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19990218: Colgates Mcidas-X 7.40 (cont.)

>From: Adam Burnett <address@hidden>
>Organization: Colgate
>Keywords: 199902171421.HAA02538 McIDAS make Fortran

Adam,

>Yes, I didn't have my libraries properly defined in my .cshrc file.  Once I
>corrected that, I was on my way.  So far:
>
>1. I have mcidas-x up an running (I really dig that unidata GUI - I just
>can't figure out how to make the GUI window fit my screen.

Are you using the Unidata GUI (MCGUI) or the SSEC GUI (GUI)?  If you are
using the Unidata GUI, then I suggest starting McIDAS as follows:

mcidas config

This will popup a GUI that will allow you to select the number of frames,
frame size, number of gray levels, etc.  This GUI reads your startup
default file, ~/.mcidasrc, to get its original settings.  The GUI does
not (yet) update the values in ~/.mcidasrc, however.  If you want to
set up different sized frames, then you need to edit ~/.mcidasrc and
modify the '-f' flag values.  There is an explanation in the file about
what you should do. (NOTE that the Unidata GUI does not support a session
with a collection of different sized frames very well).

>2. I have LDM running and using the mcidas-xcd routines.  XCD is writing its
>files to the directory /data2/mcidas/xcd

Very good.

>3. I have my mcidas decoders writing to the directory /data2/mcidas/mcfiles.

OK.  I'm glad to hear that you are using XCD.  I will be starting to send
out notice to Unidata-Wisconsin datastream users that the point source
(i.e. MDXX), GRID, and TEXT files (e.g. PROFILER.CDF, ADMIN.MSG, UNIDATAS)
currently in the stream will be removed at the end of July.  We are doing
this for two reasons:

o you can get global data using XCD
o it will save us money and allow us to offer expanded satellite image
  service

>When I run mcidas and execute a ROUTE command, I see that my routing table
>is not being updated.  I'm confused as to just where the ROUTE file is
>supposed to be (same with SYSKEY.TAB).  

In order to be used by the ldm-mcidas decoders, ROUTE.SYS and SYSKEY.TAB 
need to be copied to the directory where the ldm-mcidas decoders create
their output data files.  The also _must_ be readable and writable by the
user running the LDM (since the ldm-mcidas decoders are run by the LDM
and they need to be able to read and update these files).

You need to do the following (if you havn't already done so):

o copy ROUTE.SYS and SYSKEY.TAB to the ldm-mcidas decoder output directory
o change the read/write permission on these files so that the user running
  the LDM can read and write them
o add REDIRECTions for each McIDAS user to point to these copies of
  ROUTE.SYS and SYSKEY.TAB

So, given what you have told me so far, you would do the following:

cd ~mcidas/workdata
cp ROUTE.SYS /data2/mcidas/mcfiles
cd ~mcidas/data
cp SYSKEY.TAB /data2/mcidas/mcfiles
cd /data2/mcidas/mcfiles
chmod 664 ROUTE.SYS SYSKEY.TAB

The last line sets owner and group read/write permissions on the files.
This is what is needed IF you followed the guidelines and put your
'mcidas' and 'ldm' users in the same group.

Additionally, the XCD point source decoders can update SYSKEY.TAB.
Since the user can point to only one copy of SYSKEY.TAB at a time,
the best thing to do is to make a link between the copy of SYSKEY.TAB
in /data2/mcidas to the /data2/mcidas/xcd directory:

cd /data2/mcidas/xcd
rm SYSKEY.TAB
ln /data2/mcidas/mcfiles/SYSKEY.TAB .

I use a hard link here since I am assuming that /data2/mcidas/mcfiles and
/data2/mcidas/xcd are on the same file system.  If they are on different
file systems, you would need to use a soft link:

cd /data2/mcidas/xcd
rm SYSKEY.TAB
ln -s /data2/mcidas/mcfiles/SYSKEY.TAB SYSKEY.TAB

The REDIRECTions needed for each user would then be set by running the
following McIDAS command from a McIDAS-X session:

REDIRECT ADD ROUTE.SYS "/data2/mcidas/mcfiles
REDIRECT ADD SYSKEY.TAB "/data2/mcidas/mcfiles

At this point, a 'ROUTE LIST' from your session should show a listing from
the active routing table.  Moreover, the Unidata GUI and Fkey menus will
be able to get information about the most recently received data.

>Any suggestions

The other thing that you should start playing with is ADDE.  McIDAS has
been transitioning to ADDE for several years.  We have not been pushing
our users to ADDE _until now_ since we felt that it was not ready
for prime time.  With the 7.6 release of McIDAS-X, we will be sunsetting
a number of non-ADDE routines (e.g. DF, ALOOP, SPC, etc.).

While you are playing with ADDE, you should make sure to install the
ADDE remote server portion of the distribution.  This will allow for
you and others to access your McIDAS data holdings via the net.  This
can be extremely useful during field experiments or when you are missing
crutial data.  The concept here is that if your LDM feed were down
for some reason and you needed to prepare for class (or whatever), you
could point your applications to a different, cooperating server that
had the data.  The commands to display/analyze the data stay the same,
so the fact that you are looking at someone else's data is transparent.

There is a lot of information on ADDE in:

o online McIDAS installation docs
o online McIDAS online manual
o online McIDAS Learning Guide
o in the Unidata McIDAS email tracking system

>Thanks

Talk to you later.

Tom