Prerequisites

For most VARS use you do not need to install any additional software on Mac OS X. However, in order to fully utilize the Annotation application you will need to install a serial port adapter.

Detailed Instructions

The following steps describe the prerequisites for running VARS:

1. Installing a Serial Port
   Apple computers do not ship with built in serial ports. In order to use the Annotation application you will need to install a serial port in order to talk to the VCR. Their are several options for this, the easiest is using a USB Serial Port adapter such as the USB PDA/Serial Adapter (GUC232A) from IOGEAR. Be sure to install the correct driver too. If you have a Blackmagic Design video capture card installed you do not need to install an additional serial port. VARS can use the serial port included on the video capture card.
2. Mounting the framegrabs directory
   If you intend to use the Annotation application to capture framegrabs, you will need to mount the framegrabs share on Tornado to your Mac. Here are the steps to do this:
   1. In the Finder, use the menu GO -> Connect To Server
   2. In the Connect to Server window, enter the server address as cifs://tornado.shore.mbari.org/framegrabs and press the connect button.
   3. You will be prompted for a password. Enter your MBARI password.
   4. The framegrabs share will be mounted on your Mac as /Volumes/framegrabs
3. Installing VARS
   You do not need to install VARS in order to run it. You can simply launch them from http://seaspray.shore.mbari.org/vars.