Official Annoucement of the 98NOVpl2.1 ESO-MIDAS Release

The official 98NOVpl2.1 release of ESO-MIDAS has been released on July 15, 1999 and is available on our ftp accounts.

Below you find the following information concerning this new release:

What's new or upgraded in ESO-MIDAS 98NOV?
Platform availability
Source and binary distribution of ESO-MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1
ESO-MIDAS 98NOV documentation
ESO-MIDAS under the GNU General Public License
ESO-MIDAS on a CD-ROM
Technical Support and Network Services

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

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)

For details use the command: help [News] or click on [News] topic in the graphical user interface.

Platform availability

MIDAS 98NOVpl2.1 has been installed and verified on the following platforms:

SUN Solaris 2.5.1	SUN Solaris 2.6 (1.)	HP HP-UX A.10.20	Intel/Linux 2.0.34
Alpha/OSF1 V4.0A (2.)	Alpha/Linux 2.1.120 (3.)	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.

Source and binary distribution

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"
Ftp Password: <your e-mail address>
Directory: /midaspub/98NOV/sources (ESO-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.10.10)
/midaspub/98NOV/solaris (SUN Solaris 2.5.1)
/midaspub/98NOV/ibm_aix (IBM/AIX 4.1 PowerPC)
Files: README.<platform>
98NOVpl2.1.tar.Z

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

For a proper installation of MIDAS sources follow the procedure of the installation document provided in PostScript (installunix.ps.Z) and DVI format (installunix.dvi.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.

ESO-MIDAS Documentation

ESO-MIDAS documentation is available in Postscript and HTML format in our "anonymous" ftp account:

Ftp host:	ftp://ftphost.hq.eso.org
Ftp account:	"ftp"
Ftp Password:	<your mail address>
Directory:	/midaspub/98NOV/doc
Files:	volume_a.ps.Z volume_b.ps.Z env.ps.z agldoc.tar.Z midas-faq.doc.Z ididoc.ps.Z daophot.ps.Z installunix.ps.Z installvms.ps.Z volume_a.html.tar.Z volume_b.html.tar.Z	ESO-MIDAS Volume A: System ESO-MIDAS Volume B: Data Reduction ESO-MIDAS Environment AGL Documentation ESO-MIDAS Frequent Asked Questions IDI Documentation DAOPHOT documentation MIDAS installation notes in UNIX systems MIDAS installation notes in VMS systems MIDAS Volume A: System, in HTML format MIDAS Volume B: Data Reduction

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.

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

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 Massachusetss 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

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 July 1999. 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 by filling out the ESO-MIDAS Problem Reporting Form (category distribution), or just by sending an email to midas@eso.org. Others are kindly invited to contact ESO Education and Public Relations Department at ips@eso.org or use their Order Form.

Technical Support and Network Services

Technical support for ESO-MIDAS can be obtained using the ESO-MIDAS Helpdesk by filling out the ESO-MIDAS Problem Reporting Form

Please note, that ESO is not in the position to give active support to individual users outside research institutions neither 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 adviced to use the "midas-users" mailing list for obtaining feedback and solutions to their questions from other users.

In case the ESO-MIDAS Problem Report System cannot be used the MIDAS User Support can be contacted via:

Electronic mail: midas@eso.org
Telefax: +49 89 32006480 (attn.: MIDAS Support)
Post: Data Management and Operations 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 to these mailing lists, send a mail to majordomo@eso.org with the following command in the body of your email message: "subscribe midas-announce <email>", or "subscribe midas-users <email>", where <email> should be your e-mail address.

For your questions, comments, problems, etc, related to ESO-MIDAS, please use the ESO-MIDAS Problem Report Form.

Electronic mail:	midas@eso.org
Telefax:	+49 89 32006480 (attn.: MIDAS Support)
Post:	Data Management and Operations Division - User Support Group Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany

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)