Precedence Network Computer and NetManager
General

1. I want a shared read-only area for clip art, etc.

   This is provided as standard on later installations. If you do not have it, the simplest way is to create a directory alongside the boot sequence and Apps folder:
   1. Log onto the boot sequence (either from an NC or from an RISC OS machine using !NCFiles or OmniClient).
   2. Create a directory called Shared (for example) in the same directory as the Apps folder and !NFSBoot application
   3. Put your shared resources into the new folder.
   4. Make the folder public read and not public write. N.B. Always ensure that any files added to anywhere in the boot mount have public read access.
   5. The shared area can then be accessed as Root:<Directory name> (e.g. Root:Shared)

   Alternatively, you could create a new user whose home directory would contain the shared area and then make sure that this home directory is mounted at boot up.

   If you are using an NT server and wish the shared area to be held on that, you can create a share which is then mounted by the NC at bootup. To do this:

   1. Create the share on the NT server and set the permissions appropriately.
   2. You'll then need to edit the Desktop file to mount that share at startup. Chances are that the Desktop file will have already been altered to load LanManFS at startup so that the NC can print via the NT server or the NCManager with LanManFS. If not, follow the instructions above to load LanManFS.
   3. Once the Desktop file has been altered to load LanManFS, you need to add a line to connect to the share i.e.

      LanMan:Connect <Mount name> <Server> <Share> <User name> [>Password<]

      e.g. the following will mount \\NTSERVER\SHARED as the user GUEST (no password) as LanMan::Shared.$

      LanMan:Connect Shared NTSERVER SHARED GUEST

   You should then alter the configuration to allow users to access this shared area. The simplest is to create an extra icon on the iconbar when they drop into RISCOS that will open the shared area. To do this (read the on-line documention!!!):
   1. Edit the Apps.!RISCOS.Messages file
   2. Add a line such as the following after the other Mount lines (make sure that the numbers after the word Mount are consecutive):

      Mount3:Filer_OpenDir Root:Shared,Shared area, directory

      This will create an icon as a normal blue directory on the iconbar with the text Shared area underneath. When clicked on this will open the shared area. If you are using the NT method explained above, replace the Root:Shared section with the path to the mount (e.g. LanMan::Shared.$)

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2. Can I restrict which clients can access web-pages via the proxy?

   This section is currently under construction.

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3. How do I define my own icons for use on the icon bar when in RISCOS?

   You can use any icon that is in the WIMP sprite pool (ROM or RAM). If you want to design your own icon it should not be more than 34 pixels high or 48 pixels wide (you should make up a name for the sprite that is not likely to clash, i.e. don't call it directory, harddisc or such like). The sprite should be saved into the !Sprites file in !RISCOS which will be found in Apps in the NC boot sequence.
   When you have the name of the icon you wish to use, you can simply edit the entry in the Messages file in !RISCOS (as details in the on-line documentation and above).

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4. How do I edit webpages including the login page and the general home page?

   Much of the user interface on the NC is based round HTML displayed by the browser (NCFresco). The login page displayed when the NC boots up and the generic home page shown when users log in are both simply webpages. In addition, you may well want to have your own HTML intranet resources (if you want users to have their own home pages then click here for details).
   All the webpages are held inside the home directory of user www.
   • From an NC, you can edit these by:
     1. Log on as ncadmin
     2. Go to the Edit web pages section.
     3. Enter the password for www in the appropriate box
     4. Click on the button in step 4
   • From NCFiles on a desktop machine
     1. Choose the Web pages mount
     2. Enter the password for www in the appropriate box
   • From Omniclient on a desktop machine
     Mount /usr/export/home/www as user www with the appropriate password
   • From a PC running Microsoft® Windows®
     Logon to the share \\ncserver\www as user www with the appropriate password. N.B. With Win95 or Win98 you cannot specify a specific user name to use when logging onto a server; it will use the user name that you used to logon to the PC.
   • From a MacOS machine
     1. You will need to be running Appletalk on the NCManager
     2. Open the Chooser
     3. Select Appleshare
     4. Choose the server called ncserver
     5. Log on as www with the appropriate password
     6. Choose the shared volume called Home directory
   Once you have mounted the required home area, then you can edit the files and directories as you wish. If the URL used to access the NCManager ends in a directory name (e.g. http://ncserver/), then then a file called index.html (shown as index/html on the NC and Acorn) from that directory will be displayed (in the above example this corresponds to a file called index.html in the root of the www home directory).
   The login page is defined in !Login.Messages, but by default this is http://<ncserver IP address>/login/. Therefore to edit this page you should edit the file called index.html (or index/html) inside the directory called login. Similarly, the general home page is index.html in the directory called general.

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5. I'd like the NCs to go to RISCOS or NCWorks as soon as I login.

   If you have all the hotfixes applied, you can set the initial URL used after login by editing the !Login.Messages file (the general section is a good place to put it) and adding the line:

   firsturl:<URL to use>

   For example, if you want to go straight into RISCOS, use the following:

   firsturl:riscos:

   If you want to go straight into the NCWorks switcher, use the following:

   firsturl:ncworks:

   If you want to go straight into web-based email, use the following:

   firsturl:wwwmail:

   This does not alter access to your defined home page which is still available at any time by clicking the home icon either in the browser or in the NCWorks switcher.
   N.B. New installations have a suitable line already in the Messages file which can be uncommented and edited.

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6. I want the NCs to use different login screens.

   If you want all the NCs to use the same page, it is probably simplest to alter the HTML for the login page as described here.

   If you want all the NCs to use the same page, but to use a non-standard URL, you should edit the !Login.Messages file and alter the URL given from a combination of the webhost and the loginpage tokens. To use a different server, edit the webhost line to contain the server name or IP address instead of <Inet$BootServer>. To alter the path on the server, alter the loginpage line.

   If you want different NCs to use different loginpages (e.g. you want a reception class to click on a picture of themselves to log in, but all other users to use a username and password), you should use the Custom directory to set a different initial home page. To do this, you should create a directory named after the NC you wish to customise in the !NFSBoot.Custom directory (the NC name is given during boot up as soon as the Xemplar or Precedence banner appears on the screen). Then save an Obey file in this directory called !Run which contains the following line:

   Set NCFresco$LoginPage -URL <URL to use>

   e.g.

   Set NCFresco$LoginPage -URL http://<Inet$BootServer>/reception/

   The directory and the !Run file may already exist if you have customised printers or screen modes.

   N.B. You will need to have applied all the latest hotfixes

   You must always ensure that any files or directories you create in the boot sequence are given public read access.

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7. How do users create and access public home pages?

   To create a public home page:
   1. Create a directory called www (must be lowercase) in your home directory.
   2. Put your web pages in here. Remember that index.html (or index/html) is the default if no filename is given in the URL.
   3. The directory www and all contents which are to be made public must be given public read access and not locked.
   4. The home directory of the user must have at least execute access to others (i.e. drwx--x--x or mode 711). All recent versions of the user management scripts create the home directories with these access permissions. To alter permission on a certain home directory:
      1. Log in as root
      2. Type chmod 711 ~<user name>
      To alter existing permissions on all home directories (if they arranged in a flat structure):
      1. Log in as root
      2. Type cd /usr/export/home
      3. Type chmod 711 *
      4. Type chmod 755 ncd
   To configure the NetManager to work seamlessly with NT:
   1. First make sure that all the users exist on both servers (should already be done for email purposes)
   2. Log in as root on the NetManager and type joe /etc/smb.conf
      1. Check that the workgroup = line at the top corresponds to the NT domain you are using.
      2. Add the line:

         username map = /etc/smbusers

      3. Alter the line that says security = user to security = server
      4. Alter the line that says ; password server = to password server = DOMAINCONTROLLER where DOMAINCONTROLLER is replaced by the name of your NT domain controller (N.B. remove the semicolon at the start of the line). This will use the domain controller specified for password authentication.
      5. Type Ctrl-K followed by X to save the file
   3. Type: joe /etc/smbusers
   4. Into the new file type:

      root = administrator

   5. Type Ctrl-K followed by X to save the file. This file will allow NT username administrator to be mapped to Unix user root.
   6. Type: stopsamba ; startsamba to restart Samba.
   7. In Network Neighbourhood, there will now be a server called Ncserver which is sharing a directory with the user name of the use logged on. You can create a www directory and create your web pages
   Use the URL http://ncserver/~<user name>/. i.e. to access the home page of user sborrill, you should use:

   http://ncserver/~sborrill/

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8. When in RISCOS, how do I display the user's name on iconbar instead of Home area?

   This is dependent upon having applied the latest hotfixes.

   Log on as ncadmin and open the boot sequence. Open the Apps directory (holding down Ctrl will make this much quicker) and then shift-double-click on !RISCOS. Finally, shift-double-click on the Messages file and simply edit the line that says:

   Mount1:Filer_OpenDir <User$Dir>,Home area,harddisc

   to:

   Mount1:Filer_OpenDir <User$Dir>,<Inet$UserName>|Home area,harddisc

   Save the file.

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