Java 1.1 Backgammon Client and Server Install and Usage

These are general instructions for installing the Java 1.1 Backgammon Client (which is the standalone backgammon game) and Server jar file and using it. This file also is in the jar file. First, unjar the exe file (yes, the file has an 'exe' extension but is actually a 'jar' file so a browser will ask you if you want to download the file instead of trying to execute it). This can be done using 'jar', which comes with Sun's Java 1.1.x or 2.x Runtime or JDK, which can downloaded from the Javasoft web site. Using 'jar', the command line command to use would be 'jar -xvf bgserver.exe'.

Included are this readme file, sample html files that can be used to run the client or the server admin program as applets, sample scripts that can be used to run the client or the server admin program as applications on Windows and the server as a Windows application, and a 'ready-to-use' jar file which contains all of the class files required to run the server and the client and admin programs as applications or applets.

The html files included are bgjava.html and bgadminclient.html, which are sample html files that can be used to start the Backgammon Client and the Backgammon Admin Client from a web browser. They contain the location of the jar file, a host name on which the Backgammon Server runs, and the port number on that host to use. If the hostname is left at '127.0.0.1', then the applet will first check the host from which it was downloaded from before checking the local machine. The initial password for the admin client is 'admin'.

For browser access from a web server, the jar file should remain in the same directory as the html files. If the jar file is placed in a different directory, then the html files should be modified accordingly to reflect the location of the jar file.

To run the client programs locally as applications, just run the appropriate script; bgjava.bat for the standalone backgammon game/network client and bgadminclient.bat for the admin client. The jar file can also be put directly into the CLASSPATH environment variable, e.g. c:\directory\bgjava.jar. Sun's Java runtime virtual machine (VM), version 1.1.8, is the best choice to run the applications, however, a later version should also work fine. Either one can be downloaded from the Sun web site or the Javasoft web site.

The Backgammon Server, of course, is always run as an application. Using Sun's runtime VM, it can be invoked by entering 'bgserver arg1 arg2' on the command line in the directory containing bgjava.jar. It takes two command line arguments, the port number and the maximum number of clients, in that order. The default port number if arg1 is omitted is 9876, which means that chat clients connect on that port, the admin client connects on port 9875, and port 9877 is used internally. The html files use these values as defaults and should be changed if Backgammon Server is executed with a different port number. The default number of clients is unlimited if arg2 is omitted.

I know these instructions seem vague if you are not an experienced Java user, but the process is really much easier than it seems. I am sure that I can easily answer any questions you may have via the e-mail address listed below.

If you have any questions, please direct them to

software@lpsci.com

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