WHAT IS FOT?

FOT3B is an interactive teaching package which introduces the physics 
of Optical Fibres. The package covers light guiding and fibre types, 
dispersion and bandwidth, attenuation, manufacture of optical fibres, 
splicing and connectorising, design considerations, light sources, 
fibre systems and equipment simulations.

The topics covered are appropriate for first year tertiary education 
level whether at a college or university.
 
The package was written using the educational version of the DOS 
based authoring package 'Authority'.

It is intended that the package is used in a sequential manner but 
navigation tools have been incorporated to allow the student the 
possibility of choosing any learning outcome and any page within an 
outcome. The package has been used for several years, without major 
difficulty, by students having a limited computer knowledge but with 
a lecturer available to provide assistance.

The set of exercises within FOT were developed to aid and supplement 
training, not act as the prime assessment method. Instructors should 
find some exercises useful whether the main delivery vehicle be self-
paced, lecture/laboratory or CAL. In any application, the exercises 
provide varied on-line activity with the advantage of immediate 
feedback. 

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

The minimum equipment required to run FOT is an IBM compatible 
computer with 640KB memory, hard disk drive, MS-DOS 3.3 or higher, a 
mouse with a suitable mouse driver loaded and a VGA monitor. All 
processors from the 80286 can be used.

INSTALLATION

There should be at least 2.5 MB of free storage on your hard disk 
before starting the installation process below. A mouse should be 
fitted to your computer and the DOS driver for the mouse should be 
loaded (see manufacturers literature on how to load the driver). 

The installation process described below is for the authors 
distribution package. Most shareware disk distributors use the same 
distribution format but may include additional files. Some copies of 
FOT may be repackaged by disk vendors and require a somewhat 
different installation process. FOT is distributed in a compressed 
and archived format to reduce the number of disks required. Follow 
the steps below to install FOT on your computer. The distribution 
disk should contain the listed file: FOT3B.ZIP

STEP(1)  Prepare a directory on your hard disk for FOT. Any directory 
name can be used. The command line below could be given to produce a 
directory named FOT.

 MD FOT

STEP(2)  Enter the directory prepared for FOT. The command line below 
could be used.

 CD FOT

STEP(3)  Copy the contents of the distribution disk into the 
directory. Follow the sequence listed below to copy the files to the 
hard drive.
 
(Insert disk 1 in drive A:)
 COPY A:*.*  C:

STEP(4)  Decompress the files using PKUNZIP (available separately 
from most BBS systems or from the Internet.)

PKUNZIP FOT3B.ZIP

STEP(5)  Installation is finished and the program can be run by typing

FOT3B

PROGRAM STATUS

FOT3B is a beta shareware release which is fully functional until 1st April 1997
after which some modules within the package will be disabled.

UNDER DEVELOPMENT

A Windows based version of the package is currently being investigated, 
as is a Web based version. Please contact h.reid@bell.ac.uk for further 
details.

DISTRIBUTION STATUS

Please distribute freely.

FEEDBACK

All comments and suggestions for improvements should be directed to
h.reid@bell.ac.uk

H.P. Reid
Bell College of Technology
Almada Street
Hamilton
SCOTLAND
ML3 OJB

