[TYPO3-Solr] unable to contact the Apache Solr server

[Robert W]

Hello, 
 
a few questions as I continue to work through this. 
1.) Is it possible to setup Solr independently of the script which comes with the solr Extension? Or is one tied to using the script from the solr Extension?
2.) should it be possible to get a response from the Solr servedr with the parameters which are used by the constants.txt file of the Extension? So for the  constants.txt file in the solr Extension:

	solr {
		scheme = http
		host = localhost
		port = 8080
		path = /solr/core_en/
	}

Can I connect to the following and get a response?   http://localhost:8080/solr/core_en/

Also, the admin who did the install created the cores, not sure if he did this by hand, or used the Solr admin interface. Am uncertain to the impact of his creating these cores and perhaps where the solr Extension is expecting things to be.