Basically, you need two components on the system to run dx.factory:
dx.factory does not come with an installer, as I have not gotten around to setting one up yet. And to be honest, installation is just a matter of installing a few files onto your hard disk.
To run dx.factory you need Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) Version 5.0 of the Java Run Time Environment (JRE), or a later compatible release.
PCs are not provided with a J2SE JRE by default, so unless you are running other Java applications or web browser applets that need it, the chances are you won't have it.
To check if you have the correct JRE (if any) you need to go into the Windows Control Panel.
From the Task bar's "Start" button you can do this by selecting the "Settings" menu item, followed by the "Control Panel" sub menu item.
Once you're in the Control Panel, look for an icon called "Java". If you are running Windows XP then you will need to select the Classic View (by default the XP shows a Category View).
If you cannot find the Java icon in the control panel then you need to install a JRE.
If you have an earlier version than 5.0, you will need to upgrade. To check the version you have, double click the Java icon. How you check the version number in the Java control panel applet is dependent upon the version, but if you hunt around you should find the version number.
As Sun keep reorganising their site, and rather than trying and keep these instructions up to date, please visit www.xfactory-librarians.com/java for details on how to get the latest JRE.Once you have the download, install it by double clicking on the file and follow the installation prompts.MacOS X 10.2 or later is required, and Java V5.0 or later is required.
MaxOS X 10.3 with the latest updates and the latest Java V5.0 update is recommended.
You should check that you have latest MacOS X release and latest Java VM version installed by running the "Software Update" utility.
dx.factory cannot run on earlier versions of the "classic" Mac OS.
dx.factory is distributed as a standard Java JAR file.
(A JAR file is a Java Archive, which contains all the components required to execute the application).
Simply copy the file called dxfactory.jar from the dxfactory.zip distribution file to the location upon your hard drive where you wish it to be installed.
Along with the dx.factory JAR file, dx.factory also requires the JH.JAR file, which provides the online help support, and the DOM4J.JAR file, which provides XML support.
JH.JAR and the DOM4J.JAR files are included in the dxfactory.zip file, and all you need to do is copy the JH.JAR and DOM4.JAR files from the dxfactory.zip distribution file to the same directory where you placed dxfactory.jar
That's all that's needed for basic operation of the application.
For the PC, it's possible to create shortcuts in the normal manner to the dxfactory JAR file, so you can make it accessible in the way that suits you. E.g. I have a shortcut on my desktop.
If you wish to use the new MIDI support provided by dx.factory once you have registered dx.factory upon MacOS X, you will need to the PLUM-STONE MIDI extension.
This extension provides MacOS X Java programs access to all CoreMIDI devices, using standard Java classes.
You can download PLUM-STONE from the Plumstone
website.
Then copy the supplied jar file to the /Library/Java/Extensions directory within the JRE installation.