Setup Instructions for Tapeless Usability Lab

By Joel Aufrecht

Introduction

This is a description of how I set up a tapeless usability lab for BEA Corporation. In this setup, the Subject PC is monitored from another PC, which records the screen and audio to hard drive. The Monitor PC serves these recordings on demaind. It also provides a live feed during tests. Compared to VCR-based labs, this requires less equipment, provides a higher-quality image, and is much faster to edit. Most importantly, it is much easier to share results.

Limitations of this setup

• Does not record video of the testers.
• Live viewing has a delay of several seconds
• Viewers must use Windows Media and install a codec.
• Viewers must download multi-Mb files (or test manager must edit video)

Prerequisites

This setup uses two computers in the test lab, the Monitor PC and the Subject PC. Results can then be viewed by any computer over the network.

Monitor PC

• Pentium III, 256 Mb RAM,
• two sound cards (Yamaha DS-XG and Creative Labs Audigy 2 Platinum)
• 10GB main hard drive
• 2x40Gb hard drives
• Two PC microphones (with 1/8th inch mini plugs)

Subject PC

Should match the specifications of the target for the product. The monitoring software doesn't impact performance much.

Software

• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 or linux for subject pc
• Camtasia ($150, www.camtasia.com)
• WinVNC (Free, http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc)

Setting up the Monitor PC

The monitor PC captures the test PC's screen using VNC, and then encodes the screen and audio with Camtasia.  It also streams audio.

• Install Windows 2000 Server
• Set up RAID 1 (RAID 1, a mirrored hard drive, provides some production to the data. Either of the two hard drives storing the data can fail without loss of data.)
• Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Select Storage/Disk Management. 
• Right-click on the left panel (e.g. "Disk1") for one of the RAID drives and add a signature to both RAID drives-to-be. 
• Create Volume -> Mirror using both drives. In this example, the RAID drive is G:.
• Make a directory in G: called G:\Public and another called G:\public\web site.
• Run Windows Update and install all the service packs and security patches. (This will entail many reboots)
• Set the screen resolution to 1280x1024 or greater. Use at least 16-bit color.
• Download and install Camtasia.
• A free thirty-day trial of Camtasia is at http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/camdownload.asp
• After installing, run Camtasia Recorder to set up a standard session:
• Set Capture > Input > Fixed Region to 1024x768, with no fixed starting point.
• In Options > Preferences > AVI,
• Interleave audio every 1 second
• Click Audio Setup and choose Format: Microsoft ADPCM, 22,050 kHz, 4 bit, mono
• In Options > Preferences > File, select Automatic File Name, set a prefix (such as “usetest-“, and set the Output Folder to G:\Public.
• Control-drag Camtasia Recorder from the Start Menu to the desktop to make a shortcut
• Save tcss.exe in G:\public\web site.
• Download and install WinVNC.
• A free download is available at http://www.realvnc.com/download.html.
• Run VNC Viewer in listen mode.
• Save vnc-3.3.3r7_x86_win32.zip (or newer) to G:\Public\Web Site.
• Download and install Windows Media Encoder 7.1.
• A free download is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/software/Playerv7.asp.
• Start > Programs > Windows Media > Windows Media Encoder
• Choose "Broadcast ... New Session Wizard"�
• "Broadcast a live event ..."
• Audio should be pre-selected. Make sure that it's not using the same audio card that Camtasia's using.
• Choose a port. You can use a random free port or a standard like 8000.
• Choose Audio for CD-quality and Finish.
• The wizard will close and a WME session will start. Choose Session > Save and save it to G:\Public.
• In Windows Explorer, Control-drag the session file from G:\Public to the desktop to make a shortcut.
• Set up the web site
• Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Right-click on Services and Applications > Internet Information Services and choose New Web Site. Give it a name; accept defaults for IP Address and port settings. Set the path to g:\public\web site. Change the default permissions to allow directory browsing.
• Create a file g:\public\web site\index.html. You can modify my example:
  

  <html>
  <head><title>Usability Test Lab</title></head>
  <body>
  This is the home page for the Usability Test Lab.
  <h2>Live Tests</h2>
  <b>Install <a href="vnc-3.3.3r7_x86_win32.zip">VNC viewer for windows</a></b>
  <br><b>Run VNCviewer</b>.  The VNC Server is <b>YOUR SERVER NAME</b> and the password is <b>your password</b>.
  <br>Start the <a href="mms://yourserver:port">Live Audio Feed<a>
  <br><i>Alternately, <b>Run Windows Media Player<b> and select <u>F</u>ile > Open <u>U</u>rl > mms://yourserver:port</i>
  <h2>Test Archives</h2>
  <b>Install the <a href="tscc.exe">TechSmith codec</a></b>:
  Browse the <a href="Test Results/">Archive</a>.
  </body>
  </html>
  

Setting up the Subject PC

• Install the target operating system
• Install VNC server (http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/index.html)

Using the Lab

See the Usability Instructions.

Version History

Date	Author	Version	Version Comments
21 Nov 2002	JoelA	1	First Draft
02 Dec 2002	JoelA	2	Updated - complete but untested.

Add a comment