manual - WorldSpace Foundation
Contents
1. a subscription fee The other services and channels although not associated with the WorldSpace Foundation are potentially available to users in certain African countries willing and capable of paying a subscription fee Users interested in this commercial service which is provided through the WorldSpace Corporation must contact a WorldSpace Coporation Customer Service Representative The WorldSpace Foundation is unable and will not help to setup commercial accounts 1 3 Satellite Coverage Currently the WorldSpace Foundation has multimedia broadcast capacity on the two operational WorldSpace Corporation satellites These satellites are Afristar and Asiastar with footprints show below in the coverage map In Asia broadcast capacity is only available for the WSF on the northwest and southeast beams The northeast beam covering China and Japan is not currently available to the WSF On the AsiaStar satellite the WorldSpace Foundation currently provides only a data service available as WSF DATA Of course other non subscription based audio material provided by the WorldSpace Corporation is still available On the AfriStar satellite all three beams shown broadcast the WorldSpace Foundation s Multimedia Service WSF MMS which is a data channel available as ALC DATA In addition the WorldSpace Foundation produces the Africa Learning Channel audio programming that provides a variety of educational and development related material Finally th2. and educational content for WSF s award winning services the Africa Learning Channel our audio service and the WSF Multimedia Channel our data service In short by working with international national and nongovernmental organizations the WorldSpace Foundation has a unique capability to provide access to subscription free educational and information programs in remote areas 1 2 About the WSF Multimedia Channel The WSF Multi Media Service was launched in April 2000 as a cost effective service for our partners working in regions with little or no access to the Internet The service transmits web based multimedia documents via satellite to the computers of target audiences Currently physicians community health workers meteorologists farmers community development workers disaster relief workers and community broadcasters in Africa receive information via the WSF Multi Media Service Some of the material transmitted on the service includes articles from major medical journals hourly weather updates with accompanying satellite imagery and charts radio scripts for community broadcasters in rural areas and the latest news from across the continent The WorldSpace Foundation s channels and services are and will remain subscription free but as the WSF shares the same satellite used by a commercial group users may notice certain additional services and channels are also available Some of these are also free while others require
3. can be accessed at any time by running the WorldSpace Client Services program double clicking on its PC and satellite dish icon in the system tray next to the clock on the lower right of the PC screen and then selecting COM Port under the Configure pulldown menu Starting the Program from the Desktop After having configured the WorldSpace Client Services program you will need to start it again for the next part of the tutorial To do so let s use the desktop icon as shown below Vis 4 WorldSpace Client Services Downloading Content with the WorldSpace Client Services Program Note please disable any screen savers during download This is because the operating system allows the screen saver to use all the CPU resources during portions of its operation When this happens the WorldSpace Client Services Program cannot download content properly The result will be errors in the transmission To avoid these errors simply turn off the screen saver during download 13 Monitoring the Download When you have the receiver tuned to the proper channel the PC Adaptor 64K connected correctly and power on and the WorldSpace Client Services program running you will see the status light on the PC Adaptor 64K flashing You can monitor the download by running the WorldSpace Client Services program double clicking on the PC and antenna icon in the system tray next to the time in the lower right corner of your PC s
4. download content from the ALC Data Channel during the WSF broadcast time Generally this material downloads several times each day Check the ALC schedule for details Users first starting their system may wish to simply install configure and run the Client Services programming After several hours of download the ALC Content Viewer should be available for installation To install run the program you simply need to run a downloaded exe file To do so navigate to the location where material is downloaded to your computer This location is generally c program files WorldSpaceIDMS content Once you ve navigated to this location open the alcsoft folder if using the AfriStar broadcast or asialcsoft if using the AsiaStar broadcast Then navigate to software and finally click on the installation exe file This should automatically install the software with the following shortcut icon on your desktop as well as in the Start menu The shortcut should look something like this Shortcut to alceswyer exe If you are unable to find the installation exe after several hours of download simply click on the index html file located under c program files WorldSpace DMS content alcsoft for AfriStar users and c Program Files worldspace DMS content asialcsoft for AsiaSoft users Then navigate under the 17 system management section of the web page that opens to the link for the ALC Viewer installation Clicking on this link wil
5. 18 4 CONTENT PROVIDER GUIDELINES eene enne nennen nnn 22 4 1 Applicability of Your Content eec aiae oara aar coos RT AATE A E AAAA Na ARAE AA 22 2 2 Basi Simane e E A a E A E E MEC 23 4 3 AIAIEL ASIN ras eei ero E teet E TE 23 a A S undand Videno n oed Ca R E E Ge E R E A Ae EE 24 HS Documents RE TET E DT TDI EA 25 d Gc Tdatabd sS t RR Md ad tte tr mico Ro Re n t d EE 25 47s Placing Content on the System ci 2 dete eee nee dete leet e decet se oe eres de eee lee ie eu 25 5 CONTACT INFORMATION eene eene eene anna hann n anus s asas ass ananas sana 26 1 SYSTEM BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1 1 About the WorldSpace Foundation WSF The WorldSpace Foundation is a publicly supported 501 c 3 nonprofit organization headquarted in Washington DC USA Our mission is to help improve the lives of disadvantaged persons in developing regions of the world by providing access to educational health and development related information by using a digital satellite radio broadcast With a special radio receiver users can receive a variety of audio material In addition by connecting the receiver to a computer via a special adapter the same system can be used to deliver multimedia content directly to a user s computer in a form akin to a one way Internet The WorldSpace Foundation currently works with some 200 grassroots civil society organizations in 50 African countries to develop social development
6. Qs About the WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Services Question 1 My WorldSpace software alerts me that your trial version has expired can I still view and receive the WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Content Answer 1 Yes despite this alert message you can still and will always be able to view the content provided on the ALC Multimedia Services broadcast channel ALC Data As a public service channel no fees or subscription to the ALC is required The 18 WorldSpace software Client Services and Content Viewer are designed for commercial purposes associated with the WorldSpace corporation The alert message refers to commercially available subscriptions which are not a part of ALC Data If you have subscribed to these services and still receive this alert then you should contact your nearest WorldSpace Corporation sales representative Q2 How do I know if I have successfully received an update A2 Content on the ALC Multimedia channel updates according to the schedule of the various information providers In some cases this is every few hours while other providers update content every few days or weeks So remember that although the system broadcasts nearly every hour the content may not have changed since you last downloaded The easiest way to check for updated content is to examine the Last Updated and What s New section of the content provider s pages If this is not available however start t
7. WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Service WSF MMS General Installation and Service Guide Africa and Asia August 2002 Compilation Table of Contents 1 SYSTEM BACKGROUND INFORMATION eene enne enne nnn nnne nnn 4 1 1 About the WorldSpace Foundation WSF c cccseccseececeeecceeceesccesccesceesceseceeeceeeceeeeeeeeeeaes 4 1 2 About the WSF Multimedia Channel cies sisssuiavatevasiveradentedseuainsdvedaversiainescdiasgnadsassviecsctss 4 1 3 Satellite Coverage O E EEA 5 1 4 How the Multimedia Service Data Channel Works eeeeeeeeeeeeeeene en eene nennen 6 1 5 Broadcast Capacity esce esee rite eR e NE OYENTE CU ERE E NE CERE CHEN VE ed EU 7 2 EQUIPMENT AND CONFIGURATION 1 eese eene nennen nennen nnn nnn nnn nnn nnn 8 2 1 Hardware Requitemieis idee icto ere erased Se E EIE ERE ESR OE Ego ed caeadteeaes PNE IU aa S RUE REE 8 2 2 Quick Start Guide eeu enstencdereeneepHNe eene tenen 9 Equipmetit Checks thee tt eroe Pe ven peu t ioris dent eoe E FIN EXE ea ee ER eke 9 Software Lins tell atti acs tsa acuceanngacisuaesaqeneeesaces tU RHENuERERNEEMPIe PURUS EN EE UGE Fr R PR NA ERI NER Bex ENQE 10 Equipment Setup si etie te dashed cede tite tec E ei rte ebat 10 Software Configuration SPCA Only cccccccccscsssssscceceeececsessnseaeeeseccesesensaeeeeeceesesensnseaeees 10 Software Configuration DDA Only c ccccccccccssesssseceeecececsesssseseeeeeceesesersaeeese
8. at as long as their broadcast space is not overrun Generally it is strongly recommended that these documents be converted to HTML Not only does this save considerable memory space but it ensures that all users can view the documentation If Microsoft Word or PowerPoint documents are broadcast ensure that they are saved as an older version If you must send documents rather than HTML consider sending PDFs Often these occupy less room and as the Acrobat Reader is available via the system all users will be able to view this content Conversion to a PDF is relatively simply as it requires basic software and the action of printing the document through the Adobe PDF Writer 4 6 Databases In short content providers should be aware that databases or spreadsheets sent in MS Access or Excel formats may or may not be viewable Moreover it should just be assumed that formats such as Crystal Reports and File Maker Pro are not viewable by the majority of users If a database more importantly a database with searchable features is necessary to your project please consider using Flash and local text files XML standards Contact the WSF Multi Media Coordinator to discuss options in more detail 4 7 Placing Content on the System Information processed by content providers is either sent directly to servers of the uplink station in South Africa AfriStar and Singapore AsiaStar or depending upon needs and through special arrangement can be pr
9. both the receiver and adapter card but this options requires users being able to open their computer and successfully installing an internal card Figure 4 Diagram Showing Basic Setup With WorldSpace Receiver and Adapter Card DDA pi ana mr ETT memi Figure 5 Diagram Showing Basic Setup With WorldSpace Internal PC Card 2 2 Quick Start Guide Equipment Check 1 Ensure you have a Windows 95 98 2000 machine with at least a 486 processor or better At least 500mb of free disk space should be available on the c drive 2 Check that you have one 1 WorldSpace Digital Radio Receiver 3 Check that you have one 1 WorldSpace PC Adapter Card SPCA or DDA 4 Check that you have one 1 WorldSpace Software Installation CD AND Ensure the CD Is Properly Associated With the SPCA or DDA If you are running Windows 2000 and installing software associated with the DDA be sure to have your Windows 2000 installation CDs before attempting to install the system Software Installation 1 2 3 Insert WorldSpace Direct Media CD into CD ROM drive installation program should start automatically If it does not start after several seconds select CD ROM drive from My Computer Generally follow typical instructions This means clicking next and selecting typical and normal installation Unless reason to do so do not install as compact or custom Two programs the WorldSpace Content Viewer and WorldSpace Client Services wi
10. cases computers will have multiple COM ports therefore you may need to select a different port and if the download is 10 2 3 unsuccessful chose a different COM port Either way make your selections save and then restart the WorldSpace Client Services software After configuring the COM port restart the WorldSpace Client Services software and configure the disk cache Set it to forever or at least 7 days and ensure the disk alert is set to at least 300mb Users on older machines will likely want to use the ALC Content Viewer rather than that of the WorldSpace Direct Media Service To make the viewer available simply goto c program files worldspace DMS content and then select alcviewer exe NOTE You will likely have to download several hours worth of content before the ALC Viewer is downloaded to your computer Right click on the alcviewer exe and create a shortcut Move the short cut by dragging to your desktop DO NOT MOVE THE ACTUAL ALCVIEWER EXE FILE Software Configuration DDA Only 1 Follow steps two 2 and three 3 from SPCA configuration Downloading 1 Turn on your WorldSpace Digital Receiver and tune it to ALC DATA if receiving on the AfriStar satellite Tune the receiver to WSF DATA if receiving on the AsiaStar satellite ALC DATA Africa 792 WSF DATA Asia 1190 2 3 4 5 6 Ensure your adapter card is powered and connected to the receiver and com
11. casts content to the receiver which is saved directly to a computer with the use of an adapter card As the broadcast is stored directly on the users local hard drive information can be viewed at leisure and without the delays associated with downloading content via traditional phone or terrestrial based systems WS DIGITAL RADIO BROADCAST SATELLITE COMPUTER PC ADAPTER CARD Figure 3 Information is broadcast from the WorldSpace WS digital radio satellite Using a WS Digital Radio Receiver and a special PC Adapter Card information is automatically saved on user s hard drive where it can be viewed at leisure It 1s important to note that the WorldSpace Corporation and Foundation broadcasts are one way It is not possible to do two way communication with this system alone Many of our project users and partners couple the WS technology with other networks to create a two way system but the WorldSpace Foundation broadcasts are not capable of sending e mail or information requests associated with the Internet 1 5 Broadcast Capacity The WorldSpace Foundation data broadcasts are made available on the AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites as part of an agreement between the WorldSpace Corporation and the WorldSpace Foundation Part of the capacity granted to the WorldSpace Foundation is then dedicated to both audio and multi media channels where the WorldSpace Foundation produces unique content and works with partners to broadcast the
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13. creen and then double clicking on the PC and antenna icon in the left side of the WorldSpace Client Background Tasks screen Doing so will bring the MMDR View screen as shown below You will see the names of the files being downloaded All files on the ALC queue on zero You will see the file names appear as they are being downloaded and the done will increase from 1 to 100 The File Status will appear upon full download PFCT transmission without errors The content is stored on your PC hard drive INCP transmission with errors The content is not be stored on your PC hard drive ABRT transmission with errors The content is not be stored on your PC hard drive Checking the Log Files You can check the status of past downloads by checking the Data Receiver log file This screen can be accessed by selecting Data Receiver under the Log Files pulldown menu as shown below You will see the data receiver log screen as shown below Each entry represents a file for which a download was attempted The statuses are as explained above 14 EC Data Receiver Log md Changing the Cache Setting After content has been downloaded onto your PC hard disk cache the WorldSpace Client Services program will periodically delete older content and warn you if the amount of free space of your hard disk is getting too low You can set the number of days that content will be stored before it is deleted and the amount of fre
14. e WorldSpace Foundation also provides capacity on the AfriStar satellite to Canal EF which is a French audio channel dedicated to educational and development related information Figure 1 Current and Planned Coverage of WorldSpace Corporation Satellites The WorldSpace Foundation operates on the AfriStar and portions of the AsiaStar satellites Figure 2 Current Operating Coverage of WorldSpace Foundation Audio and Multimedia Channels ALC DATA Coverage Over Africa Yellow Left WSF DATA Coverage Over Asia Blue Right 1 4 How the Multimedia Service Data Channel Works The WorldSpace Foundation operates a data service channel on both the AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites The system relies upon digital satellite radio technology to send what is In essence a one way internet to computers with inadequate or simply no Internet access Individual collections of information sent by the WorldSpace Foundation in cooperation with a variety of content producers Information distributed via the system addresses a host of development issues such as health agriculture news weather and climate or a variety of other areas To access the WorldSpace Foundation content all that is needed is a computer and a WorldSpace Receiver and PC Adapter Card Like radio programming certain content is broadcast at different times each day to update information and provide the site to new users The geostationary satellite either AfriStar or AsiaStar broad
15. e disk space before the WorldSpace Client Services program begins to warn you of the situation Warning while content has automatic overwrite functions it is important that you periodically delete old content and maintain sufficient free disk space Overloading your computer may cause your computer to crash Invoking the Cache Setting Screen From the main WorldSpace Client Services program you can invoke the screen that enables you to set the parameters by selecting Cache Setting under the Configure pull down menu as shown below 15 2000064 14 Shut Down Setting the Free Space Limit On the Cache Managament Settings page shown below enter the value in megabytes for the low cache warning threshold This is the value below which the WorldSpace Client Services program will remind you that you are running of our free disk space If you keep downloading content despite this warning there is a chance that the system may lock up or crash Please do not download content when the warning level has been reached ur p aaah a Cache Management Setting Disk Cache Show alert when hard disk space less than poo MB max 2000 MB set to 0 to disable alert How many days would vou like to store broadcast data on your hard disk l C ida C 2days C 3das C 4days C 5days C Bdays 7days Forever Ess een Setting the Days to Keep Content Also on the Cache Management Settings screen is a value for the n
16. ess these A6 The WorldSpace Foundation provides public non subscription based programming via its audio and data channels As such no subscription to receive this content is or ever will be required however the WSF is granted capacity on AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites via the WorldSpace Corporation which is a for profit entity While much of their audio content is available for free the data services of the WorldSpace Corporation are generally subscription based and often private channels Users interested in the services provided by the WS Corporation should contact them directly 2 Q7 Can the WorldSpace system be used for e mail or other web activities A7 The WorldSpace technology used by the WorldSpace Foundation is a broadcast technology As such it is a one way system that delivers audio and data based content But as a one way broadcast technology it is not setup to receive two way or multipoint communications necessary for e mail and other web browsing purposes Simply the WorldSpace system does not provide an Internet connection but rather allows content to be downloaded where connectivity does not exist is slow or where augmenting an Internet based system makes sense 4 CONTENT PROVIDER GUIDELINES 4 1 Applicability of Your Content Once you have become familiar with the broadcast system used by the WorldSpace Foundation you may feel that it is a useful way for you to disseminate information to users within your
17. ganization ts goals and activities While we encourage content providers to produce information that is continually updated the WorldSpace Foundation does look favourably upon reports documents and other materially which is evergreen never changing but always useful and do not require updates 4 2 Basics The WorldSpace Foundation Multi Media Channel transmits information via a digital L Band radio signal carried by the WorldSpace AfriStar and AsiaStar satellite This information can then be received by anyone within the broadcast area who possesses a digital radio receiver Since the broadcast is in a digital format content can easily take forms other than voice and by attaching the radio receiver to a multi media card adapter and then to a standard Windows operating computer the user can download content directly to their computer s hard drive thereby allowing them to view content either too large to be received via the Internet or where the Internet is not available Information delivered to users computers is sent on the WorldSpace Foundation as the ALC DATA channel on the AfriStar satellite and as WSF DATA on the AsiaStar satellite 4 3 Formatting Content Content sent via the WorldSpace Foundation Multi Media Service is designed to be IE 4 0 compliant In short most information sent over the system is standard HTML and associated graphics It is important to note that since the system is a one way broadcast all Internet
18. he Client Services software and to check the log file From this you can see when you last downloaded information and if you successfully downloaded an entire file This record however will only remain for several days To check this log start the Client Services software and then double click the computer and satellite 1con which typically appears in the lower right of your computer screen This area is called the system tray The icon may be red or green depending upon whether or not you are currently downloading information Once double clicked a new window will appear From here you can select the log file option and then sub options to see if a data file was successfully downloaded and written to your hard drive Q3 Sometimes my download time seems to be slow while other times it finishes quickly Is this a problem with my computer the radio A3 You should expect the download times to vary somewhat as the broadcast content changes every day or two This means that sometimes the update is very small while other times the update is very large The larger the update 1 e the more megabytes then the longer the download time In short as long as you are receiving the updates without trouble it is unlikely that anything is wrong with your computer or the receiver If however your downloads are frequently fragmented or you are unable to download any data content then please read the following FAQ Q4 19 Q4 I cannot do
19. he satellite 1s digital it means the content carried on the WSF Multi Media Channel could take any form video audio text animation etc 2 EQUIPMENT AND CONFIGURATION 2 1 Hardware Requirements The WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Service requires users have one of several models of digital radio receiver specifically designed for use with the WorldSpace system Potential users can visit http www worldspace com to examine the various models In certain countries local retailers also sell the WorldSpace receivers and accessories Of course users can also contact the WorldSpace Foundation to see which models are currently available In addition to the receiver users of the multimedia service must have an adapter card such as the SPCA or DDA that connects the receiver to their computer If only the WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Service will be accessed then it is possible for the system to work on a 486 grade computer however it is generally recommended to operate on a Pentium II grade or better computer The operating system should also be Windows 95 98 2000 NT users should note however that certain adapter cards are compatible only with certain Windows operating systems so for instance the DDA will not work with Windows NT The users computer should also have at least 500mb of free disk space on the c drive The system can also be set up with the WorldSpace Internal PC Card in which case the card serves to replace
20. ir own data or audio programming The broadcast deliver rate of the data channels on both the AfriStar and AsiaStar satellites is 64kbps This means that the multimedia services can broadcast 28 8 megabytes per hour or 480 kilobytes per minute 8 bits 1 byte therefore 64 8 60 60 While the total hour capacity 1s 28 8 MB to ensure there is buffer space between different programming the WSF currently sets is data channel schedules based on a 21mb hour The buffer helps to ensure the broadcast maintains its set schedule as content size changes As the data channels grow and schedules change the 21mb hour may increase or decrease depending upon needs The overall broadcast capacity is therefore around 3 5 gigabytes of information every week Information however is commonly rotated on a six hour basis and replaces older content in order to protect user s hard drives while ensuring they are able to get the latest broadcast information without having to constantly download from the satellite We generally estimate that a few hours of download per day is more than enough to ensure the content on the users hard drive is relatively up to date Of course users can optimize and target their downloads based upon the broadcast schedule At any one time the total amount of content on a users hard drive does not exceed 400mb Content is continually updated overwritten and eventually deleted As a final note as the signal from t
21. l automatically start the installation If you receive an error message when clicking the installation link then you likely need to continue downloading for some time until the ALC Content Viewer installation is downloaded Again refer to the broadcast schedule 2 6 Adequate Reception The WorldSpace Digital Receiver must have adequate reception in order to successfully download material from the various content providers on the Africa Learning Channel As a general rule at least four 4 reception bars are required however three 3 may be adequate The reception bars are displayed in the window of the digital receiver just below where the currently tuned channel is displayed Each bar consists of two small rectangles For instance the following is equal to one 1 bar Reception indicators may vary from model to model so please refer to the receiver s user manual for details if the above and following does not apply To improve reception the receiver antenna should be placed outside away from concrete and glass structures Also the antenna should be pointed toward the satellite More detailed instructions are available in the instruction manual of the digital radio receiver however as general guidance as the satellite is over the central part of the African continent users in southern Africa should direct the antenna to the north in western Africa to the east and in eastern Africa to the west 3 Frequently Asked Questions FA
22. ll be installed as will supporting software such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime if necessary After installation is completed restart computer as prompted Equipment Setup 1 2 3 4 Ensure that PC Adapter Card and Receiver have power source No power source is needed for the DDA adapter card Connect cables between PC Adapter Card and computer as well as between PC Adapter Card and Digital Radio Receiver Attach extension cable for digital antenna to digital radio receiver and digital antenna Place antenna outside such that it will not be blocked by glass concrete or stone structures and that it faces the general direction of the AfriStar satellite The satellite is basically centered over the African continent so users in southern Africa should face the digital antenna in a general northerly direction those in eastern Africa a westerly direction and in western Africa an easterly direction The official WorldSpace receiver instructions provide more details to optimize reception If you need additional extension cable to properly place your antenna for good reception regular coaxial cable as that used for televisions will work and is generally very inexpensive Software Configuration SPCA Only 1 Upon start up for the first time the WorldSpace Client Services software will prompt you to configure your COM port Generally you should leave the baud rate alone and select COM1 as the default port In some
23. ocessed by the WorldSpace Foundation in Washington DC and then sent to the uplink station Some content providers such as in China may use different upload stations servers Sending information to the uplink station occurs through regular FTP and therefore requires an Internet connection and basic familiarity with FTP ALL FILES SENT TO THE SERVER ARE ZIPPED zip To upload content please contact the WSF Multimedia Coordinator to ensure zipped formats are correct and to receive your password and file destination As brief guidance however all content should be placed in a single folder This folder should then be 25 zipped such that the zip file contains paths for each file Paths should be relative For instance if the main folder were labeled mysite then each path would begin with mysite and look something like this mysite myfolder myfile html 5 CONTACT INFORMATION Multimedia Coordinator ksponber worldspace org Cock k k o 26
24. or external hyperlinks should be removed or well documents so users understand they need an Internet connection to view linked content In addition the links should be made relative and not absolute For instance a link to a file should not be http www mysite org myfolder myfile html Nor should it be c Program Files WorldSpace Content mysite myfolder myfile html but rather should simply be truncated to be myfolder myfile html Use the to navigate links to higher order folders 23 Also since the system 1s one way content providers should ensure content operates client side For instance server side scripts and backends such as ASP Perl or PHP should be removed Although client side scripting is allowed we strongly recommend against it unless it has been tested on older machines and multiple versions of IE and Netscape As the system is designed to operate on 486 or better Windows machines the processor capability as well as versions of IE will vary considerably Moreover users may have Javascript turned off in their browser and may not know how to turn it back on So although some DHTML will certainly add features to your site unless these actually improve the operability of the system or are crucial to a specific function you are advised to avoid these as well as other DHTML techniques The WSF Multi Media Service has tested Flash content on multiple systems and current supports its use The Flash 5 0 player i
25. our wish to download material from a broadcast it s important that you always have the WorldSpace Client Services program your computer the PC Adaptor and the receiver running Your computer monitor does not need to be running And that is important because the monitor requires almost all the electrical power Starting The Program from the Start Menu You can start the WorldSpace Client Services program in one of two methods The first method is to use the Start Menu we will start it via the second method at the end of this page With the mouse select Start menu then Programs then WorldSpace then WorldSpace Client Services as shown below Selecting the COM Port The first time you run the WorldSpace Client Services program it will prompt you to select a COM or serial port number as shown below Click on OK The configuration screen will appear as shown below 12 al Com Port Setup COM Port COM v Baud Rate fi 15200 Save Exit If your system had only one serial port select COMI If you have more than one select the one into which that you inserted your serial cable Note that if your computer labels the port A B etc port A corresponds to COMI port B corresponds to COM2 etc As for the baud rate you should leave it at 115 2000 After you make your selections click on Save The system will prompt you to shut down the Client Services program to let the changes take effect click on Yes Note this screen
26. program or activity As the WorldSpace Foundation is always looking for well produced relevant and locally developed content it is certainly worth approaching the WorldSpace Foundation with a plan to disseminate your information The following guidelines for producing content should help you get a feel for what would be required should you become a content provider In short however as a content producer you will need access to the Internet in order to load content to the broadcast server Additionally you and or your team of producers will need basic skills in HTML or web production While the WorldSpace system does not work like the Internet it relies upon Internet based standards to provide transparent access to information Also before approaching the WorldSpace Foundation about broadcast of content consider the applicability of your informaiton within the WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Services goals Specifically is your content oriented toward educational development or related purposes Additionally as a non profit the WorldSpace Foundation does not carry commercial content therefore you should not carry advertisement or plan on using the system for commercial purposes 22 Finally while we encourage content providers to use the system to let people know what their organization does we are always looking for content to be immediately usable and relevant therefore your content should be more than an introduction to your or
27. puter Ensure you are receiving at least three bars in the receiver display window ensuring you have ample reception Start your Client Services software The Client Services icon in the system try generally the lower right of your screen should turn green when content is actively downloading If the icon does not turn green for even a moment after an hour then either your reception or installation may be incorrect Note It is recommended that you let your PC run with the WorldSpace Client Services program activated for the first 2 6 hours following installation so that you can download a large portion of the content 11 2 3 Software Requirements In order to operate the WorldSpace Foundation Multimedia Service two pieces of software are required The first and most important is the Client Services software This comes on a CD passed out with the SPCA DDA and Internal PC Card It is important to note that although each adapter card has uses the Client Services software each requires a different installation CD YOU CANNOT USE AN SPCA INSTALLATION CD FOR THE DDA OR INTERNAL PC CARD The software although functioning the same is not transferable 2 4 Overview of the WorldSpace Client Services Software The WorldSpace Client Services program provides the following functions 1 Communication with the PC Adapter Card SPCA or DDA to allow downloads 2 Monitoring of your hard disk cache to delete old content Whenever y
28. s distributed via the system so users should be able to view any Flash content Where interactivity sound or other DHTML type functions are desired Flash or any content supported by the Flash Player swf may be an appropriate alternative When developing Flash content however keep in mind that not all users will have speakers so you should create a presentation which is equally valuable without sound Additionally avoid processor intensive animations as not all users will have system capable of handling such animations As a final note when designing your HTML pages ensure that you either rely on text wrapping or that your pages are no more than 600 pixels wide Many of the monitor resolutions of our users may not be able to display content without side scrolling should it be wider than 600 pixels Generally we encourage our content providers to design for screen resolutions of 640 x 480 which means creating a web page with a width of 600 pixels A good design standard is 580 pixel width resolution 4 4 Sound and Video Any sound or video presentation supported by QuickTime or by the Flash Player is supported on the WSF Multi Media Service Providers should be sensitive to the fact that processor speeds of users vary considerably as well as the fact that many if not most users lack speakers on their desktop systems 24 4 5 Documents Content providers are free to send information in PowerPoint or Microsoft Word form
29. ther materials to protect their receiver Also you may want to place the receiver in an area where there is little people or animal traffic We have heard stories of flocks of birds and people that stand next to receivers blocking interupting reception Another reason may be the channel you have selected on the digital radio Make sure the radio displays ALC Data If it displays only ALC then you are on the audio channel and not the data channel The audio channel transmits only voice The data channel sends only data If you see neither ALC Data or ALC then you are likely on another data or audio channel see Q5 if you see a 4 rather than ALC Data You should also have the radio tuned to ALC DATA and have the Client Services software running 5 minutes before the broadcast of the content you wish to download If you begin downloading after the broadcast initiates then you will have to wait till the next broadcast If you only get a partial broadcast then you will not receive an update 20 But if everything is connected properly and you have managed to get four bars while having selected the data channel then you may need to change your port settings To do so start the Client Services software and then double click the 1con which appears in the system tray Typically the lower right of your screen From here you will want to choose the configure option and then com port When configure
30. umber of days to keep content before the WorldSpace Client Services deletes it This value is designed to ensure that you have plenty of free disk space to download new content If you click on Forever the content will never be deleted Although this is potentially a dangerous setting if you are downloading content via commercial services the overall size of the Africa Learning Channel is purposefully kept very small Moreover in order to utilize all of its broadcast space while accomodating several users only portions of the provider content is broadcast at any one time It is therefore critical to viewing content that the setting be put to Forever Otherwise key links and pages to material will be deleted 16 2 5 ALC Content Viewer The ALC Content Viewer is an alternative to accessing content downloaded via the ALC DATA or WSF DATA channel Users can use the WorldSpace Content Viewer however many have noted that the viewer does not work on older machines or is very slow to load If you only use the ALC Multimedia Service then you may find the ALC Viewer as a better way to access content made available by the WSF particularly if your computer is a Pentium I grade or even a 486 The ALC Viewer is simply a start up program that opens your default Internet browser with the first page being the WorldSpace Foundation Africa Learning Channel main page The ALC Content Viewer is automatically downloaded to your computer when you
31. wnload content or the download is often fragmented and therefore unusable How can I fix this A4 There could be several reasons why you are not downloading complete files The most common is related to the radio setup and placement while the other reason might be the port settings on your computer Often we have found that people with this problem have poor radio receiver placement and or cable connections Even if the system was initially setup correctly wind or other factors might have loosened cable connections or altered the placement of the receiver The first easy step to solve this problem is to make sure all cables are well connected and that your power source either battery or socket is adequate When you have selected the ALC Data channel make sure there are at least four 4 black bars If you have less then the data transfer maybe interrupted Note The audio channel will function very well on only three 3 bars however the data channels really should have four These bars are indicators of your reception strength Remember buildings walls and other stone glass and concrete structures can reduce your reception You will likely have to experiment with several receiver placements to see which is optimal Be sure to protect your receiver from the sun and heat with a wooden or styrofoam box The box will not decrease your reception however heat and direct sunlight may harm some receivers Some groups have used gourds and o
32. your port you may also need to select something other than COM1 One is the default but if you have multiple communications ports then you may need to select a different COM port Of course if you have successfully downloaded before then you should not change the port settings unless you have in some way altered your hardware Q5 There is a 4 on my radio display where it use to list ALC DATA or I cannot find the ALC DATA channel or it is not sending information A5 The digital satellite broadcast provided by the WorldSpace Foundation is exceptionally reliable and sturdy however due to routine and scheduled maintenance needs or the unlikely and rare event that a problem arises the ALC Data channel may need to stop broadcasting for a short period of time In the case of the daily maintenance the satellite is serviced every mid night for ten minutes GMT Larger maintenance is rare and usually takes less than a day Moreover this is often done late in the night so that it does not interupt broadcasts When the ALC Data channel is taken off line the default setting is for it to display the number 4 Check back every now and then to see if it comes on line again If the problem persists or you would like to know when the system will be operational again please contact us Q6 I can see that some data channels are available other than the ALC Data or WSF Data AfriStar and AsiaStar respectively but I m unable to acc
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