Below please find some information on how to set up Opera in a corporate networking environment.
Super setup file and preferences
Opera was developed with network use in mind. To simplify upgrading and to give the system administrator flexibility, many very useful functions have been added. At the heart of these is the super setup file (ini file). This controls all user selections and preferences.
Set the following in the opera.ini file:
[SYSTEM]
SUPER INI = <super-ini-filename>
Enter the fields in this file that you don't want to be changed by users.
This means that a user can change values, but they will only last for that
particular program session. The next time the super setup will override the
user's preferences.
To switch off the ability to change
preferences
It can quickly become frustrating for the user if s/he creates a setup that does not work next time s/he loads the program. That's why we have made it possible to disable preference settings. This is done as follows:
Type the following into opera.ini or super.ini file:
[MENU PREFS SETTINGS]
GENERIC=1
BUTTON=1
DOCUMENT=1
ADVANCED=0
FONT=1
LINKS=1
MAIL=1
NEWS=1
VIEWER=0
CACHE=0
PROXY=0
SOUND=1
JPEG=0
Note: "1" means that the user can change preferences, 0 means the user cannot
change preferences. A user can continue to make changes directly in the setup
file, but simple access is no longer possible.
Location of files
Normally all setup files apart from opera.ini are in the Opera directory. Underneath this directory is a cache directory. This can be overwritten by setting the following values in opera.ini:
[USER PREFS]
OPERA DIRECTORY=<directory name>
HOT LIST FILE VER2=<file name>
WINDOWS STORAGE FILE=<file name>
DIRECT HISTORY FILE=<file name>
CACHE DIRECTORY=<directory name>
HELP DIRECTORY=<directory name>
BUTTON DIRECTORY=<directory name>
By default, the Opera directory is used for all files, but all , even the program files, can be located wherever you like.
The HotList file is best located in the Opera directory, but a user can have many such files and change between them.
The Window setup file contains information about windows - positioning, contents, history etc. A user will prefer to control this, but the system administrator can override this, and ensure that the program always starts up with the same windows and contents. This is particularly important for use in an Intranet environment.
The Direct Addressing list (shortcut: F2) is saved individually for each user. It is not recommended to change the location of this file.
The Cache is particular to each user, and can usefully be saved in a different
place from the other files.
Setup file as a parameter
Some users may wish to start Opera with different setups. It is therefore possible to use a setup file as a parameter at startup.
What is even more important and beneficial, is that this also makes it simple
for a system administrator to test different setups without running the risk
of corrupting his own.
Important Settings
To have the full benefits of Opera, you must set up certain preferences after
installation. Start up the program by clicking on the Opera icon in the Opera
program group and follow the procedure below.
Communications Module (winsock)
Opera needs a communications module to be able to contact the rest of the world. This communications module must support Windows Socket 1.1. If you are using another module, it may be necessary to make changes under Advanced Preferences.
If you are using Microsoft's Winsock 2.x upgrade, you may need to enable Synchronous DNS to get it to work properly with Opera.
There are a large number of different communications modules on the market.
Even if they theoretically implement the same standard, there are at times
large differences between implementations, and occasionally also missing
components. In order to achieve fast loading of documents and loading of
multiple documents simultaneously, Opera needs a robust communications module.
In order for Opera to work with non-standard modules there are a number of
options under Advanced Preferences. Most
people will not need to worry about these, but if there are communications
problems, it can be worth investigating changing some of these parameters.
Problems do not usually occur until several documents are loaded simultaneously.
Some Known Problems:
PC-NFS 5.0: If you have an old version of PC-NFS 5.0, it needs upgrading. You can retrieve this over the net, or by contacting your PC-NFS supplier. Version 5.0 also has a tendency to error when a large network buffer is defined in Opera. If you have problems, try 1 kb
Microsoft TCP/IP: Older versions of Microsoft TCP/IP need you to run Opera with a Synchronous Name Service (DNS).
To set the synchronous name service and size of the network buffer:
Choose 'Advanced...' from the 'Preferences' menu
Adjust the size of the network buffer (if necessary)
Set a cross by 'Synchronous DNS'
Click on the 'OK' button .
Note: If you have tried both Synchronous DNS and the size of the network
buffer to no advantage, you can try setting the number of connections down
, eg. to 1, both in total and to a single server. This means that Opera will
run more slowly, but will interact better with the communications module.
Proxy Servers
A proxy server is a machine which retrieves documents on command. The advantage with a proxy server is that it normally caches documents and makes it considerably faster to retrieve documents from the proxy rather than directly from a machine eg.,overseas.
Opera has no direct support for the WAIS and Gopher protocols, but needs to use a proxy server to retrieve documents from those types of server.
Ask your system administrator or Internet supplier about their proxy servers.
To set up proxy servers: