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Variations Version 5.0
Installation Instructions
for Mac OS X
Step 1. Install Variations
- Obtain Variations through your university IT Department and download the files to your desktop.
- When the file finishes downloading, you will see an install disk image (an icon of a disk called "Variations"); open it to begin the installation.
- In the install disk image is the program, an application also called "Variations"; drag it to where you would like it to be installed--usually the Applications folder.
- Double-click on the program to start it. You will be prompted to login.
Use your University Network ID and password. Search
for something by Beethoven and see if the audio is working properly. If
so, skip to Step 3.
Step 2. Configure QuickTime - Note: This step is only necessary if you are having trouble playing the audio, or if audio is consistently low-quality despite having a fast Internet connection.
- After the installation is done, open System Preferences to configure QuickTime.
- Click on the QuickTime button.
- Under the Connection tab, ensure that the Connection Speed matches your Internet connection.
- Make sure the Allow Multiple Simultaneous Streams box is checked.
- Close the QuickTime Settings window.
Step 3. Configure Web Browser(s)
In order for Variations to work properly when links are clicked from web browsers, you must follow the instructions below for each web browser installed on your system.
Firefox
Firefox does not allow setting of file/mime types ahead of time, and so you must "teach" the browser to recognize files by first clicking on them in the browser. For each file type (v2p playlists, v2t timelines, v2a annotation files, and v2x player/viewer links), the first time you click on a link to one of these files, a pop-up dialog will ask which application you wish to use to open files of this type. For each file, choose Variations. Here are some sample files you can use to do all this configuration at one time.
Test Firefox configuration with samples from the samples page
Internet Explorer
- Start Internet Explorer.
- Choose "Preferences..." from the Explorer menu.
- Click on Receiving Files -> File Helpers.
- Click the "Add..." button.
- Enter the following in the Edit File Helper window (see picture below):
Description is "Variations file", Extension is ".v2x", MIME type is
"application/x-variations2", the Application for File Type is Variations--you
browse for this by clicking Browse and finding the place you installed the
application, File type and File creator are both "V2X " (very
important to leave an extra space after the "X"), Encoding is "Binary
Data", both "Use for incoming" and "Use for outgoing" should be checked,
Download Destination is "Download Folder" and Handling is "View with
Application. Then press "OK".
- Click the "Add..." button again.
- Enter the following in the Edit File Helper window (see picture below):
Description is "Variations timeline file", Extension is ".v2t", MIME type is
"application/x-variations2-timeline", the Application for File Type is
Variations--you browse for this by clicking Browse and finding the place you
installed the application, File type and File creator are both "V2T " (very
important to leave an extra space after the "T"), Encoding is "Binary
Data", both "Use for incoming" and "Use for outgoing" should be checked,
Download Destination is "Download Folder" and Handling is "View with
Application. Then press "OK".
- Add two more file helpers for the extensions ".v2p" and ".v2a". These will have file types "V2P " and "V2A " respectively, and both will have file creator set to "V2X ". The MIME type for both will be "application/x-variations2".
Test Internet Explorer configuration with samples from the samples page
Mozilla
Start Mozilla and choose Preferences from the Mozilla menu. Choose File Helpers and add new mime types 'application/x-variations2' and 'application/x-variations2-timeline'. You should associate 'application/x-variations2' with file types v2p, v2a, and v2x. You should associate 'application/x-variations2-timeline' with file type v2t.
Test Mozilla with samples from the samples page
Safari
Use of Safari is not currently recommended for accessing Variations. If using Safari, you must manually download files to your hard drive, then double-click on the file in the Finder to launch the application. This is true for v2t, v2p, and v2a files. If the file downloads as a file with a 'cgi' extension (this will happen for v2x player/viewer links), you MUST rename the file once it is downloaded to have the 'v2x' extension in order to use this file with Variations.
Problems?
- If you experience problems when you try to run Variations, check the following link for possible solutions: Known Problems.
- If the Known Problems link still does not solve your problem, contact support for assistance.
Fonts
We strongly recommend that you install the font Arial Unicode MS
in order to be able to view all international and special characters in
the application. This font can be installed as part of the "international
features" option in Microsoft Office 2000 or XP. You can easily check
to see whether this font is already installed by opening Microsoft Word
and looking at the list of fonts. For more information on installing this
font, see Microsoft
Knowledge Base article Q287247.