Installation

To install from the Internet, download the Mac OS X distribution from http://www.smithandtinkers.com/balloonist

You should be presented with a Finder window containing the Balloonist application. With some web browsers, you may first need to double-click the downloaded archive file, which will have a name like balloonist-2.0.dmg.

Finally, drag the Balloonist application icon to your Applications folder. You should now be able to run Balloonist from your Application folder by double-clicking on it.

To install from the Internet, download the Windows distribution from http://www.smithandtinkers.com/balloonist

Balloonist for Windows comes packaged as a zip archive. Windows XP is able to handle zip archives natively, but earlier versions of Windows may require additional archive management software like WinZip (http://www.winzip.com).

Copy your unpacked Balloonist distribution to the Program Files directory on your computer using Windows Explorer. This will typically be located on your c: drive. You should be able to run Balloonist from here by double-clicking on its application icon, which will be labeled Balloonist.exe.

If, after double-clicking, you are presented with a toolbar and workspace, then your installation is complete and you may advance to the next section.

If, on the other hand, you receive an alert dialogue, you may need to install additional software. Balloonist requires the Java Runtime Environment to operate. This is generally but not universally provided with the Windows operating system. Should you receive a message that Java needs to be installed or "Could not find the main class", dismiss the dialogue and obtain an appropriate Java Runtime Environment.

As of XP Service Pack 2 (released last August), Windows checks to determine whether new software has been signed with a digital certificate provided by an approved authority. Upon first opening Balloonist, users running Windows XP Service Pack 2 will be presented with a security warning that the software's publisher could not be verified.

Smith & Tinker's Technology plans to include such a signature with a future release. While we support this new practice in principle, users should understand that it only helps to ensure the identity of the publisher. It does little to guarantee the safety of distributed software.

Users who are particularly concerned about Balloonist's safety may run the Java version of the application in a protected sandbox.

Balloonist should be able to run on any system capable of operating a version 1.4 Java Runtime Environment or better. Java is installed by default on Solaris, and also ships with most Linux distributions.

Download and unzip the Java Balloonist distribution to your home directory or a subdirectory underneath it.

Once unpackaged, you should be able to open the resulting balloonist.jar file from your desktop manager.

Some older desktop managers may not have a file association for Java executables. Others may incorrectly associate them with a zip archive management application. To manually start Balloonist, open up a command shell, change to the unpacked directory using the cd command, and enter the instruction java -jar balloonist.jar

Although you may safely move the unpacked application directory, it is imperative that you not change the location of balloonist.jar relative to its companion Java executable files.

When this was written, Java 6 was not yet available for Mac OS X. Ultimately, it should be made available as an automatic Mac OS X Software Update.

Java 6 can be obtained for other operating systems at http://www.java.com/

To set a particular Runtime Environment as the default for OS X, open the utility installed at /Applications/Utilities/Java/(Java version folder)/Java Preferences and drag that Runtime first in the preferred Java Application Runtime list. If no such utility exists, you may need to run Software Update, which is available under the Apple Menu.

If you would like to restrict Balloonist's access to files and other resources on your computer, you have the option of running it in a protected sandbox. Instructions are available on Sun Microsystems' website.