Flash PROM Update Multimedia Collection

The video content of the AnswerBook2 collection is very large. You may want to view it directly from the CD rather than installing this software package on a system already running an AnswerBook2 server. You also can view the video clips directly without using AnswerBook software or a browser.

Running the Video Clips from the CD

To run the video clips contained in this AnswerBook collection directly from the CD, perform the following steps:

Insert the Flash PROM Update Multimedia AnswerBook CD into your CD-ROM drive.

Change directory to, or bring up file manager, and go to the top level of the CD-ROM volume. This should look similar to:
```
% cd /cdrom/flash_answerbook
```
where cdrom is the mount-point for the CD-ROM device and flash_answerbook is the name of the CD-ROM volume.

To run the viewing script, type:
```
% ./watch-videos
```

Select the first video clip you want to see.

Before you view another video clip, dismiss the viewer that displayed the previous video clip.

Running an AnswerBook2 Server from the CD

To run the AnswerBook2 server directly from the CD, perform the following steps:

Insert the Flash PROM Update Multimedia AnswerBook CD into your CD-ROM drive.

Open a command window and become superuser using the su command and superuser password.

Change directory to the top level of the CD-ROM volume.

This should look similar to:
```
# cd /cdrom/flash_answerbook
```
where cdrom is the mount-point for the CD-ROM device and flash_answerbook is the name of the CD-ROM volume.

Among other things, this directory contains the executable script ab2cd.

Run the following command:
```
# ./ab2cd
```

If you have existing AnswerBook2 documentation collections installed on your server machine and you want the CD-driven server software to recognize those collections, use the following command:
```
# ./ab2cd -s
```
This causes the CD-driver server software to scan for other collections installed on this system and add them to its database.

You can now access the document server using the following URL: http://server:8888/

Where server is the name of the machine to which the CD is attached.

To view video clips that are contained in an AnswerBook document, edit your browser's preferences to specify an MPEG Video application.

For example, to make use of the ShowMe(TM) TV(TM) software provided on this CD in a Netscape Communicator browser, perform these steps:
1. In the top bar menu of the browser, select Edit --> Preferences.
2. In the Preferences window, select the category Navigator and the subcategory Applications.
3. In the list of Applications, specify that MPEG Video is handled by the following: showmetv -nowrap %s.
4. Click OK to apply this change to the Preferences.

In the document, click the video clip icon to launch the viewer.

Before you view another video clip, dismiss the viewer that displayed the previous video clip.

To stop running the AnswerBook server from the CD, run the following command:
```
# /cdrom/flash_answerbook/ab2cd stop
```

Notes on Running AnswerBook2 from a CD

The following paragraphs provide important information about running the AnswerBook2 server from the CD.

Default AnswerBook2 Port

The AnswerBook2 server run from the CD always runs on port 8888. If you already have an AnswerBook2 server running on your system using the default port (8888), the ab2cd script will display the following message:

A document server is already running on this system as server:8888.

Shut down the current server before running the ab2cd command. Use the following command to shut down the existing server:

 # /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o stop

Stopping the AnswerBook2 Server Process

Always use ab2cd stop to stop the server running from the CD. Do not use /etc/init.d/ab2mgr stop to stop the CD-based server.

The ab2cd stop command stops the AnswerBook2 server process and cleans up all files in the /tmp/.ab2/ and /tmp/ab2cd_config/ directories. The /etc/init.d/ab2mgr stop command stops all server processes, but does not clean up the files in the /tmp/.ab2/ and /tmp/ab2cd_config/ directories.

Running Two AnswerBooks

To run two AnswerBook2 servers (one on your system, one from the CD), keep these rules in mind:

Startup

The /etc/init.d/ab2mgr start command always starts the server on your system.

The ab2cd command always starts the server from the CD.

Shutdown

Always use the ab2cd stop command to stop the server running from the CD.

To stop both servers, first use the ab2cd stop command to stop the server running from the CD, then use either /etc/init.d/ab2mgr stop or /usr/lib/ab2/bin/ab2admin -o stop to stop the server running on your system.