Softvision
Explorer consists of four software modules :
Explorer
Manager 3 : server programme to control connections and manage
users.
Explorer Client 3 : allows customers
to navigate and protects the machine it is installed on.
Explorer Printer Monitor 3 : allows
monitoring of customers’ print jobs.
Explorer Coins 3 : allows a computer
with an electronic coin acceptor to be set up as a re-charge workstation.
The installation
programme SoftvisionExplorer.exe allows for two types of installation
: SERVER and CLIENT installation. The first installs Explorer Manager
and is run on machines set up as servers, while the second installs Explorer
Client and must be run on all navigation workstations.
Instead, the other
two modules are installed using the ExplorerPrinterMonitor.exe and ExplorerCoins.Exe
installation programs.
The Printer Monitor
must only be installed when you want to monitor USB printers connected
to computers that don't execute any other modules (Explorer Manager, Explorer
Client or Explorer Coins). Lastly, Explorer Coins should be installed
on computers with an electronic coin acceptor, to be set up as a recharge
workstation.
Now we will look
in detail at how an Internet Café management system must be structured.
The premises must
have a network with a computer, with Explorer Manager installed, acting
as a server and all other computers used as navigation workstations. The
latter must have Explorer Client installed.
All the computers are connected to the network through
a router or switch. Generally the router includes an ADSL modem which
makes the connection to the internet, but any other device may be used
for the connection, for example an Ethernet modem, USB modem etc.
The
following diagram illustrates this configuration :
For the configuration
of the router/modem and network cards there are no particular instructions
: any address space which is assigned statically or by the router’s DHCP
server may be used.
The configuration we have just seen is normally used by the Cyber cafe module
of Softvision Explorer. An interesting feature of this configuration is
that the server does not necessarily need to be present in the local network,
but may also be remote.
