[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]Author Index][Subject Index]

Last call: Official 98NOVpl2.1 announcement



Dear MIDAS users,

As from today the official 98NOVpl2.1 release of MIDAS is available
on our ftp accounts. 

Best of success and enjoy MIDAS!
	- ESO-MIDAS group.


 MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 official announcement
 --------------------------------------
 1- What's new or upgraded in MIDAS 98NOV ?
 2- Platform availability
 3- Source and binary distribution for MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1
 4- MIDAS 98NOV documentation
 5- MIDAS under the GNU General Public License
 6- MIDAS on a CD-ROM
 7- Technical Support and Network Services


1- What's new or upgraded in MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1?
----------------------------------------------
   All important enhancements, new developments and bugfixes can be
found 
   in the file /midas/98NOV/prim/help/news.alq and displayed in Midas
via 
   the command Midas> help [News]

   Here we list the most important ones:
   - New command RESAMPLE/IMAGE has been added.
   - Computing facilities for double precision images have been added.
   - A new command has been added to write several files as different 
     extensions into a single FITS file.
   - In this version we continued our efforts in integrating FITS frames 
     smoothly into Midas. The handling of FITS files has been upgraded
as 
     follows:
     a) no more temporary copies of the FITS header files are stored on
disk
     b) FITS images and tables can be processed like Midas images/tables
for 
        input
     c) FITS images/tables can also be modified, but in order to be
backwards
        compatible a flag has to be set before (see the command
        SET/MIDAS F_UPDATE=...)
     d) by default newly created images/tables are in Midas format, that
can be
        changed by setting a flag (via command SET/MIDAS NEWFILES=...,
        SET/MIDAS DEFTYPE=... (see below))
        At the moment only the prime FITS header and data matrix is
used, 
        i.e. we do NOT support FITS image extensions, yet.
   - SET/MIDAS NEWFILES=fileformat
     where `fileformat' is MIDAS (default) or FITS. 
     New images created by Midas commands (like e.g. compute/image, 
     create/image) will be created according to that format.
   - For FITS images the filetype of new images may be set via
     SET/MIDAS DEFTYPE=filetype
     current default for `filetype' is ".mt"
     It is planned to extend this to Midas tables as well.
   - Now you can also work in PseudoColor mode (8 bits per pixel) on 
     systems which only support 24 bit graphics mode. While this is
rarely 
     necessary on Unix workstations where 24 bit graphics cards also
offer 
     8 bit mode, this is needed for many PCs with Linux.
     Please, note, that we do NOT support X-servers using only 24 bits
per 
     pixel, instead they must be installed to use 32 bits per pixel in 
     addressing (for the color display they also just use 24 bits).
     Executing the Midas Xtest program via
     $ /midas/98NOV/system/idiserv/src/Xtest.exe T
     will give you all the details of your installed X-server.
   - New command REBIN/STATISTICS has been added.
   - New modes have been added to the command STATISTICS/IMAGE in order
to 
     compute additional statistical values for images.
     Furthermore,it is now possible to calculate statistics only in
given 
     areas of an image.
   - New command LABEL/ANY has been implemented which uses records of an 
     ASCII file as input for writing text into the display (like
LABEL/DISPLAY).
   - The lengths of Midas command strings has been extended from 256
chars 
     to 400 chars; the length of single tokens is still max. 100 chars.
   - The INDISK/FITS command now handles also extensions of FITS files.
   - New command CONVERT/COORDS to convert world coords of frames to
pixels and
     vice versa. This command does similar things as the application
procedure
     getcoord.prg but is executed inside the monitor and therefore much
faster. 
   - All descriptor related commands (e.g. READ/DESCR, DELETE/DESCR,...)
support
     now patterns, e.g. 
     Midas> read/descr galaxy ESO.DET.*
   - A new application procedure fonttxt.prg (executed via @a fonttxt)
has been
     added which lets you view any X Font.
   - The average option in that command is now also available for images
with
     pixels not of type real, e.g. unsigned int.
   - The context DAOPHOT works now also with larger images (up to 4100 x
4100 
     pixels)

2- Platform availability.
-------------------------
   MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 has been installed and verified on the following 
   platforms:	

   - SUN Solaris 2.5.1   - HP HP-UX A.10.20     - Intel/Linux 2.0.34
   - SUN Solaris 2.6(*)  - Alpha/OSF1 V4.0A(**) -
Alpha/Linux/2.1.120(***)
   - IBM AIX/V4.1
  
   (*)  Binaries from Solaris 2.5.1 can be used on Solaris 2.6
   (**) On OSF1 the source distribution requires also the installation
        of patch file OSF1patch.98NOVpl2.1.tar.Z
   (***)RedHat 5.2 for Alpha Apollo. ONLY the core of MIDAS has been
        ported.

3- Source and binary distribution for MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1
------------------------------------------------------
   As you may already know, MIDAS is available under the GNU General 
   Public License since 95NOVpl2.1. Since then we are not requiring 
   anymore the prior MIDAS User Agreement in order to get access to
   MIDAS sources. 

   98NOVpl2.1 is also available in binary format for all supported
   platforms. Binary copies of MIDAS are already compiled
   and ready to run. Installation is reduced to just the tuning of
   some configuration files.
   
   Source and binary copies of 98NOVpl2.1 are available in our 
   anonymous ftp account:

   - Ftp host: ftp://ftphost.hq.eso.org 
   - Ftp account: "ftp". Password: <Your mail address>
   - Directories: /midaspub/98NOV/sources	(MIDAS sources)
   		  /midaspub/98NOV/intel_linux	(PC/Linux 2.0.34)(1)	
   		  /midaspub/98NOV/alpha_linux	(Alpha/Linux 2.0.34)(1)	
   		  /midaspub/98NOV/alpha_osf	(Alpha/OSF1 4.0))	
                  /midaspub/98NOV/hp_ux		(HP HP-UX A.10.20)
		  /midaspub/98NOV/solaris	(SUN Solaris 2.5.1)
		  /midaspub/98NOV/ibm_aix	(IBM AIX 4.1 PowerPC)
   - Files: README.<platform>
            98NOVpl2.1.tar.Z

   (1) The binary of MIDAS for Linux was done in a RedHat 5.1 
       distribution with the 'f2c' (fortran_to_C converter) and not with
       'g77', no Fortran library is necessary. 

   For a proper installation of MIDAS from sources follow the 
   instructions in the README.sources file or the more complete 
   installation document provided in PostScript (installunix.ps.Z).

   MIDAS is distributed on all platforms with Graphical User 
   Interfaces GUI using the Motif dynamic shared libraries, except for 
   Linux where all GUIs were linked with LessTif and the library has
   been included in the binary distribution.

4- MIDAS 98NOV documentation.
-----------------------------
   ESO-MIDAS documentation is available in Postscript and HTML format
   from our "anonymous" ftp account:

   - Ftp host: ftp://ftphost.hq.eso.org
   - Ftp account: "ftp". Password: <Your mail address>
   - Directory: /midaspub/98NOV/doc 
   - Files: README.doc
	volume_a.ps.Z         Complete Volume A  System
	volume_b.ps.Z         Complete Volume B  Data Reduction
	env.ps.Z              The MIDAS Environment Document 1.3
	agldoc.tar.Z          AGL documentation in ASCII
	ididoc.ps.Z           IDI documentation
	daophot.ps.Z          DAOPHOT documentation
	installunix.ps.Z      MIDAS installation notes in UNIX systems
	installvms.ps.Z       MIDAS installation notes in VMS systems
	volume_a.html.tar.Z   MIDAS Volume A System in HTML format
	volume_b.html.tar.Z   MIDAS Volume B Data Reduction in HTML


   In particular cases printed copies and updates of documentation 
   can also be obtained from ESO. If you absolutely need hardcopies 
   of the documentation please contact the User Support Group at 
   ESO/Munich.


5- ESO-MIDAS under the GNU General Public License
-------------------------------------------------
   ESO-MIDAS is a copyright protected software product of the 
   European Southern Observatory, and provides general tools for 
   image processing and data reduction 

   As of the 95NOV release, patch level 2.0, ESO-MIDAS is available
   under the GNU General Public License. This means that the 
   ESO-MIDAS system is available, free of charge and can be freely
   redistributed on certain conditions. As a consequence of this 
   distribution policy User Agreements between research institutes 
   and ESO will not apply as of ESO-MIDAS release 95NOVpl2.0 and will
   not be prolongated when they expire. 

   A short statement of the GNU General Public License as included in
   all relevant ESO-MIDAS files follows below. The full GNU 
   License text is included in the ESO-MIDAS release as separate
   text file.

	--------------- ooo -----------------
   Copyright (C) 1995 European Southern Observatory (ESO) 

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or 
   modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as 
   published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
   License, or (at your option) any later version. 

   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU 
   General Public License for more details. 

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 
   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software 
   Foundation, Inc., 675 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 

   Correspondence concerning ESO-MIDAS should be addressed as follows:
   Internet e-mail: midas@eso.org
   Postal address: European Southern Observatory
   Data Management Division - User Support Group
   Karl-Schwarzschild-Stra_e 2
   D 85748 Garching bei Munchen
   GERMANY
	--------------- ooo -----------------

6- ESO-MIDAS on a CD-ROM
------------------------
   Our current schedule anticipates the creation and distribution of
   the release of MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 on CD-ROM by end of June
   1999, or shortly thereafter. The availability of this CD-ROM will 
   be announced through the "midas-announce" mailing list.

   The ESO-MIDAS CD-ROM will contain the release 98NOVpl2.1 and will 
   include source code, binaries, documentation, 
   and verification procedures. The complete list of what is on the 
   CD-ROM is given below.

   - ESO-MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 sources
   - ESO-MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 binaries for:
        - Intel/Linux 2.0.34 or higher
        - Alpha/Linux 2.1.120 or higher
        - HP-UX 9000 A.10.20
        - Sun/Solaris 2.5.1
        - Alpha/OSF1 V4.0a
   - Calibration data for all platforms above.
   - Demo data for all platforms above.
   - ESO-MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 ready to run from CD-ROM on PC/Linux.
   - ESO-MIDAS 98NOV documentation in:
        - Postscript format
        - HTML format
   - Xephem 3.2.2 source and binaries for Intel Linux
   - SkyCat 2.4.3. source and binaries for Intel Linux, HP and Solaris
   - Guide Star Catalog (GSC)

   Research Institutes can order the CD-ROM directly from the ESO-MIDAS 
   Group http://www.eso.org/dmd/dpg/systems/esomidas/midas-prform.html
   or send a mail to midas@eso.org. Others are kindly invited to contact
   ESO Education and Public Relations Department at ips@eso.org

7- Technical Support and Network Services:
-------------------------------------------
   ESO is not in the position to give active support to individual users 
   outside research institutions to support ESO-MIDAS installations 
   on PC/Linux systems. Also, as of the 95NOV release we have reduced
   the support for VMS and OpenVMS systems. Therefore, users who have
   problems or questions concerning ESO-MIDAS running on these systems 
   are advised to use the "midas-users" mailing list for obtaining 
   feedback and solutions to their questions from other users. 

        - Electronic mail: midas@eso.org
        - Post: Data Management Division - User Support Group.
                Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2,
                D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen
                Germany

   Other public services:

        - Anonymous FTP: ftp://ftphost.hq.eso.org 
        - WWW          : http://www.eso.org/esomidas
        - mailing lists: 
             midas-announce (for official announcements)
             midas-users    (for general discussion).
          To subscribe send an e-mail to "midas-announce-request"
          or "midas-users-request" with the text "subscribe" in
          the body of the mail.