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The University of Cincinnati has a WEBCT server up
and running as part of the Ohio Council
Non-Traditional Pharm.D. Program Development. We
are running WEBCT on a Free BSD UNIX server
(Pentium 300) and a direct OC3 connection to the
Internet.
WEBCT runs on an Apache Web server, although you
never see the server. We have successfully
installed a Real Media Server (free) on this
machine under the Apache Engine. (The alternative
is to buy a second server) You need to install the
software in directories under the WEBCT
application. We will be upgrading in the next
several months.
Find your WEBCT directory. In this directory you
should have a Server Directory. Inside this
directory create a RealMedia Directory. Download
the Server file and Place the RealMedia server
file in this folder. (You will need the
appropriate rights). When the software unpacks, a
folder called Content will be created under the
RealMedia Directory. Your media must be placed in
this folder or in folders within this directory.
The address of the RealMedia Server will be the
same as the address for the WEBCT server without
the port number.
HTML pages are not able to call Real Media files
directly. Don't try it, it won't work. Your HTML
page links to a text file (.RAM ) that calls the
page. The text file contains
PNM://WEBCTserveraddress/directory/filename.rm.
The real aduio files use .ra The PNM tells your
browser to load RealPlayer.
Try
HTTP://129.137.232.101/experimental/slides.html
This is a narrated slide show on Powerpoint slides
that we put up as a demo. This server is our
College server. It points to the real media
server for the spooling audio.
I have also done the same with Video.
Try
HTTP://129.137.232.101/experimental/CincyPTC.html
Now for the best part.......If you setup the
correct rights to the folder where your content is
located, you can FTP your files to the WEBCT
server and never have to face UNIX OS. FTPing
files also lets you move a folder rather than
moving individual files inside of WEBCT. If you
need more on this topic, let me know.
Audio works better than video at 28.8 but at 56K
the video doesn't look too bad.
But wait there is more....If you buy the Real
Publisher for $40, you can add your voice to
Powerpoint shows on the fly. Watch your show,
talk and hit the arrow key to advance the slide.
Sound is recorded and stored and synchronized to
your slides. And at the end, the plug in allowes
you to FTP all of the files to the correct servers
and locations. It even builds a page to launch
your show.
We are excited about the possibilities. Hope this
helps. Bill Fant
PharmMM Discussion List Archive Index page
David Bourne (david@boomer.org)