1. What kind of browser do I need to use ParaChat?
You need to use a web browser that is Java enabled (e.g like Netscape 2.0, 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. ) in order to use ParaChat.
If your browser is not Java aware you will not see the chat
room but get a message
'Sorry your browser is not Java
enabled'
Windows 95 users :Netscape 2.0, 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher
MAC users must use MS Internet Explorer 3.01b , it will not work with Netscape currently. Please see following MAC question for more.
Win 3.1 users can use Netscape 3.01 Beta with Java for Windows 3.1 , see following question on Win 3.1 for more.
2. I am using a MAC and cannot connect to ParaChat. Why?
There are known problems with Netscape's implementation of Java and we are working with Netscape to see if we can work around those bugs. So currently ParaChat will not work for Mac users using Netscape. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3.01b is known to work well for some Mac users and work with some repaint bugs (chat window messed up and cannot see the chat command buttons) for other Mac users. If you are a Mac user and have had luck with any other version of these browsers or any others please send us email at pchat@paralogic.com, we want to know!
The error was due to our chat server being too busy at the time you tried the login..In such instances please login again after a few minutes.Please do not hit Connect multiple times, wait for a few minutes and then re-connect, else the Server receives several connect requests from the same machine and it will actually take longer to connect. Sorry for the inconvenience.
4. Is there a Java enabled browser for Windows 3.1 that works with ParaChat?
You could use the new Navigator 3.01 Beta with Java for Windows 3.1 available for download at http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/client_download.html
It is believed to work with ParaChat though it is slow and has some bugs.
5. My Java console gives me a 'set daemon bug' message on Netscape. What is that?
This is just an informational message - please ignore it.
If you log back via the same machine (IP address) it detects a more recent login and lets you in. However if you use another IP address (another machine or a dynamic IP address), it will not permit another login if it still has a login under that user name. After a time-out period of 10 min the user is automatically logged off and you can then reuse the same user name (nick).
These errors are due to your Internet connection going down, or due to our chat server being too busy at the time you tried the login. In such instances please login again after a few minutes.Please do not hit Connect multiple times, wait for a few minutes and then re-connect, else the Server receives several connect requests from the same machine and it will actually take longer to connect. Sorry for the inconvenience.
This is a bug that we are working on, you get the message when the system is too busy, please retry after a while.
9. I use AOL, how can I use ParaChat?
Just connect to AOL, go to the Word Wide Web, minimize the AOL window and launch a Java enabled browser. You can download Netscape Navigator v3.01 from http://www.netscape.com or Microsoft Internet Explorer v3.0 from http://www.microsoft.com.
10. I get ...'could not connect to server BAD_PARAMETERS:BAD_PARAMETERS'. Why?
That error is due to the system detecting that one or more of the applet parameters passed is invalid. Please check the HTML code on the Java chat applet against the code received on registration. Also if you are using Netscape Gold 3.0 you may get this even with correct HTML due to a parameter passing bug on Netscape Gold 3.0. In that case please use another browser/version like Netscape 3.0 (non Gold), Gold 3.01 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.
UPDATE: On certain versions of Netscape, this problem can be fixed by changing the Document Encoding to 'Western'. On your browser, click on Options, then click on Document Encoding and set it to Western
Make sure that your browser's Java feature is enabled. For Netscape Navigator, enable Java by clicking "Options", "Network Preferences", "Language". Make sure the "Enable Java" checkbox is checked. For Microsoft Internet Explorer, enable Java by clicking "View", "Options", "Security". Check the "Enable Java programs"checkbox.
No. Even though ParaChat is a superset of the IRC protocol, the ParaChat server cannot be currently accessed via an IRC client. Similarly the ParaChat client cannot be used to connect to an IRC channel.
The error "ParaChat.class not found" is caused by a failure of your browser to download the class file from our webserver. This may occur due to one of several reasons, including mistyped HTML , misconfigured name servers, network outages on machines in the path between your machine and ours etc. These problems result in the infamous Java "Grey Box" and a message in the status line of the browser stating "ParaChat.class not found" or similar. This message does NOT mean that the Chat server is down.
If you are adding the chat room to the web page, the very first thing to do is to make sure that the HTML is correct. If it is not correct, that page will not work for anyone at all. Look at the directions below and make sure the hostname is the one we sent you. EXACTLY the same!
Also important, is that it is ParaChat not parachat or paraChat. If it is not the ParaChat classfile that it is complaining about, the HTML has been mistyped. Have the webmaster of the site correct it.
If you are just visiting someone elses page,
you need to see if the host machine is reachable. Before you can
do anything, you need to find the hostname of the machine with a
problem. Then, the you should try and access the host's webserver
using a browser. To find the hostname of the webserver, look at
the HTML source (e.g. using View-Source in Netscape) and find the
line that contains
The part after the "//" and before the "/" in
the CODEBASE tag is the hostname. For instance, most ParaChat
Personal rooms refer to http://parachat.webpage.com/classes and
therefore the hostname is parachat.webpage.com. Most of our demo
rooms are currently off of
http://dru.webpage.com/pchat/try/classes, and so the hostname is
dru.webpage.com.
Once you have this, point your webbrowser to
that hostname, and try and view that site (e.g.
http://parachat.webpage.com). There are three possibilities:
a) It may work and show you an HTML Page
b) It may fail with a message about Lookup or DNS failed
c) It may fail with a message about the host not responding, or
Host unreachable, or Host is down.
If (a), It worked, then it is most likely an intermittent network
outage. Try flushing your browser cache, exiting your browser and
retrying.(see question 25 on how to flush the browser cache if
you dont know how to) In situations of rare desperation, you may
want to try another browser, which some of our customers have
claimed to have fixed ther problem, or upgrade to a new version
of the browser.
If (b) occurs, you need to contact your ISP. Tell them that their nameserver is either not reachable or is not translating that hostname properly. They should be able to help you out there.
If the ISP is not helpful, you can switch temporarily to using our machine as a nameserver to translate the hostname. On Windows 95 do the following : Go to Start, select Settings and then select Control Panel. Click on Network and then select TCP/IP, click on Properties and then on the tab DNS Configuration. Make sure Enable DNS is turned on and add to the DNS Server Search order the IP address, 199.165.129.201. Remember to click on Add to add this to the list and then on OK for the whole form.
if (c) occurs, there is most likely an Internet
outage between our two sites. If you have a supportive ISP, call
them and ask them to explain why you cant reach that host. If you
dont want to bother them, (or you
get the feeling they dont want to be bothered by you) you can do this yourself using
tracert, ping.
This is probably because your browser is caching an earlier version of the applet. Do the following
1. Flush the browser's cache:
2. Exit the browser completely and restart it.
If it still does not work, check question 24 above.