FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Is it possible to download the applets and use them off-line?
- No. These versions are runable only at pidlab.com domain. If you want to use off-line versions, please contact us (use the special form).
If you want to get the permanent free access to all off-line versions, please register.
Please read also a simple guide explaining how to install and use the offline versions.
- Why is the 'PID Controller Designer' GUI and components layout so poor?
- This applet is written in AWT graphic library. It means that it uses components given by your operating system. The component layout was designed for MS Windows.
If you are running the applet under another OS (e.q. Linux) the component layout will be damaged.
This problem does not appear if you use 'PID Control Laboratory' which is written in a new Swing library.
This library uses its own 'lightweight' components and guarantees that the layout will be for all operating systems the same.
- What to do if the applet can't be started?
- If you are trying to start the applet in your browser, you must have a right Java interpreter.
To run 'PID Controller Designer' the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine embedded in Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher is sufficient.
To run 'PID Control Laboratory' you need to install Java RE 5.0 or higher.
You can download it on www.java.com (about 15MB).
If you are upgrading the JRE under MS Windows you must ensure that your browser uses the latest installed version.
If there are problems, try to use the Java Control Panel 'jpicpl32.exe' which is in /bin directory of the JRE.
Here you can specify for which browsers will be this JRE the default.
- What are the HW & SW requirements for PIDlab applets?
- The applets can be run on each computer on which you can install MS Windows 98/2000/XP.
For comfort use, Win 98, 256MB RAM and 1GHz CPU speed is sufficient. The screen resolution has to be at least 1024x768 pixels.
- Why is the graphics so slow when I am scrolling the applet in a browser?
- It depends on how often the browser calls the 'repaint' function (this cannot be influenced).
If you are not satisfied with it try to run the applet in 'appletviewer' which is a part of Java SDK.
- Is it necessary to run the applet in a browser?
- No. You can use also the 'appletviewer' which is a standard part of Java SDK (also free accessible on java.sun.com and includes the complete JRE - about 90MB).
Then, you can find the 'appletviewer' in /bin directory and run the applet from command line as following: "appletviewer http://www.pidlab.com/applety.php?id=11".
- Is it possible to define a discrete process model in the applets?
- Not yet, but we are working on it.
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