Stupid water softener question

[Chaotic42]

Hey all. I recently bought a house and the previous owners unplugged the water softener. Being from the Gulf Coast, this is alien technology to me. Here are a couple pics of the beast. Can I just plug it in? Do I put salt in the bucket part or outside the bucket?

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.waterboss.com/media/WB_Softener_V1_Manual.pdf

I believe that is the manual for it.