Downloading and Installing the MathSoft Mathbrowser

The MathSoft Mathbrowser is a 32-bit Windows application that MathSoft has made available to all interested users. The Mathbrowser is able to browse HTML documents on the World Wide Web but has the added advantage of allowing users to load, view, and interact with Mathcad (MCD) files that have been placed on Web servers.

You may run the Mathbrowser under Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or Windows NT. Consult the System Requirements to ensure that you have a supported TCP/IP protocol stack and any necessary 32-bit libraries for your operating system.

The Mathbrowser is currently beta software, and MathSoft makes no warranties, expressed or implied, on the performance of the Mathbrowser. Please see the License Agreement for more information.

Installing Mathbrowser

MathSoft provides the Mathbrowser in downloadable form as a self-extracting archive file MathBrowser (size: 1.02 Mb). Follow these instructions to install the Mathbrowser:

1. Download the file BROWSER.EXE to a temporary installation directory on your local PC.

2. Run the command BROWSER at the DOS command line within your temporary installation directory. This will automatically unzip the archive file and place the following installation files in your installation directory: ~INS0762.LIB, MCAD.1, SETUP.EXE, SETUP.PKG, and SETUP.INS.

3. In Windows Program Manager or File Manager, run the command SETUP from your installation directory. This will run a complete installation program for the MathSoft Mathbrowser, MBROWSE.EXE, and create an icon for the Mathbrowser in the MathSoft Apps program group. By default, the installation will install the Mathbrowser in the C:\WINMCAD directory, but you may choose another. If you already have a copy of Mathcad installed in the C:\WINMCAD directory, you may safely install the Mathbrowser there without overwriting any Mathcad components or interfering with the application.

4. Delete the temporary installation directory to which you originally copied BROWSER.EXE and where you decompressed it.

5. Double-click on the Mathbrowser icon to start it. Enjoy!

Configuring Mathbrowser

The first time you run Mathbrowser, it will display a Preferences dialog where you can specify certain behaviors of the application. Information you provide in the Preferences dialog is written to the file MCAD.INI (if you have one; if you don't, one is created for you).

1. Your home page should initially be set to http://www.mathsoft.com or to http://www.adeptscience.co.uk, which are the home pages for MathSoft's and Adept Scientifics World Wide Web server.

2. If you're using a proxy machine for an http server, set this to the proxy machine's Internet address. The proxy machine name will be something that looks like

your.proxy.machine.com

(assuming the default http port of 80). You can specify a port other than 80 by using

your.proxy.machine.com:[port number]

As a quick test, if 'ping www.ncsa.uiuc.edu' from your MS-DOS command shell succeeds then you probably don't need to specify a proxy server. Otherwise, you'll need to find out where your site's proxy lives. Ask your system administrator.

3. 'Load home page on start up' and 'Display inline images' should both be set to 'yes'.

4. Click 'OK' to exit the Preferences dialog.

Adding Viewers

Mathbrowser knows about and can display the following file formats:

• HTML = hypertext markup language

• GIF = common WWW image format

• AU = common WWW audio format

• MCD = Mathcad document format

If Mathbrowser doesn't know how to display a certain data format, it uses the Windows registration database to try and find an appropriate program for viewing the data. For example, if you come across the document 'foo.wri', Mathbrowser will launch the Microsoft Write program and pass it 'foo.wri' to display.

To add new viewers, go to the Windows File Manager and choose Associate from the File menu. Follow File Manager's help for adding a new viewer and associated file extension.

If no viewer exists for a datatype, Mathbrowser lets you save the data to a file.

Last Modified 7th April 1995 [11:30 ] © 1995 Mathsoft Inc.and Adept Scientific plc