1. Introduction

• This article is intended to summarize four collaborative environment platforms, Habanero, Tango, NetMeeting and SciVis.
• It is based on our recent experience testing and using theses platforms.
• The article is divided into three sections:
• Installation and User's Guide
• Comparison of Feature and Performance
• Development Issues

1. Habanero

• General Information

• Vendor       The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Web site      http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Habanero
• Contact
• tmclaren@ncsa.uiuc.edu
• bievenue@ncsa.uiuc.edu

• Installation Instruction
• NT
• Download the software. The current version is Habanero v2.0 Beta 1 for Windows.
• Follow the instructions to install the software.
• The most important is to modify the file of user.props. See an example of user.props.
• Unix
• Download the software. The current version is Habanero v2.0 Beta 1 for Unix.
• Follow the instructions to install the software.
• The most important is to modify the file of user.props. See an example of user.props.
• User's Guide
• NT
• To run client, type "java Habanero -listen 3001" if you want client to use port number 3001. You can write a batch file to set all relevant environment          variables, port number and command to run client.
• To run server, type "java HabaneroServer -listen 2000" if you want client to use prot number 2000. You can also write a batch file to do it.
• Read Readme and check out the docs to get familiar with the environment and applications.
• Unix
•  Same as NT and you can write a script to set environment variables and run client or server.

• General Information
• Vendor       Northeast Parallel Architecture Center (NPAC), Syracuse University
• Web site     http://trurl.npac.syr.edu/tango
• Contact
• marek@npac.ssyr.edu (for administrative issues)
• toju@npac.syr.edu (for development issues)

• Installation Instruction

• NT
• Client (web browser plugin) and server
• Download  the plugin or server individually. The current version is Tango 1.0 beta 4 for Windows 95/NT.
• Click this self-extractable file and Tango will be installed automatically.

• Unix
• Client (web browser plugin) and server
• Download the plugin or server individually. I downloaded Solaris 2.5.1 version. Other Unix versions, like IRIX, Linux and SunOS 4.1 are also available.
• Follow the on-line instructions after entering download page to complete the installation.
• Note
• It is not necessary to install your own server. You can select one of installed servers when you login from Tango main page.
• Check README and here to find more information about installation.

• NT
• Client (web browser plugin)
• Launch the Netscape Navigator. Go to Tango main page and click " login one of  Tango Servers"; and then click "Start Tango". Answer OK to the question " Have you installed Tango plugin?". Select one of servers and click "connect". Then Control Applications applet will come up and you can select whatever applications you like.
• The first time you launch Tango after installation, a privilege window may come up. Check "remember this decision" and click "grant". You can launch Tango. This privilege window will not come up for the following launching.
• Server
• Follow the instructions to install the server.

• Unix
• Client (web browser plugin)
• Same as NT. Make sure you already run "source tangorc" before launching browser.
• Server
• Run tango_start, which will set relevant environment variables and launch the server.

• General Information
• Vendor        Microsoft
• Web site       http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting
• Contact        none
• Installation Instruction
• Download the self-extracted file. The current version is NetMeeting 2.1.
• Click the file and follow the the instructions.

 
• User's Guide
• Check out Help in the program.
• A demo and tutorial is available too.

•  General Information
• Vendor        Northeast Parallel Architecture Center (NPAC), Syracuse University
• Web site       http://kopernik.npac.syr.edu:8888/scivis
• Contact
• scott@npac.syr.edu (for administrative issues)
• bki5@npac.syr.edu (for development issues)
• Installation Instruction
• NT
• Download the software. The current version is SciVis 1.0. Before doing that, you need to install JDK 1.1.3 or higher.
• Follow the instructions to install the software.
• Unix
•  Same as NT.
•  User's Guide
• NT
• You need to create a batch file by yourself to set environment variables and run SciVis. The built-in program to create script is not for NT. Here is an example batch file.
• Check out the User's Guide to get familiar with the environment.
• Unix
• Simply follow the instructions in the README to create a script file called "run" for instance. This script file set all relevant environment variables and run SciVis.
• Check out the User's Guide to get familiar with the environment.

 

	Habanero	Tango	SciVis	NetMeeting
Length of installation	5 hours	10 hours	10 hours	15 minutes
Had to contact vendor during installation	no	yes	no	no
Platforms supported and performance on each of the platforms	NT and Unix	NT and Unix	NT and Unix	NT
Disk space required	4M without JDK; 10M with JDK	0.3M for server and 2.5 MB for plugin	4.5MB	3MB
RAM required	n.a.	n.a. from vendor; from our experience we need at least 64MB to acquire a satisfactory speed	n.a.	n.a.
Support of videoconferencing	no	yes	no	yes
Support of chat	yes	yes	yes	yes
Support of whiteboard	yes	yes	no	yes
Support of application sharing	no	no	no	yes
Ability to record a session	yes	yes	yes	yes
Ability to access specially created databases	no	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Stability	good	not good	good	good
Reported experience in synchronous teaching	n.a.	Jackson State University	n.a.	k-12 education
- Class size	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
- Organization of courses	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
- Hardware used	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Quality of chat	good	good	ok	good
Quality of whiteboard	Design is primitive with little functionalities	good	n.a.	excellent
Amount of control on application	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Customization	API is available to integrate a Java applet into Hablet-enabled application. The application needs to be installed on the local machine.	API is available to integrate a Java applet into Tango applet. The applet needs to be registered into CA.	API is available to write user-defined filters. Filter needs to be installed on the local machine.	NetMeeting JDK is available to add shared functionality to conventional applications
Control on the applications available at client computers	yes	yes	yes	yes
How control is switched	via	via (Control Applications)	n.a.	n.a.
Reload time	negligible	3 minutes	4 minutes	30 seconds

 
 
3. Development Issues
 
        coming soon...