486 PC or better with 8 Mb RAM at least and 4 Mb free disk space.
Installation
1. If Windows is not already running, start it.
2. Put the Opera installation disk in your floppy disk drive.
3. Choose 'Run' from the Windows Program Manager 'File' menu.
4. Type æa:\installÆ or æb:\installÆ to match the floppy drive you have placed the disk in, it will normally be æa:Æ.
5. Follow the screen instructions.
Important options to set after installation.
To unlock the full power of Opera, it is important to customise some of the options after the program has been installed. Therefore you should start the program, by clicking on the Opera icon in the Opera program group, and follow the instructions below.
Communications module (winsock)
Opera must have a communications module in order to contact the rest of the world. This must support Windows Socket 1.1. If the version of Opera you purchased does not contain such a module, or you wish to use something else, you may have to change some of the settings under Advanced preferences.
There are many different communications modules available on the market. Even if these in theory conform to the same standard, there are occasionally significant differences in implementation, and even some incomplete implementations. To facilitate fast loading of single or multiple documents simultaneously, Opera must have a fully featured communications module. To handle problematic modules Opera has several options to be found under Advanced preferences. Most users will not need to bother with this, but if you experience communications problems, it can be worthwhile changing some of these parameters. Any problems are most likely to occur when loading multiple documents simultaneously.
Some known problems:
PC-NFS 5.0
If you have an old version of PC-NFS 5.0, it would be better to upgrade it. You can retrieve this from the Internet or by contacting your PC-NFS supplier. Version 5.0 can also give errors when you define too big a network buffer from within Opera. If you continue to have problems try setting it to 1 kB.
Microsoft TCP/IP
Older versions of Microsoft TCP/IP require you to use the Synchronous Domain Name Service (DNS) when you run Opera .
This is how to set up the Synchronous Name Service and the size of the network buffer:
1. Choose æAdvanced...Æ from the æPreferencesÆ menu.
2. Change the size of the network buffer (if necessary).
3. Put a cross on 'Synchronous DNS'.
4. Click on the æOKÆ button.
If you have tested using both the Synchronous DNS and changing the size of the network buffer, without success, you can also try setting the total number of connections down to eg. 1, both as a total and to a single server. Opera will run slower but behave better with the communications module.
Proxy servers
A proxy server is a machine that retrieves documents on command. The advantage of a proxy server is that it caches documents and so provides a markedly faster retrieval service than going direct, eg. to a server in another country. Opera has currently no direct support for the WAIS and Gopher protocols, but needs to use a proxy server to retrieve documents from that type of server.
You should ask your network support personnel or your Internet supplier about their proxy servers.
This is how you set up proxy servers:
1. Choose æProxy servers...Æ from the æPreferencesÆ menu.
2. Fill in the fields for the proxy servers, and check that there are crosses to the left of the text fields. It is possible to use the same proxy server in all the entries.
3. Click on the æOKÆ button.
Electronic mail
Opera supports sending electronic mail. Before you can use this facility from within Opera, you must set up your name, the machine you will use for mail (mail server), and your own mail address. The address must conform to the following format:
name@address.country
ie. SMTP conformant. The name of your mail server can be obtained from your network support personnel or your Internet supplier. If you already use a mail program it can be easier to just access that from within Opera. You do this by specifiying the program instead of your name, mail server and address.
This is how to set up your mail preferences:
1. Choose æMail...Æ from the æPreferencesÆ menu.
2. Fill in the fields for name, mail address and mail server, or enter the program name to use your own
mail program.
3. Click on the æOKÆ button.
Discussion groups (News)
It is possible to use Opera to read so-called discussion or news groups. To be able to do this you must tell Opera where to find these groups, ie. the name of a News server. You should ask your network support personnel or your Internet supplier for the name.
This is how to set up a News server:
1. Choose æNews groups...Æ from the æPreferencesÆ menu.
