>From: Unidata User Support <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Organization: Unidata Program Center/UCAR
>Keywords: Unidata McIDAS-X -XCD 7.70
Unidata McIDAS Users:
Unidata McIDAS-X, -XCD 7.70 is now ready for download. Those sites
that have already downloaded a 7.70 distribution are advised to regrab
the distribution since there have been numerous bugfixes and
enhancements in the last two weeks.
Unidata McIDAS Version 7.70 incorporates the initial SSEC McIDAS 7.70
release; SSEC Fastrack releases #1 and #2; and numerous modifications and
additions for direct ADDE support of the zlib-compressed, NOAAPORT NIDS
radar images that will become freely available on January 1.
Please review the Unidata McIDAS-X HomePage for complete information on
this new release:
Unidata McIDAS-X
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/770/mcx
These pages contain information on downloading, installing, and
configuring the package. They should be read in their entirety and
understood before attempting an installation. In particular, sites
upgrading from a previous release of Unidata McIDAS should carefully
read the Release Notes for 7.70:
McIDAS-X/XCD Release Notes
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/770/mcx/release_notes.html
Changes of significance:
o With the release of 7.70, Unidata will cease support of all releases
before 7.60. We will continue to support 7.60, but we strongly recommend
that you upgrade to 7.70 especially if you want to use the zlib-compressed
NOAAPORT NIDS products that become freely available on January 1.
o Because of modifications to the upper air MD file schema IRAB, McIDAS-XCD
users must pay particular attention to the XCD section of the Release
Notes for 7.70:
Unidata McIDAS-X
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/770/mcx/release_notes.html#xcdchanges
IRAB was updated to allow for decoding of significant level upper air
data up to and including 10 mb. An upgrade from XCD 7.6x to 7.70 will
require that users:
o stop XCD decoding of upper air data
o update their schema registry file SCHEMA with the new version of IRAB
o delete or rename the current day's existing mandatory level upper air
MD files
o restart XCD decoding of upper air MD files
o Version 7.70 marks the debut of an ADDE cross section plotting routine,
UACROSS, that can be used with observational upper air and model grid
data.
o The 7.70 Fkey menu and Tcl/Tk MCGUI system have been updated to support
display of the CIMSS imagery that was added to the Unidata-Wisconsin
datastream at the end of June. They will also work with the NOAAPORT
NIDS products as soon as they become available.
o The SSEC portion of the McIDAS Users Guide, the XCD Site Administrator's
Guide, and the McIDAS-X Programmer's Reference Manual are available as
PostScript (tm) files from the unix/770/docs directory of the password
protected Unidata McIDAS FTP account. Users desiring hardcopy manuals
will need to print these files locally.
o As promised in the documentation for 7.60, some 41 old, non-ADDE
applications have been dropped from 7.70. Twenty three more commands
are scheduled for removal in the next release of Unidata McIDAS, Version
7.80. For details, please refer to:
Unidata McIDAS-X: Sunset Items
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/770/mcx/sunset.html
o Bugfixes and/or enhancements to 7.70 will be handled throught the Addenda
process described in:
Unidata McIDAS-X: Version 7.70 Updates
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/770/mcx/addenda.html
Keep an eye on this page for announcements of Addenda availability.
One of the first addenda to 7.70 will be focus on updating the Unidata
Tcl/Tk GUI (MCGUI) to take advantage of ADDE.
o The user name and password for access to the Unidata McIDAS FTP site is
the same as it was in 7.60. If you have forgotten or misplaced this
information, please contact Unidata User Support by eamil at the address
listed below.
Please send questions, comments, and any problems that you may have with
this new release to Unidata User Support (support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx).
Tom Yoksas
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