Oracle8(TM) Getting Started for Windows NT
Release 8.0.3
A54894-01

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1
Getting Started with Your Documentation

This chapter introduces you to the Oracle8 for Windows NT documentation set. Oracle Corporation recommends that you read this chapter before installing or using Oracle8 for Windows NT.

Specific topics discussed are:

Documentation Formats

This table describes the format and availability of documents in your Oracle8 for Windows NT package and the tools required to view them.

Document Format	Document Availability	Document Tools
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)	All Oracle documentation is available in HTML.	Use the included Oracle Information Navigator to view your HTML documentation set. For information on how to start Oracle Information Navigator, see the section, "Starting Oracle Information Navigator" in this chapter.
Portable Document Format (PDF)	All Oracle documentation is available in PDF.	Use the included Adobe Acrobat Reader to view your PDF documentation set. For information on how to start Adobe Acrobat, see the section, "Starting Adobe Acrobat Reader" in this chapter.
Printed	Oracle8 Release Notes for Windows NT Oracle8 Installation for Windows NT CD-ROM Insert Oracle Networking Products Getting Started for Windows Platforms	The documentation in this list is also included in your package as hard copy. If you wish to order other printed books, please contact Oracle Documentation Sales at the following locations: Telephone (1) (800) 252-0303 in the United States of America. Visit: Oracle Documentation Sales

Document Format

Document Availability

Document Tools

HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

All Oracle documentation is available in HTML.

Use the included Oracle Information Navigator to view your HTML documentation set. For information on how to start Oracle Information Navigator, see the section, "Starting Oracle Information Navigator" in this chapter.

Portable Document Format (PDF)

All Oracle documentation is available in PDF.

Use the included Adobe Acrobat Reader to view your PDF documentation set. For information on how to start Adobe Acrobat, see the section, "Starting Adobe Acrobat Reader" in this chapter.

Printed

The documentation in this list is also included in your package as hard copy. If you wish to order other printed books, please contact Oracle Documentation Sales at the following locations:

Telephone (1) (800) 252-0303 in the United States of America.
Visit: Oracle Documentation Sales

What Documentation Did I Receive?

Your documentation set consists of two types of documentation.

Documentation Type	Describes...
Platform-specific	Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle8 products in a Windows NT or Windows 95 environment. Platform-specific documents are occasionally referenced in the generic documentation set. Platform-specific documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in the title.
Generic	Oracle8, Net8 networking information, and Application Programming Interfaces information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The vast majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95 operating systems.

Documentation Type

Describes...

Platform-specific

Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle8 products in a Windows NT or Windows 95 environment. Platform-specific documents are occasionally referenced in the generic documentation set. Platform-specific documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in the title.

Generic

Oracle8, Net8 networking information, and Application Programming Interfaces information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The vast majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95 operating systems.

IMPORTANT:

Documentation may be included in your package detailing products that you did not buy or licence, or whose functionality is not included in the current release. The presence of such documentation does not mean that these products are included in your package.

Documentation Set

Your online Oracle documentation set is divided into the following categories:

Release Notes

Oracle8 Release Notes for Windows NT

Installation

Oracle8 Installation for Windows NT CD-ROM Insert

Oracle8

Oracle8 Documentation for Windows NT, Release 8.0.3

Oracle8 Getting Started for Windows NT (this guide)

Oracle Networking Products Getting Started for Windows Platforms

Oracle Web Publishing Assistant Getting Started for Windows NT

SQL*Plus Getting Started for Windows NT and Windows 95

Oracle8 Server Documentation, Release 8.0.3

Oracle Enterprise Manager

What Documentation Do I Read First?

This table lists the recommended order in which to start reading through your documentation set in order to quickly install and configure Oracle8 for Windows NT.

Read Documents in This Order	For Information On...
Customer Support Information Booklet	How to obtain Customer Support information using telephone, web, or CompuServe.
Oracle8 Release Notes for Windows NT¹	Important last minute installation and configuration information.
Oracle8 Installation for Windows NT CD-ROM Insert	Installation instructions.
Oracle8 Getting Started for Windows NT	Post-installation, migration, and configuration information for Oracle products.
Oracle Networking Products Getting Started for Windows Platforms	Oracle8 client/server networking environment, basic database networking concepts, network protocols, and Oracle Protocol Adapters.
Oracle8 Server Concepts	Basic database concepts.
Oracle8 Server Administrator's Guide	Basic database administration.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Concepts Guide	Instructions on using Oracle Enterprise Manager.
The remaining documentation in your documentation set in an order appropriate to your database or network administration expertise.

Note that the Release Notes are only available as hard copy if important information needs to be published after the online Release Notes have been included on the CD-ROM disc.

Starting Oracle Information Navigator

Use Oracle Information Navigator to view your HTML documentation set. Oracle Information Navigator enables you to search your entire documentation set for information on specific topics.

To start Oracle Information Navigator:

Install Oracle Documentation from the CD-ROM disc.

Additional Information:

See Oracle8 Installation for Windows NT CD-ROM Insert for information on how to install Oracle products.

Oracle Information Navigator is automatically installed along with your Oracle Documentation.

Choose Start>Programs>Oracle for Windows NT>Oracle8 Documentation.

Your web browser is automatically started, and a welcome web page to the Oracle documentation set appears. For example:

Use a browser that is Java-enabled and supports frames and tables to use Oracle Information Navigator.

Note:

If you currently do not have an appropriate browser, you can obtain one at the following sites:

Netscape Navigator Version 3.0. Visit: Netscape Corporation
Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 3.0. Visit: Microsoft Corporation

If you do not have a Java-enabled browser, you can still access the Oracle online documentation by selecting the Text Version option on the Welcome screen. However, certain features of Oracle Information Navigator, such as the search facility will be disabled.

Click the Java Version option on the welcome web page to launch Oracle Information Navigator. For example:

Click the icon to access help for instructions on using Oracle Information Navigator.

Starting Adobe Acrobat Reader

Use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print your PDF documentation set.

To start Adobe Acrobat Reader:

Install Oracle8 for Windows NT from the CD-ROM disc.
Go to the \ACROREAD directory.

Additional Information:

See Oracle8 Installation for Windows NT CD-ROM Insert for information on how to install Oracle products.

Click on ACROREAD.EXE to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Read PDF directly from the CD-ROM disc, or copy the files to your hard disk.

Note:

After several documents are opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may receive an error message when trying to open an additional document, stating that the document does not exist. This error occurs because memory in your personal computer (PC) is low. To solve the problem, close open documents that you are not using, and continue.
You must use Adobe Acrobat version 3.0 to view your PDF documentation set.