If you've been here before, you may just need the class archive, ccmb.jar, or the source code, catacomb-1.030-src.tgz. If you are downloading with netscape on a windows machine, there seems to be a problem that jar files are corrupted so they don't run. You get a message to the effect that it can't find the class catacomb.modeler. In this case you should fetch ccmb.txt save it, and rename it to cccmb.jar.
The most recent changes are summarized in CHANGELOG. The current version is 1.030.
Fetch the file catacomb-1030.zip and unzip it into a directory on your local hard drive, such as C:\ccmb in my case.
To run models through a web browser, direct it at the file index.html in the installation directory, but see below on browser compatibility.
To run Catacomb in standalone mode, first install the Java Runtime Environment: see the local java resources or try www.javasoft.com.
Then start up a dos box and run:
....\bin\java -cp ....\ccmb.jar catacomb.modeler
where the ....s should be replaced by the actual paths to the
files. Not that under windows 95/98 you must use the dos versions of
directory names, so for example Program Files
becomes progra~1 in the path. Under windows NT, you must use the
full names and enclose the whole thing in double quotes if there are
any spaces in them as in "C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\jre\1.3\bin\java".
The modeler allows you to make new models in Catacomb.
To view the preconfigured applets you can run
....\bin\java -cp ....\ccmb.jar catacomb.appletviewer
To start it from the desktop, just make a batch file like ccmb.bat or applet.bat with the appropriate command line in it and dump that (or make a short cut to it) on the desktop. You may even want to change its icon (under properties) to the catacomb cat.
By default Java restricts the amount of memory it can use irrespective of how much is available. This may cause "out of memory" errors running big models. To extend its allocation, use the flag -mx in the command line. For example ...java -mx128M .... will allow it to use up to 128 Mb of RAM.
Fetch catacomb-1.030.tgz
Uncompress and untar the archive:
gzip -d catacomb-1.030.tgz
tar xvf catacomb-1.030.tar
(linux users can do this in one step with
tar zxvf catacomb-1.030.tgz)
You can now run the models through a Java enabled Web browser directed at the file index.html in the newly created directory.
To run catacomb in standalone mode, first install the Java Runtime Environment: see the local java resources or try www.javasoft.com
Once you have installed the Java Development Kit (JDK) or Java Runtime
Environment (JRE),
Set your classpath to include the .jar archive of the bytecode for
catacomb with something like
setenv CLASSPATH DIR/ccmb.jar for tcsh
CLASSPATH="DIR/ccmb.jar" ; export CLASSPATH for bash
where DIR is the directory where you installed Catacomb
Finally run
java catacomb.modeler
for the model building version
java catacomb.appletviewer
to view the preconfigured applets.
If you installed the JRE replace java in the above by jre. If you haven't put the java or jre executable in your path, you will need to use the full path here.
By default java restricts the amount of memory it can use irrespective of how much is available. This may cause "out of memory" errors running big models. To extend its allocation, use the flag -mx in the command line. For example ...java -mx128M .... will allow it to use up to 128 Mb of RAM.
For convenience, you can put the above commands in a simple script such as ccmb to run the modeler or ccmbapplet to run the applets. Note that these scripts may need modifying for the places in which you have Java and Catacomb installed.
Tests with the java development kit versions 1.1.7 and 1.2.2 under Linux show the earlier version working dramatically better (many times faster) than 1.2.2. Catacomb is written to the 1.1 standard, and there appears to be no advantages, and many disadvantages to upgrading to the new version before it is fully optimized.
All the models can be run through a browser that supports java, such as Netscape4.5 or later. However, in many cases the treatent of threads is rather awkward giving poor interactive responsiveness and Catacomb tends to crash the browser occasionally. Check that you have the Java and Javascript options enabled under the preferences section of the edit menu. There are unresolved problems with running Catacomb through Internet Explorer with its own Java support. The best solution is to get the free Java plugin from www.javasoft.com.
New versions appear quite frequently. To see whether the recent modifications are of interest, consult the CHANGELOG. To install all the latest documentation you have to repeat the full installation procedure above, but to get just the program itself, all you need to do is replace your existing ccmb.jar file with the latest one. This can also be done from within Catacomb by selecting update from the main file menu.
