Installing VNC on your computer: Window Platform

Step 1: Download the VNC client program. Go to ATT's web site at http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/

Follow the instructions and download the latest Windows client. We ask you to get this directly from ATT and register yourself as a user. This is freeware under the standard GNU license agreement. It helps them keep it free by demonstrating educational usages like this, so please fill out the brief registration form.

Step 2: Unpack the zip file.

  1. You will need to have winzip installed on your machine to install the package. If you don't have it, you can obtain it from the vendor: http://www.winzip.com. Winzip is shareware meaning you need to register and pay a small fee if you intend to use it. Most school corporations already have this standard program.
  2. Run winzip on the downloaded file. (Details of this procedure vary with what directories your browser puts things in and how your system is configured. If you have problems try to muddle through it and get one of your students to help - many of them are very familiar with downloading software from the web and installing it via this procedure.)
  3. Winzip will create two directories (where depends on how winzip is configured) called: vncviewer and winvnc. The vncviewer directory holds one file, the vncviewer client. The other contains the vnc server and various related installation files.
  4. For viewing real-time data from aesn.geology.indiana.edu you will only need the vncviewer. The simplest way to install vncviewer is just to create a shortcut to vncviewer by running Windows Explorer and dragging the vncviewer file icon from wherever winzip put it to the desktop. 
  5. [OPTIONAL] If you want to have the full package installed and/or arrange for the program to be available on the Windows "Start" menus, you will need to run the complete install procedure. To do this, just find the winvnc folder using Windows Explorer or "My Computer" and double click the "Setup" icon (There is more than one setup icon. On my machine it was the one that looked like a computer on a desktop.) Running setup will also install the vncserver, which may prove useful to us in the future in helping you debug system problems. It allows a remote display of your windows desktop, which we believe may be useful at times for debugging problems with application software on your end. See the vnc documentation available from ATT's web site (see above) or from the AESN home page (http://aesn.geology.indiana.edu/~vnc. ) to learn more about vnc. In fact, we highly recommend you bookmark the ATT documentation web site.