1       Set Up



How to obtain and install NCSA Mosaic for the X Window Sys-
tem is explained as are the additional resources you need for 
full functionality.

How to Obtain NCSA Mosaic

From Anonymous FTP

The binary executables for NCSA Mosaic for the X Window 
System software are on NCSAs anonymous FTP server 
(ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu) in the /Mosaic/Mosaic-binaries directory. 
Refer to the README-binaries file for the current version 
information, and copy the appropriate files to your system. 

Source code is in the /Mosaic/Mosaic-source directory.

Technical information is in the /Mosaic/mosaic-papers direc-
tory.

From NCSA by Mail

Software and documentation are also available for purchase 
from NCSA. Contact NCSA Orders by electronic mail at 
orders@ncsa.uiuc.edu or by phone at 
(217) 244-4130 for pricing information. 

The NCSA Technical Resources Catalog (TRC), which is pub-
lished biannually, lists NCSA software, documentation, infor-
mational packets, preprints and technical reports, magazines, 
and multimedia available for purchase. The TRC is also avail-
able on the three NCSA servers (World Wide Web, Gopher, and 
anonymous FTP). See NCSA Server Addresses on pageC2.

From a Friend

Because NCSA Mosaic is free for individual use, you may 
obtain a copy of the software from a friend or colleague. 
Remember that NCSA and the University of Illinois retain the 
rights to restrict the modification and redistribution of this 
software for commercial purposes. See Copyright on pageii 
for full information.

How to Install

System Requirements

NCSA Mosaic for the X Window System can be used on most 
UNIX-based workstations (e.g., Sun SPARC, IBM RS/6000, SGI, 
DEC). 

NOTE: If you are using a Sun workstation with OpenWindows, 
warnings may be displayed when you start up NCSA Mosaic. 
You may need a special library to make your network connec-
tions. The warnings messages are not serious, and the pro-
gram should start with no lost functionality. When you have 
NCSA Mosaic working, go to the Help menu and select the On 
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). In the resulting window, 
select Something is broken. This document addresses the warn-
ing messages and steps to take to resolve the problem.

Other Software You Need for Full Functionality

NCSA Mosaic uses external viewers to display the variety of 
data file formats (images, video, audio, PostScript) on the 
Internet. For NCSA Mosaic to display these files, the external 
viewers listed below are recommended. (Other viewers are 
available and may be used.) 

If you need information about installing external viewers, talk 
with your local system administrator. In general, you need to 
uncompress, untar, and compile the files obtained from the 
anonymous FTP servers. Not all viewers work well with all 
machines. The README file in the software directory usually 
contains information about hardware compatibility.

Select Manual from the Help menu for additional information 
about viewers. 

ghostview

ghostview is the user interface to the ghostscript viewer for 
PostScript typeset documents. ghostview may be obtained 
from the UIUC anonymous FTP server (uxc.cso.uiuc.edu). 
Download the following files: 

       /gnu/ghostscript-2.5.2.tar.Z

       /gnu/ghostscript-fonts-2.5.2.tar.Z

       /gnu/ghostview-1.4.1.tar

mpeg-play

mpeg-play displays MPEG-format animation sequences and 
video clips. mpeg-play may be obtained from the University of 
California at Berkeleys anonymous FTP server 
(toe.cs.berkeley.edu). Download the following file:

       /pub/multimedia/mpeg/mpeg_play-2.0.tar.Z

showaudio and metamail

showaudio is a shell script that can play several audio formats 
on several platforms and is part of the metamail multimedia 
mail toolkit. metamail processes multimedia documents in 
the MIME format. Obtain metamail from Bellcores anony-
mous FTP server (thumper.bellcore.com). Download the fol-
lowing file (where x refers to the specific version currently 
available):

       /pub/nsb/mm2.x.tar.Z

xdvi

xdvi is a viewer for documents in the DVI format produced by 
TeX. The xdvi viewer is available from this anonymous FTP 
server (ftp.x.org). Download the following file:

       /contrib/xdvi.tar.Z

xv

xv is an image display and manipulation utility for GIF, JPEG, 
TIFF, and several other formats of image files. Connect to this 
anonymous FTP server (ftp.cis.upenn.edu) and change to the 
directory listed below tocopy the program:

       /pub/xv

Getting Started

Enter mosaic at the prompt to start up NCSA Mosaic on your 
machine. The first window, which is retrieved from the NCSA 
Web server, displays the NCSA Mosaic Home Page with the 
NCSA Mosaic logo at the top as shown in Figure 1.1. (A Home 
Page is a start-up document that serves as your home base for 
explorations on the Web.)

The NCSA Mosaic Home Page contains a welcome statement 
and some basic information about NCSA, the NCSA Software 
Development Group, and NCSA Mosaic software. From this 
page you can move anywhere by single clicking on the embed-
ded hyperlinks, choosing menu options, or entering a Uniform 
Resource Locator (URLsee The URL Format on page34) 
for a document of your choosing.

Figure 1.1       NCSA Mosaic Logo

If you receive an error message instead of the NCSA Mosaic 
Home Page, you may have an incomplete connection to the 
Internet. Other possibilities include NCSAs Web server being 
heavily utilized resulting in a busy signal, your local system 
administrator may have changed the default home page, or, if 
you are using a Sun workstation, you may have a version con-
flict with one of the libraries. Contact your local system 
administrator for more information and for assistance in 
modifying your system configuration.

.Xdefaults file

Some NCSA Mosaic options, such as the name of the file track-
ing all the documents you have accessed, can be changed if 
you establish an .Xdefaults file. 

To see the various options, choose Manual from the Help menu, 
or see System Configuration and Modification Assistance on 
pageC1 for additional information.
