The Castanet^TM Tuner

What Is... Help Topics

This page describes the visible features of the tuner, principally its tabbed pages and menus. It is reference material; other pages provide a tuner quick start and descriptions of common tasks.

Contents

Pages

Satellite Dish Icon
Marimba Page
Channels Page
Listing Page
Hot Page
Configure Pages

Configure:Updates Page
Configure:User Page
Configure:Network Page
Configure:Options Page

Menus

Tuner Menu
Channel Menu
Help Menu

Windows Platform

Tuner Icon in Taskbar Status Area

Pages

Satellite Dish Icon

The satellite dish icon to the right of the tuner page tabs shows the tuner's communication status. When the dish appears to be receiving red beams from space, the tuner is communicating with a transmitter. Press Ctrl-C to abort the transmission.

Marimba Page

The Marimba page identifies your tuner version, including when it last updated itself.

The Marimba button switches the tuner to the Listing page and shows the channels served by the Marimba transmitter.

Channels Page

The Channels page lists subscribed and unsubscribed channels, organized by transmitter. Each transmitter's list of channels can be exposed or hidden by clicking the + or - symbol next to the transmitter tower icon.

Status values:

nnnK

The approximate space occupied by a channel on your disk. The figure does not include files the channel has created. It is inflated by files the channel shares with other channels (the tuner stores only one copy of a shared file).

nnnK mm%

The percentage of an incremental HTML channel that the tuner has downloaded; the tuner will download the rest of the channel automatically; to force it to do so now, select the channel, then choose Channel:Download Remainder.

launching

The tuner is starting the channel.

running

The channel is running; double-click to stop the channel.

. (dot)

The channel is unsubscribed; double-click to resubscribe.

loading/installing/notifying

The channel is being downloaded or updated from its transmitter; type Ctrl-C to abort. Progress is shown at the bottom of the tuner window.

error

The tuner encountered an error when downloading or updating the channel; move the pointer to the channel's name for a description of the error.

Listing Page

This page lists the channels served by transmitters. To obtain a list of a new transmitter's channels, type the transmitter's name into the text field, then press Return/Enter. Include the transmitter's port number (e.g., :5282) if it's not :80.

The drop-down list contains the names of transmitters you've entered in the past; select a transmitter from this list to see its channels. Note that the channel list may be stale; click the Refresh button to download the current list.

The Browse button passes the transmitter name to your Web browser so you can see the channel listing in a Web page. Some transmitter Web pages provide more channel information than the Listing page shows.

The Refresh button downloads the latest channel information from the transmitter named in the text field.

A + symbol next to a channel indicates that a short description of the channel is available; click the + to see it. Click the - to hide the channel description.

Hot Page

The Hot page contains a list of interesting new transmitters or channels selected by Marimba. Click an icon to visit a transmitter or subscribe to a channel.

The Register button is for channel developers; if you are one, click the button to register your channel with Marimba for possible inclusion in the a future Hot page update.

The Hot page contents may change when the tuner updates itself. That's because the tuner is a channel and the Hot page is a tuner content file. When Marimba changes the Hot file, the next tuner update downloads the new file. You may want to check the Hot page after each tuner update.

Configure Pages

Change the value(s) on a page, then click Apply to make the changes take effect.

Or press Reset to make the values as they were when you opened the page (or last clicked Apply).

Configure:Updates Page

Use this page to set limits for automatic channel updating. For example, you may not want connections to be made as often if you're using a dial-up Internet connection. Or, if your network is commonly busy during the day, you may wish for updates to be made only at night.

Use the "Automatic updates can be made" drop-down list to select the hours during which the tuner can make updates: any time (the default), never (manual updating only), daytime office hours, nighttime.

Use the "Frequency of automatic updates" drop-down list to select the maximum frequency for automatic updates: whenever scheduled; every 15 minutes (the default); every 30 minutes; every hour; every day.

Configure:User Page

The values you enter on this page are optional; the tuner sends them to Marimba but does not expose them to channels.

Configure:Network Page

If your computer is not behind a firewall you can ignore this page.

If your computer is behind a firewall, the tuner cannot communicate directly with transmitters located outside the firewall. (Just as Web browsers inside a firewall cannot directly contact HTTP servers outside the firewall.) The solution is a proxy in the firewall: The tuner communicates with the proxy, the proxy communicates with the transmitter.

The tuner can use an HTTP proxy or a Castanet (Marimba) proxy. You will probably need to ask a network administrator which of these you have, and what their host names and port numbers are. If you have either type of proxy, specify it on this page; if you have both, specify both. If you can't contact a network administrator, you may be able to determine your site's HTTP proxy information from your Web browser's setup if you are sure your browser can reach Internet sites outside your firewall (try www.marimba.com).

• Netscape Navigator 3: Choose Options:Network Preferences, then press the Proxies tab.
  • If No Proxies is selected, your site does not use an HTTP proxy.
  • If Manual Proxy Configuration is selected, press View... to see the list of proxies; write down the HTTP proxy name and port number.
  • If Automatic Proxy Configuration is selected, open the URL listed next to it with your Browser and write down the HTTP proxy's host name and port number.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 3: Choose View:Options, then press the Connections tab.
  • If "Connect through a proxy server" is not checked, your site does not use an HTTP proxy.
  • If "Connect through a proxy server" is checked, press Settings.... to see the list of proxies; write down the HTTP proxy name and port number.

Configure:Options Page

Use Connection Options to select the kind of Internet connection you have:

• Direct: your computer is hard-wired to the network, you do not use a modem to connect.
• Modem (on Windows platforms only); you have a dial-up modem connection.
  • Dial-up Server: choose the Windows network connection you use to connect to your Internet Service Provider.
  • Set Idle Timeout (minutes). If the tuner doesn't use the network for this interval, it will drop the phone line.

Use the Channel Options checkboxes as follows:

• Add subscribed channels to Start Menu (Windows platforms only): check this to direct the tuner to add subscribed channels to the Start menu.
• Allow channels to read from a CD-ROM (may be disabled on some platforms): Some channels obtain files from companion CD-ROMs rather than having them downloaded by the tuner.
  • Check this item if you want channels to be able to read any CD-ROM that's mounted.
  • Uncheck this item to prevent a channel from reading data from any CD-ROM. If you use CD-ROMs that contain information that you do not want to risk exposing to a channel or its plugin*, uncheck this item.
• Allow sending tuner ID: Your tuner has an ID that is different from that of all other tuners. The tuner ID is similar to the "cookie" used by some Web pages; a plugin* cannot use it to identify you individually, but it can use it to distinguish your tuner from others.
  • Check this item to direct your tuner to refrain from sending its ID to transmitters.
  • Uncheck this item to allow your tuner to send its ID to transmitters.
• Allow logging: A channel can save data in a tuner file called the log; each channel has its own log. For example, a channel might log features you use or advertisements you click on. If you allow logging, the tuner sends the log data to the transmitter when it asks for updates to the corresponding channel. A channel plugin* can save the log data or to customize the channel based on your interactions--for example, to return advertisements related to those you have clicked on.
  • Check this item to allow the tuner to send a channel's log data to its transmitter when the tuner asks for updates to the channel.
  • Uncheck this item to direct the tuner to refrain from sending log data with channel update requests.
• Allow personalization: A channel can also save data in a tuner file called the profile; each channel has its own profile. Unlike a log, which the tuner clears when it receives an update to a channel, a channel's profile data is permanent. User preferences, such as language or skill level (in a game channel) are examples of typical profile data. A channel plugin* can use profile data to personalize channel files, to send you French files, for example, if you've indicated that you prefer French.
  • Check this item to allow the tuner to send a channel's profile data to its transmitter when the tuner asks for updates to the channel.
  • Uncheck this item to direct the tuner to refrain from sending profile data with channel update requests.

* A channel plugin is effectively a piece of a channel that runs on a transmitter. The transmitter invokes a plugin whenever it receives an update request for the corresponding channel from a tuner. The transmitter passes data received from the tuner to the plugin; you can control what data the tuner sends by checking or unchecking Channel Options items. Note that directing the tuner to refrain from sending the tuner ID, log, or profile data may make a channel misbehave if it relies on the data to operate correctly.

Use the Show tips checkbox to enable or disable the popup of a yellow usage tip when you stop the mouse pointer over a tuner user interface element.

Menus

Tuner Menu

New Channel

Subscribe to a channel whose transmitter name you know. If you don't know the channel name, click List to show the channels on the Listing page. If you know the channel name, click Subscribe to switch to the Channels page where you'll see the progress of the download.

Listing Page

Show Listing page.

Channels Page

Show Channels page.

Online

If checked, the tuner will use the network; if unchecked it will not. Use this item when you disconnect your computer from the network, and when you reconnect it.

Cancel Transfers

Abort any download in progress.

Check Channels

Update all channels that are due for an automatic update but have not been updated because the automatic update frequency has been set to Never on the tuner's Configure:Updates page.

Update Tuner

Quit running channels, updates, and restarts tuner.

Console Window

Display a Java console window for debugging channels.

Quit

Quit the tuner. (Unlike the Close box, choosing Quit stops in-progress updates and channels, and exits the tuner.)

Channel Menu

Channel Description

Show brief description of selected channel.

Channel Properties

Show the selected channel's properties sheet.

Create Shortcut (Windows platforms only)

Create a shortcut for the selected channel.

Subscribe

Subscribe to the selected channel.

Update

Manually initiate update of the selected channel.

Download Remainder

Download the rest of an incremental HTML channel (one whose Status shows the percentage of the channel that has been downloaded).

Start

Launch the selected channel.

Stop

Quit the selected channel.

Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe the selected channel. Note: Unsubscribe deletes the channel's code and content files, but preserves its data files in case you resubscribe.

Remove

Remove the selected channel. Note: Remove deletes the channel completely: its code and content files, and any data files you have created with the channel.

Help Menu

Quick Start

The bare essentials of using the tuner.

Introducing Castanet

Concepts and components of the Castanet system.

How To

Step-by-step instructions for common tasks.

What Is

Detailed descriptions of the tuner's menus and pages.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

License Agreement

The tuner license agreement.

Release Notes

Known anomalies and notes for the current tuner release.

Website Documentation

Link to Marimba's Castanet documentation.

Marimba

Link to Marimba's home page.

Windows Platform

Tuner Icon in Taskbar Status Area

When you click the tuner's Close button, the program does not quit, but continues running in the background, displaying its icon (similar to a satellite dish) in the taskbar status area as a reminder. Running in the background, the tuner can pull updates from transmitters while you do other work (red beams coming into the tuner icon indicate an update in progress). However, your computer must be connected to the network, or able to establish a dial-up connection, for background operation to be useful.

• To quit the tuner, bring it to the foreground, then choose Tuner:Quit.
• To bring the tuner to the foreground, double-click its icon in the taskbar status area.