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Installing McIDAS-X on Windows XP Workstations

If you are installing McIDAS-X on a workstation running the HP-UX, AIX, Linux, IRIX, Solaris or Mac OS X operating system, go to the table at the beginning of this chapter.

This section contains background information about and the procedure for installing McIDAS-X on PC workstations running Microsoft Windows XP with Services for UNIX (SFU). Hereafter, the terms McIDAS-X for XP and McIDAS-X for XP 2005 refer specifically to this package. The McIDAS-X command suite, which is identical in both the McIDAS-X for Unix and McIDAS-X for XP packages, is referred to as McIDAS-X or McIDAS-X 2005.

Because the XP package is distributed as both binary and source code, and the Unix package is distributed as source code only, which must be compiled (built) on-site, the installation files and procedures for these packages are different.

The table below lists the software versions compatible with McIDAS-X for XP 2005. McIDAS-X for XP 2005 was tested on these versions only. The McIDAS Users' Group is extremely limited in its ability to support sites running McIDAS-X for XP 2005 with other software versions.

Operating System

Fortran compiler*

C compiler*

X server**

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 1 and Services for UNIX 3.5

g77 : 3.3

gcc : 3.3

** see below

* Because McIDAS-X for XP is distributed as a binary package, the Fortran and C compilers are needed only if you do local development on the workstation. The compilers are included in the Software Development Kit (SDK) available with Services for UNIX (SFU).

** We do not have a specific X server that we recommend. We have tried many X servers, but have encountered problems, especially when cutting and pasting, with all of them. Some work better than others; many people at SSEC use Exceed, X-Win 32 or MicroImages.

The following section, titled SFU Pathnames, contains background information required for installing McIDAS-X for XP.

SFU Pathnames

Unlike Unix, Windows XP does not have a single rooted file system. Rather than mounting a drive on any arbitrary mount point in a file system, the drive must be mounted on a drive letter (e.g., C: or D:). Because SFU uses the XP file system, the pathnames to files may look different than they do in Unix.

There are two types of pathnames on a XP system running SFU: Win32 and POSIX. The Win32 format (e.g., c:\SFU\usr\bin) is the standard format used in Windows and DOS environments. It is used in all XP Win32 applications. The POSIX format (e.g., /dev/fs/C/SFU/usr/bin) is the standard format used in Unix environments. It is used with SFU applications, including McIDAS-X for XP.

For more information regarding POSIX pathnames and SFU, consult the SFU online documentation.

The installation instructions appear below. The system administrator or person who installs McIDAS-X for XP will use these installation instructions, which consist of six tasks:

If you have questions about the installation, send email to <support@unidata.ucar.edu>.


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