Oikos Help If you're having trouble with any page or function of Oikos, please look over this page. If you don't find relevant information, contact our helpmaster. In order to zero in on the problem, he will need details. Which page were you on when the problem occured? (It's easy to copy the URL from the box at the top of the browser window and paste it into your email message.) What did you do? If there was an error message, what did it say? (Again, you can copy the message and paste it into your email.) Which web browser are you using? Which version? How do you access the Internet? (dial-up ISP, AOL, corporate or government network) The helpmaster is eager to find and fix problems, but he needs these details to track them down. Send email to help@oikos.com.   Accessing Databases Many functions of the Oikos site now rely on a database that runs in the background. Literature request forms, Iris Catalog searches and the Product Directory all interact with a database program that creates the web pages you see "on the fly." In January 1998, we received half-a-dozen reports of users not being able to access the database. We have not been able to reproduce this error and hundreds of people are successfully using the system every day. Virtually all the problems occur with people that access the internet through large organizations, such as universities, or through AOL. One possiblity is that there are routers or proxy servers (firewalls) in your system that are programmed to refuse traffic to port number 591. This is the port that our database program uses. Port 591 is reserved for our software program and many system administrators simply haven't enabled this. You should ask your system administrator or help desk if this may be a possibility. If so, I hope they are willing to change the programming to enable port 591. The other possibility is that you're using an older browser that can't interact with our program. You'll need to be using Netscape 3.0 or MS Explorer 3.0 or later versions. Older AOL browsers are known to be incompatible and some other brands probably are too.   Downloading Files To download a file, simply click the cursor on the link. Your browser will automatically find the file. In most cases, the process is automatic. Most text files and software are compressed in either .zip format for DOS and Windows or in .sit format for Macintosh. These should give you no problems, but if you hit a snag send e-mail that describes the problem, inlcuding the exact text of any error message. You can copy the message right off the screen by dragging the cursor over the text and selecting the "copy" command. Portable Document Format One common file format on Oikos is called "PDF". This format allows you to view or print a fully formatted document after it has been downloaded to your computer. You'll need the free Acrobat reader software to use PDF files. You can download the reader now from Adobe's Web Site. Before you can download a PDF file you must set your browser so it knows what to do with the file. If you tried to download a PDF file and nothing happened or your screen showed unintelligible text, you need to set your browser as follows: Netscape: Go to Options, Preferences, Helper Applications and click NEW. Type pdf in the following fields: Mime Type, Mime Subtype, Extensions. You will also see a list called Action with the following options: Save, Launch Application, Use Netscape to View, and Unknown / Prompt User. Select the Save option. Now click OK.

	All Oikos pages copyright 1996 - 2007, Iris Communications, Inc.