Forensic mathematics home page

How we do web conferences

  1. What is a web conference?
  2. It's a way of viewing another computer's display remotely, and even of taking control of a remote computer. We use the computer screen for video, and have a phone connection on the side.

    A reasonably fast Internet connection – DSL or cable – is necessary. I think a 56kb phone connection will be too cumbersome. And of course many labs don't allow their data-critical computers such as those running DNA•VIEW to connect to the Internet, so that's a limitation too.

    It is therefore useful for

    demos
    Through a web conference link, I can show DNA•VIEW or PATER in operation
    training
    Not as good as being there, but a lot better than just a telephone
    solving operational problems (debugging etc.)
    Normally this means running the software on your computer and letting me watch or even control.

    I use the Raindance service for web conferencing.

  3. How to join
    1. If we will want to run DNA•VIEW on your computer, and you use Windows XP or similar operating system, first be sure that it will run with "below normal" priority as explained above.
    2. At the appointed time, or through telephone contact, please load the web page www.raindance.com.
    3. Click on "Join a Call / Meeting" to obtain the following screen:
    4. Enter your name and email.
    5. Enter the conference ID which I will give you. I don't want to put it on this page, but once you know the seven-digit number it it won't change for future meetings. Click Join Meeting.
    6. The first time only that you conference from a computer
      • you need to install Raindance Seminar Edition.
      • Click Download Now.
      • Permit the download and installation of client software.
    7. A conference window opens.
    8. Click ok if you have no camera.
    9. If asked to Select a (phone) Number, please CANCEL! We'll talk through an ordinary phone connection, not their expensive one.

  4. Before you start
    1. Older DNA•VIEW/PATER versions slow your computer
    2. If you run DNA•VIEW or PATER on a Windows NT (including XP, 2000, etc) computer, you may have noticed that it is very hard to do anything else at the same time. Apparently the problem is Windows wants to devote 99+% of the CPU (computing) cycles to a DOS process (which these programs are) so any other process that you try to run at the same time is very sluggish.

      That would be a problem with running DNA•VIEW and the web conferencing software on the same computer at the same time. (No problem for you if you just want to watch a demo on my machine.)

      Therefore it is important to run DNA•VIEW / PATER at a proper priority.

    3. Solution
    4. Download a new, updated version of the DNA•VIEW startup file or the PATER startup file as the case may be.

      Save the downloaded file – dnaview.bat or pater.bat in the DNAVIEW directory, replacing the older version of the file already there.

    5. Full-screen mode
    6. Switch a DOS process into or out of full-screen with Alt-Enter.