is not found. In order to get back the prompt for changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

If, for any reason, the DjVu file is not displayed after changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C and Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

Macintosh Users

In order to switch CD-ROMs on a Macintosh, do the following:

  1. Pull down the Application menu in the upper-right hand corner of the menubar and select the Finder entry from the list of currently running applications in order to switch the Finder to the foreground.
  2. If there are application windows blocking the view of your Finder desktop, pull down the Application menu again and select the Hide Others option to temporarily hide the other windows.
  3. Select the CD-ROM icon on the Finder desktop and drag it to the Trash Can to eject it.
  4. Insert the specified CD-ROM and wait for it to appear on your Finder desktop.
  5. To return to browsing the Digital Archive, pull down the Application menu and select the entry for your web browser application (e.g. "Netscape Communicator", "Internet Explorer", etc.) in order to bring it back to the foreground and continue from where you left off.

If at any time, you should inadvertently hit the OK button before switching CD-ROMs and receive an error about being unable to access a file, simply click on the Reload button in the web browser to reset the page and try again.