The author and Lithic Software Corporation assume no liability for the use of Lithic Personal Chatware.  It is distributed without any warrantee of any type.

This application and the accompanying documentation may not be distributed for profit or on CD without the express written consent of the copyright holder. The application and documentation are Copyright 1998 Lithic Software Corporation, all rights reserved.  Decompilation and/or reverse engineering are violations of license.
 
This readme and linked files cover the following topics:
Purpose and Background
Setting Up The Client
Using The Client
Using The Server
Performance
License
Help, Consulting, and Advertising

Purpose and Background:
This chatware provides a tool for people to chat, hold classes, hold other discussions, or use lithic chatware plugins on an IP network (for example, the Internet). Most chatware includes just a client, and the server runs on a host that is not under the conversants control.  This chatware lets you set up both the client and the server, letting the person who hosts the server have more control over the conversation.  The access number and the dynamic nature of the IP address and port number of the server provide a way to permit only certain people (for example, students of a class) to attend a chat session.  This tool is free for educational (including classes that you get paid for teaching) and personal use. It must be licensed for any other use. A commercial version is under development.

If you want to subscribe to the Lithic Software Java Newsletter to get notices of new releases, updates, tips and other news, send a note to java@lithic.com indicating that you want to subscribe to the Lithic Java Newsletter.

Setting up the Lithic Personal Chat Client:
Both the client and server require verion 1.x of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) .  It is best to download the Java Development Kit (JDK), which includes the JRE and is not a great deal larger (it includes development tools, if you are a developer).  You can download the JDK free from Sun Microsystems.  Follow the links at:
http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/

After you download and install the JDK, you can put the class files for the chatware in the bin directory of the JDK (or you can set you Path as discussed in the JDK documentation and then put the chatware files in any directory you choose).

If you are using Windows 95/NT, you can create a bat file which launches the client, create a shortcut, then drag the shortcut out onto your desktop, so that you can just double click on the shortcut to launch the client.

Using the Lithic Personal Chat Client:
The server should be running prior to the clients. The person who is running the server must send an IP address, port number, and, if applicable, an access code to each of the people who want to log in.

After you receive the IP address and Port number via email, you can launch the client by typing the following at the command line:

java lspcc

This assumes that you are at a command line in your bin directory, or that you have set you path statement and your classpath statement.

You must then put in the following information, that the person who is running the server must have sent you:
IP Address
Port Number
Access Code(if applicable, otherwise leave this blank)
Alias

Then click the Login button.  You will see a new panel which has a list of people on the left.  The text area at the right displays the conversation.  The textfield at the bottom right has the focus initially.  To send a comment, just type and hit a return.  To logout, click quit, which will bring you back to the login panel.  To quit, click exit on the login panel.

The small button at the top left has links to sites.  If you click on it, Lithic Personal Chatware will attempt to launch your browser and point it at the site associated with the displayed logo.

Error messages:
Most are self explanatory.  If the server is not available, or the IP Address or Port Number were not entered correctly, you will get an error that says the "server is unavailable".  If the server was launched with an access code and you do not have the correct access code, you will get an error that "Authentication Failed".  If the person running the server removed you, you will get an error that says that "You have been removed from the chat session".  If you choose an alias that already exists, you will get an error that "The user exists, please login using another user."

Lithic Personal Chatware uses a proprietary chat protocol. You can not access standard IRC servers using Lithic Personal Chatware.

Whispering- You can send a message to selected other people by clicking on their aliases in the list of people and then sending your message (this does not stop the message from being displayed on the server or logged).  After you are done whispering, click the selected alias to de-select them, and the whispering will be turned off.

Plugins- Plugins are covered in a separate file.

Performance:
To get the best performance from Lithic Personal Chatware, the person with the fastest connection should host the server.  The connection speed of the server is generally the key factor in performance.  The processor speed and processor availability may also be a factor.  If you surf as you converse, that will also slow things down (particularly if the person hosting the server is surfing and has a slow dial up connection).

License:
Lithic Personal Chatware is distributed under the following license:
Free for personal or education use. If this chatware is used on an intranet, for the promotion or sale of goods or services that are not educational, or for corporate communications, you must contact Lithic Software Corporation (java@lithic.com) to discuss license requirements.
 

Trademarks used in this document are the property of their respective owners.