flashCube Windows Installation Instructions





0] You should have downloaded a .zip file containing flashCube, it is probably called coursename-flashCube.zip (e.g. 9.01-flashCube.zip or Zhongwen-flashCube.zip). Use an unzip utility (e.g. WinZip) to unzip the file. If you have WinZip, for example, you would right-click on the .zip file and select the "WinZip" submenu then select "Extract to folder coursename-flashCube" (in some cases, you may not even have to go into the WinZip submenu to see this option). If you are using Windows XP, BEWARE: the built-in zip extractor in Windows XP has a bug that prevents files containing commas in their filenames from being extracted. As flashCube audio files contain lots of these, don't use the built-in zip program! In any case, after unzipping the file, you should have a folder called coursename-flashCube sitting next to the .zip file.





NOTE: Do NOT simply double click on the .zip file and attempt to run flashCube while it is still inside the .zip file (Windows XP will allow you to do this, for example). You must actually unzip the file as described above.





1] Uninstall any previous versions of Java on your machine by using the "Add/Remove Programs" item in the Control Panel. (Look for things whose names start with the word "Java" and remove them.)





2] Download Java from the link on Stellar and install it by double-clicking the "Java-1.4.2_02.exe" file (it may have a slightly different name but should be recognizable). Choose the 'Typical' installation. NOTE: If this file is only about 1.5Mb in size, then it requires an internet connection. Be sure your machine is connected before running the installer. If the file is ~15Mb, then you don't need the internet connection.





3] Copy the entire "flashCube" folder to a location on your hard drive of your choosing, e.g. c:\Program Files\





4] Go into the flashCube folder you just copied onto your hard drive and right-click on the flashCube.jar file. Select "Create Shortcut". Move the shortcut to a location of your choosing (e.g. your desktop, start menu, quick launch bar, etc.)





5] You are ready to run flashCube. Do so by double-clicking the shortcut you created.





6] The first time you run flashCube, it will indicate that you have not entered a student ID. You can follow the instructions given by flashCube.





7] Finally, if you do not wish to have your IP address associated with your flashCube usage, please set the value in the "locationTracking" line to false. Again, be careful not to delete the tab between the word "locationTracking" and the "true" or "false".





OPTIONAL:





8] If you are using flashCube for a language that requires special characters (e.g. Chinese, Japanese) you will need a font that can display those characters. Unfortunately, flashCube cannot legally distribute such fonts so it is up to you to find the appropriate font. (Arial Unicode MS, filename arialuni.ttf is highly recommended.) Once you've installed the font, run flashCube and select the font from the "Select Font" drop-down box. If you don't know how to install the font, see the font installation instructions below.











Windows Font installation instructions:





1] Open the control panel





2] Right-click on the "Fonts" item and say "Open"





3] Drag and drop the font file (e.g., arialuni.ttf) into the fonts folder





4] Relaunch flashCube and it should just work!