Intro is a software utility for Apple Macintosh computers. Intro will help you get the most out of your network by providing information about Macintosh computers that are connected to a network.
For network users: Intro helps you locate people by telling you when they last used their computer. It will also help you find available computers on the network that nobody is currently using. Finally, Intro can tell you when somebody you are looking for starts using their computer even when you are doing other work.
For network administrators: Intro shows you how the network is being used: what machines are free, what programs are running, and when somebody last used each computer.
Because of its power and ease-of-use, Intro is an important utility for any Macintosh user who is connected to a network. When Intro is installed, other people can see general information about your Macintosh even when you are not running the Intro application.
Network Names
Each Macintosh must give Intro a name, so it can talk to other Macintoshes on the network. Each Macintosh on a network must have a different name, so you can tell them apart and find a particular Macintosh you are interested in. See below for how to give Intro a name for your Macintosh.
System Requirements
Intro requires at least a Macintosh Plus with 1 Megabyte of RAM that is connected to a network. Intro will work with AppleTalk, and AppleTalk compatible networks. You should use version 6.0 or later of Apple’s system software. To determine the version of the Apple’s system software, select the About the Finder... menu item while you are in the Finder.
Your computer must be connected to a network, and you can open the Chooser Desk Accessory to make sure that AppleTalk is turned on. You should be familiar with the manual that came with your AppleTalk connector kit.
2. Installing Intro
How To Install Intro
There are two simple parts to installing Intro:
1) loading Intro onto your Macintosh
2) Telling Intro about your Macintosh
You only have to do these steps once. After that Intro will automatically run each time you turn on your Macintosh. Your Intro disk contains three Intro files:
The Intro Startup file. This goes in your system folder
The Intro Application file. This goes anywhere on your disk.
The Intro Key file. This goes in your system folder.
Before installing Intro, you should first make a backup copy of these files. The Intro disk is not copy-protected, so you may make as many backup copies as you like.
To install Intro:
1) Insert the Intro disk into the floppy disk drive of your Macintosh.
2) Copy the Intro Startup and Intro Key files from the Intro disk to the System Folder of your startup volume. These files must be in your System Folder for Intro to operate when you restart your Macintosh.
3) Copy the Intro application file to your Macintosh disk. It does not have to go in the system folder.
4) Restart your Macintosh.
5) After you restart your Macintosh, Intro should warn you that you have not yet given your Macintosh a name. Intro will display the following warning:
Intro cannot run. You must run the Intro application and select a name for your machine.
Once you have completed installing Intro, you will no longer see this warning when you restart your Macintosh.
6) Run the Intro application by double-clicking on its icon.
7) The Intro Application will also tell you that it needs a name for your Macintosh. It will display the following warning:
You must give Intro a unique name. Somebody else on the network is using that name.
Once you have completed installing Intro, you will no longer see this warning when you run the Intro application.
8) Click Done in the warning window, and Intro will ask you for a name for your Macintosh. It will display a window so you can enter a name.
9) Enter a name for your Macintosh and anything else you want other people to know about your Macintosh. This window and all of its fields will be described in more detail later in the manual. You have to enter a name for your Macintosh, but the other information is optional so you do not have to enter information in these other fields.
10) Click Done in the window. Intro should now be running.
Congratulations - you have successfully installed Intro!
About Intro Keys
Intro is encoded with a serial number that is stored in the Intro Key file. Each Macintosh that runs Intro must have a Intro Key file in the System Folder, but several copies of the same key file may be used by several different Macintoshes at the same time. Only a limited number of computers may use copies of the same key file. Consult the Intro package or the release notes that came with your Intro disk to see how many different Macintoshes may use copies of your Intro Key file. Each original Intro package comes with a unique key file. If you need to run Intro on more computers than your key file will support, you must purchase additional copies of Intro.
3. Using Intro
When you start your Macintosh, Intro will try to connect your Macintosh to the network. It will tell the network the name of your Macintosh and some general information about you. This allows other people to see your Macintosh on the network, even if you are not running the Intro application. When you start your Macintosh, the Intro icon will appear at the bottom of your screen.
If you do not want Intro to run when you start your Macintosh, hold down the shift key while the Macintosh is starting. Intro will not install, and instead will display its icon with an “x” over it. Note, that if Intro does not install, then you will not be able to run the Intro application.
If neither icon appears, then refer to the directions under Installing Intro to correctly install Intro.
When you run the Intro application by double clicking its icon, Intro will create the main window.
Active User List
This list will display all of the Macintoshes on the network other than your own that are turned on and have installed Intro. You will not be able to see your own Macintosh in the Active Users List because it is designed to give information about other Macintoshes on the network. People do not have to be running the Intro application to appear on this list, but their Macintosh does have to be turned on and connected to the network and Intro does have to be installed on their Macintosh. The names that appear in this list are the names people gave Intro during installation.
You may use the arrow keys to select entries in this list or type a character to select the first entry beginning with that character.
Selecting an entry in this list changes the contents of the User Information area so that it describes the selected Intro user.
AppleTalk Zones List
A zone is a logical group of AppleTalk networks. Some network installations are very large, and they are made up of several physical networks. Such a large network installation may be divided up into zones, where each zone contains some of these physical networks. A zone may contain several physical networks, but each physical network is contained in just one zone. Dividing a large network installation into zones improves network performance and makes using the network simpler.
The AppleTalk Zones list contains the names of all AppleTalk zones in your network installation. If your network installation is not divided up into several zones, then this list will be empty and you may ignore it. Selecting a zone in this list changes the contents of the Active Users list so that it contains all Intro users in the selected zone.
User Information
This area describes the Intro user currently selected in the Active Users list. If the selected Intro user has set the privacy control in his version of Intro, then all fields will contain ‘???’, otherwise they will describe the selected Intro user. The following four fields will always appear:
Computer
What kind of Macintosh the person is using.
System Startup
When the person last started their Macintosh
Running
The name of the program the person is using. Note that if the person is running MultiFinder then this will be the current active application.
Idle Time
How much time has elapsed since the person last typed at the keyboard or clicked the mouse.
Additionally, the Phone Number, Room and Comments fields will appear if the selected Intro user has set values for them in Intro. A person may not choose to not set values for these fields, in which case they will not be part of the information for that person. A person may put anything he or she likes in these fields, but it is good practice to put in the suggested information in each field.
Phone Number
A phone number where the person using the Macintosh may be reached.
Room
The room where the Macintosh is located, or the office of the person using the Macintosh.
Comments
Anything else the person would like other people to know.
The Net Number and Node Number fields will also be displayed if you have checked the Technical Information option in the User Profile window. Whether these fields are displayed only depends on you; it does not matter whether or not the selected Intro user has checked the Technical Information option. See the section on setting user options for more information.
Net Number
This is the number of the network the person is connected to.
Node Number
This is the network node id of the Macintosh the person is using.
Notify when active
The Notify When Active control tells Into to continually monitor a person in the background, and beep three times when that user types at the keyboard or clicks the mouse. You do not have to be running the Intro application to be notified when a person starts using his Macintosh, Intro will beep three times when this happens.
You may tell Intro to watch a person by checking this control when that person is selected in the Active Users list. This control is changed whenever the User Information area is changed. It is always turned on if Intro is monitoring the person currently selected in the Active Users list. It is always turned off if Intro is not monitoring the person currently selected in the Active Users list.
You may tell Intro to watch several people, by checking the Notify When Active control in the User Information area of each person.
4. Changing User Information
You may change the information that Intro gives to people on the network with the User Profile menu command. Select this menu item and Intro will display a window.
User Information Fields
The fields in this window correspond to the fields in the User Information area. You must give Intro a name for your Macintosh, but the Room, Phone, and Comments fields are optional. If you enter values in these optional fields, then these values will appear in the User Information area when somebody uses Intro to look at your Macintosh. If you do not enter anything in the optional fields, then these optional fields will not appear in the User Information area when somebody looks at your Macintosh over the network.
Technical Information
You may check this if you want to see technical information about other people. This will only effect what information is displayed to you, not what is displayed about you to other people using Intro. See the section on User Information for more about the technical attributes displayed for each person.
Network Privacy
You may check this to limit what other people can tell about your Macintosh over the network. If you select this control, then other people will not be able to see your current application, idle time, startup time, phone, room, or comments. They will only be able to see that your Macintosh is running, and is connected to the network, because your name will still appear in the Active Users list. If this is still unacceptable, then you should remove Intro from your Macintosh by removing the Intro Startup file from your system folder and restarting your Macintosh.
You probably won’t need the Network Privacy control, since the information Intro provides about users is generally harmless. In most cases this will not pose any problems and it helps people locate each other and better share network computers.
5. Finding Users with Intro
You may use Intro to list all people on the network who have used their computer within the last 2 minutes, or are using a particular type of computer, or who are currently being monitored by your computer. The find command allows you to do these things and more. Find will control which users are displayed in the Active Users list. You may specify that all computers in the current zone be displayed, or else you may specify which types of users are included in the Active Users list. In either case, only computers that have installed Intro may be included in the list.
You select the find command with the Find menu. If you select the Show All command, then all computers in the selected zone that have installed Intro will be displayed in the Active Users list. If you select the Find command, then Intro will display a window. This window will tell Intro what types of Intro users you are looking for. You enter a description in this window, and then any Intro user matching that description will be included in the Active Users list. After you enter a description, click in the Done button, and Intro will refill the Active Users list so it contains only computers that match your description.
If you enter values for the User Name and Running fields only computers whose name or current application match what you entered will be included in the Active Users list. If you leave either field blank, then it is not used to select which computers are included in the list. Not entering a value for a field causes that field to match with every Intro user in the current zone.
You may select which types of computers should be included in the list. If a computer type is checked, then Intro users who are using that type of computer may be included in the list. Initially, all types of computer are checked.
You may also specify that only computers that have been used within a time limit, or have not been used within the time limit be included in the Active Users list. Check less than or greater than and enter a time limit in hours or seconds. If you leave both the hours and seconds fields blank, then the idle time will not be used to select which computers are included in the Active Users list.
Finally, if you check the Monitored Users check box then only Intro users who are currently being monitored by your computer are included in the list. An Intro user is being monitored by your computer if you earlier checked the Notify when Active check box for that Intro user.
6. Troubleshooting and Error Messages
There are two sets of error messages:
1) Messages displayed by the Intro application when you try to run the Intro application
2) Messages displayed by Intro when you start your Macintosh.
1) Intro Application Error Messages
Q. Intro requires at least a Macintosh Plus and System 6.0 to run.
A. Your Macintosh will not support Intro, so you will not be able to run Intro.
Q. Intro has not been correctly installed. See the Intro manual for information about installing Intro.
A. You have tried to run the application before installing Intro, or Intro could not install when you restarted your Macintosh due to an error during installation. If Intro had an error during installation, it should have displayed an error message when you restarted your Macintosh, so consult the instructions for that error message below. In either case, consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro.
Q. Your Intro application and startup files are incompatible. Please make sure all files are the same release version and restart your machine.
A. Make sure that you installed the same version of the Intro Startup and Intro Application files. To determine the version of a file, go into the Finder, select the file in the Finder, and select the Get Info item in the File menu. This should create an information window that will display the version of the file. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro.
Q. You must give Intro a unique name. Somebody else on the network is using that name.
A. Each Macintosh must give Intro a unique name, so Intro can tell two Macintoshes apart. If the Intro application displays this error message, then it will also display the window that allows you to change the name of your computer. You may either give your Macintosh a new, unique name or else cancel and not run the Intro application.
Q. Intro cannot open - Out of memory.
A. Intro does not have enough memory to run. If you are using MultiFinder, try closing some applications. If this does not help, or if you are not using MultiFinder, you may try removing some unnecessary Startup files from your system folder and restarting your Macintosh.
2) Intro Startup Error Messages
Q. Intro will not install because too many other people on the network are using Intro with the same key file.
A. Each Intro Key file may be used by a limited number of computers at the same time. Consult the Intro package or the release notes to determine how many computers may use the key file at the same time. Intro will not allow more than this number of computers to share the same key file.
Q. Intro will not install because it cannot find a key file in your system folder.
A. Intro requires that the key file be in the System Folder when you restart your Macintosh. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro.
Q. Intro cannot run because serial port is not properly configured.
A. AppleTalk must be running when you restart your Macintosh. Open the Chooser Desk Accessory and make sure that AppleTalk is turned on and restart your Macintosh.
Q. Intro cannot run because there are too many other startup programs running.
A. Intro cannot install because there are too many other startup files running. Try removing some unnecessary startup files from your system folder and restarting your Macintosh.
Q. Intro cannot run because there is not enough memory.
A. Intro cannot install because there is not enough memory. Try removing some unnecessary startup files from your system folder and restarting your Macintosh.
Q. Intro cannot run. You must run the Intro application and select a name for your machine.
A. You must give your Macintosh a name to run Intro. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro.
Q. Intro cannot run. An error has occurred.
A. An unknown error has occurred. Make sure that you are using at least version 6.0 of System and Finder, and that AppleTalk is connected to your computer. Make sure the network cable is securely connected to the back of your computer. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro. Finally, try removing unnecessary startup files from the System Folder and restart your Macintosh.
Q. Intro cannot run. A network error occurred.
A. An unknown error has occurred. Make sure that you are using at least version 6.0 of System and Finder, and that AppleTalk is connected to your computer. Make sure the network cable is securely connected to the back of your computer. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro. Finally, try removing unnecessary startup files from the System Folder and restart your Macintosh.
Q. Intro cannot run. Somebody else has registered with your machine name. Run the Intro application and choose a new name.
A. You must give your Macintosh a unique name to run Intro. Consult the installation instructions above and make sure you have correctly installed Intro.
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. AppleTalk is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
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