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19990520: Cleaning up in Linux.

>From: Jim Heimbach <address@hidden>
>Organization: UNCA
>Keywords: 199905141945.NAA27523 McIDAS-X Slackware Linux

Jim,

>     It appears that things are running fairly well on my Linux box and
>I am in the process of cleaning up.  Then when all is good and I
>make a fresh copy of my copious notes, I'll put the system on our
>OS machines.  A couple of queries:
>
>     I downloaded version 7.5, but all the frames show version 7.1. ???

If you left your MCPATH the way it was when I logged on, then the
second directory in it was /typhoon/data/mcidas/data.  This directory
may contain the VERSION.TXT file from the 7.1 installation.  If
you follow my previous _strong_ recommendations, then you will change
your MCPATH to:

MCPATH=/home/mcidas/workdata:/home/mcidas/data:/home/mcidas/help

or, possibly:

MCPATH=/home/mcidas/workdata:/home/mcidas/data:/home/mcidas/help:/typhoon/data/mcidas/data

The /home/mcidas/data directory contains the 7.5x VERSION.TXT file AND
other more important files that pertain to 7.5.

>     I guess that the PATH's were set up so comprehensively that McIDAS
>ran without setting up redirection.

/typhoon/data/mcidas/data looked to be a directory that not only contained
data files, but also ancillary data files (like map background databases,
VERSION.TXT, etc.).  If your desire is to have /typhoon/data/mcidas/data
contain "real" data files (e.g. AREAs, MDXXs, GRIDs, etc.), then I
strongly recommend that you delete from that directory all non-"real
data" files with the exception of SYSKEY.TAB, ROUTE.SYS, and SCHEMA.

>I did so anyway, per your advice.
>Does McIDAS check up on the links in LWPATH.NAM first, then PATH?

McIDAS checks REDIRECTions followed by the directories in MCPATH, yes.

>I
>didn't notice any difference in speed after setting up the redirect.

The issue isn't speed, it is one of being specific in locating files.
You will have to trust me on this one: it is most desirable to implement
a full set of REDIRECTions to your "real" data files and not include
the directory containing the "real" data files in MCPATH.  I say this
from my long experience with McIDAS-X.

>What I have running is quite a bit slower than on OS/2 and SOLARIS.

What versions of McIDAS-X are you running on OS/2 and Solaris?  If
the answer is 7.1, then there is a lot of difference in what is
going on in the startup, so the comparison is almost like comparing
apples to oranges.

>For example the little blue Initializing box is displayed about
>one minute.

Hmm...  I am suprised that it is taking a minute for your session to
come up.  How many and what size are the frames in your session?

>     I got all of the McIDAS-X system stuffed into the account mcidas and
>made sure that it ran.  Then I created the account uncamcid for the 
>rest of the world to use.

Are you planning on using one account for _all_ other users?  Do you
plan on allowing those uses to simultaneous sessions?  If yes, do
you plan on these simultaneous sessions being fired up from different
machines?  If the answer to the last question is yes, then you will
run into a problem with McIDAS-X 7.5.  Simultaneous sessions from a
single account can cause users to step on each other.  In our workshops,
I recommend that individual users have their own accounts from which
to run McIDAS.  This does not mean that they don't hsare the McIDAS
executables, ancillary data files (e.g. those files in /home/mcidas/data),
and help files (e.g. those files in /home/mcidas/help); they do.  What
it really comes down to is each user has his/her own mcidas/data
(e.g. ~user/mcidas/data) directory out of which they run McIDAS.
This is an important point, so I want to make sure that you don't
proceed too far down your setup path without first addressing this!

>In previous installation instructions
>there were copious instructions on what to do here, but I haven't
>seen these (or did I miss something?).

All of the instructions are online now, and they are, unfortunately,
still copious.  Essentially, I took the textual instructions that
were included in previous releases and turned them into web pages
that are much better organized, a lot more descriptive, and easier
to follow.

>Does their absence imply
>that this is no longer recommended?

No.  I think that you will see the same sorts of instructions as you
work your way through the installation/configuration instructions
included on web pages under:

Unidata McIDAS HomePage
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas
  Unidata McIDAS-X HomePage
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mcx
    Unidata McIDAS-X installation/configuration Table of Contents
    http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mcx/mcidas-x.html

>Associated with the user account,
>should there be some minimal number of files within the /home/uncamcid...
>file system?  For example, what I have in /home/uncamcid/workdata is only,
>LWPATH.NAM, VIRT9001 and VIRT9005.

A user's account that will run McIDAS should look like:

/home/ucamcid
/home/ucamcid/mcidas/data

The structure for the 'mcidas' user is different than the non-'mcidas'
user:

/home/mcidas
/home/mcidas/workdata

The files that need to exist in each user's mcidas/data directory can
be put there by the administrative script /home/mcidas/admin/userdata.

>     There was no commented-out MCMENU setup in the example .mcidasrc
>file.  Does this mean that we should be planning to do everything
>ala command line entries?  I hope not since the freshmen will be 
>terrified.  It was no problem setting this up, but am just curious
>about its absence.

Instead of starting McIDAS by typing 'mcidas', try: 'mcidas config'.
This brings up a Tcl/Tk GUI menu that allows you to start a session
with:

o the Unidata Tcl/Tk GUI
o the Unidata Fkey menu
o a vanilla McIDAS-X session

The omission of the commented out MCMENU line in the .mcidasrc template
is a mistake.  Thanks for pointing that out to me.

>     Many thanks -- Jim Heimbach

No problem.  I think that you will find that the GUI, while still not
finished, will be even more appealing to new users than the Fkey menu.
In addition, you can even startup the Fkey menu from the GUI (under the
Misc menu on the menu bar.  Let me know what you think.

Tom