Installation Notes

Contents

Installation Notes and Setup
Platform-specific Issues


Installation Notes and Setup

Q: How can I install and run Open ModelSphere?
A: There are several ways to launch Open ModelSphere:
  1. With an auto installer program (setup program with a .exe file extension), for Windows users.
  2. From a batch file (.bat) for Windows users or shell file (.sh) for Linux users.
  3. From the Eclipse or NetBeans IDE (on any machine that runs Eclipse or NetBeans). 
  4. From an Internat browser, using the Java WebStart technology.
 
Q: When I launch Open ModelSphere, I get a "Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-4" GC Warning: Out of Memory!".  What can I do to run Open ModelSphere?
A: If you launch Open ModelSphere from a batch file (.bat) on Windows, or fropm a shell file (.sh) on Linux, increase the value of the Java parameters for memory allocation:
  • set the "initial memory allocation" parameter to 32 megs : -ms32m
  • set the "maximum memory" parameter to 1024 megs : -mx1024m
Consult the Java documentation for more details on these parameters.

For OMS 3.0, use a recent virtual machine (Java 1.6) which is more efficient in term of memory than a older virtual machine (Java 1.4).  OMS 3.1 requires Java 1.6 and higher.
 
Q: What is the recommented memory setting for running Open ModelSphere ?
A: We recommend the following:
  • set the "initial memory allocation" parameter to 32 megs : -ms32m
  • set the "maximum memory" parameter to 1024 megs : -mx1024m
We suggest that we set the initial memory to 32 MB.  For many users with normal model this should be OK and this would use less of the system's resources.  The initial memory used by ModelSphere is between 5 MB and 6 MB (without any opened project).  With the previous version, using java 1.4, the initial memory was over 14 MB (probably around 15-16 MB).  They have done a good job reducing the initial memory requirement for java applications.   The use of higher initial memory is to avoid dynamic allocation to be performed when we know for sure that more memory will be needed.  With 32 MB, this should be enough for most cases.

For the maximum memory, it should not be a problem to increase the value to 1024MB.  Java won't reach that number unless it needs that memory.  The variations between 32 (ms) and 1024 (mx) are dynamic and the virtual machine will allocate or free memory depending of the current requirements.  That being said, we should not go higher than 1024 since 32bit windows system probably wont be able to give more anyway (probably this is the limit for a single process).  But 1024 MB is a lot of memory.  To fill up that much memory, a project would needs many big images and tons of objects.  Is there really an existing project that big??  768 MB could be a compromise too.  Or we could make more explicit the possibility to increase that number up to 1024m.  512 MB is probably hard to reach for most users.  But 1024 MB wont crash system with 512 MB, Windows will allocate memory in the virtual memory (hard drives).
 
Q: I am stuck in Open ModelSphere.  Each time I launch the application, the Model Creation wizard opens but it is empty.  There is no way to close the wizard window. If I quit the application and restarts again, the same problem occurs again and again.  How can I restore Open ModelSphere?
A: You could tell Open ModelSphere to not open the wizard when the application starts. To do so (manually):
  1. Go to the user directory (for instance "C:\Users\Admin" on Windows 7, or "C:\Documents and Settings\.." on Windows XP).
  2. Open the ".Open ModelSphere" folder (if you do not see this folder, adjust the Windows Explorer settings to display hidden files).
  3. Open the application.properties.
  4. Replace the line:
org.modelsphere.sms.features.startupwizard.StartupWizardModel.ModelCreationWizardEnabled=true

with:

org.modelsphere.sms.features.startupwizard.StartupWizardModel.ModelCreationWizardEnabled=false

Q: Open ModelSphere was running well when I installed it, but now it has malfunctions. How can I restore the user preferences to the default values?
A: Open ModelSphere stores its settings and user preferences in the ".Open ModelSphere" hidden folder.  If you delete the contents of this folder, Open ModelSphere will "forget" all the settings done after it was installed.
  1. Go to the user directory (for instance "C:\Users\Admin" on Windows 7, or "C:\Documents and Settings\.." on Windows XP).
  2. Delete the ".Open ModelSphere" folder (this will delete all user preferences).
  3. Delete the workspace.xml file (this will delete the current workspace).
When Open ModelSphere quits, the project that is open and the diagrams displayed are saved in the workspace file.  When Open ModelSphere restarts, it will automatically open the project used at the last session. If the project file (.sms) is moved, altered, or corrumpted, then Open ModelSphere could experience problems when it starts and tries to open it. If you see problems at start time, then quitting OMS, deleting the workspace and starting again may solve the problems.

In Open ModelSphere 3.2, when abnormal exit is detected, the application automatically offers to the user to delete user preferences and workspace.   
 
Q: After working in the diagram, the nodes of the explorer cannot be expanded or collapsed. It happens after several minutes of work, in the Java Look and Feel (Steel theme).  How do I solve the problem?
A: The problem only happens in Open ModelSphere 3.0, in the Java Look and Feel.

If you are using Open ModelSphere 3.0, restart the application in the native Look and Feel (Windows Look and Feel for Windows users).

Open ModelSphere 3.1 only works in the native Look and Feel, so the bug never happens in this version.


Platform-specific Issues

Q: Is it possible to run Open ModelSphere on Linux?
A: Because Open ModelSphere (OMS) is implemented in Java, it can run under any platform on which a Java interpreter is implemented.  This includes the Linux operating system and Macintoch computers.

OMS has been successfully tested on Ubuntu 8.10 and Linux Mint (7,8,9 and 10)

To run OMS under Linux, take the .bat installation and re-write the following batch file:

openModelSphere.bat 

"<your_path>/javaw.exe" -ms64m -mx512m -ss16m -classpath ".\modelsphere.jar;
.\resources.zip;.\resources;.\targets;.\lib\jakarta-regexp-1.5\jakarta-regexp-1.5.jar;
.\lib\jython-2.2.1\jython.jar"  org.modelsphere.sms.Application \\pause

Into this shell file:

openModelSphere.sh 

#!/bin/bash
java -ms64m -mx512m -ss16m -cp .:./modelsphere.jar:./resources.zip:./resources:
./targets:./lib/jakarta-regexp-1.5/jakarta-regexp-1.5.jar:./lib/jython-2.2.1/jython.jar 
org.modelsphere.sms.Application

Alternatively, you can also try:

#!/bin/bash
# Change the path according to your OMS directory.
cd /opt/openmodelsphere
java -ms64m -mx512m -ss16m -classpath  "./modelsphere.jar:./modelsphere.jar:./resources.zip:./resources:
./targets:./lib/jakarta-regexp-1.5/jakarta-regexp-1.5.jar:./lib/velocity-1.6.1/velocity-1.6.1.jar:
./lib/jazzy-core/jazzy-core.jar:./lib/velocity-1.6.1/lib/commons-collections-3.2.1.jar:
./lib/velocity-1.6.1/lib/commons-lang-2.4.jar:./lib/lablib-checkboxtree-3.0.2.jar:
./lib/jython-2.2.1/jython.jar" org.modelsphere.sms.Application

Take the latest openModelSphere.bat (new libraries (.jar) may be added in the future).

It is also possible to launch OMS from the Eclipse IDE, which runs under Linux.

Bugs reported on Linux: The message about the licence when OMS starts up gives an error: the licence text is not shown. This is possibly due to an error in the path. 

Credits: Renaud Levesque for testing OMS under Linux Ubuntu and writing these notes.  Thanks also to Adam Labranche, Louis-Etienne Beaumont for testing it under Linux Mint.
 

Q: Is it possible to run Open ModelSphere on Macintosh?
A: In theory yes, but never tested.