[no subject]

[Rein Warmels <rwarmels@eso.org>]

Dear ESO-MIDAS users,

   The time for the 96NOV release of ESO-MIDAS is getting closer,
however, this year the official distribution will be delayed till the
end of Feb. 1997.  We are in the final freezing phase and the 96NOV
release will be frozen in the last week of this month.  ESO-MIDAS will
be used for pipeline processing of data from the NTT and later for the
first VLT instruments.  For this reason, numerous modifications were
done to provide the additional functionality needed (i.e. on-line
MIDAS).  This includes e.g. communication interfaces for client/server
usage, WCS and long descriptor names.

   The first proto-type of the data pipeline for SUSI will be tested on
the NTT in January 1997.  These tests will be done with the beta
version of the 96NOV release.  The official 96NOV version will form
the baseline for pipeline processing of NTT/SOFI data and the first
set of VLT instruments.  Thus, its stability is very important making
it necessary to include patches found during the January tests on NTT.
The delay also enables us to provide additional validation procedures
e.g. based on the SUSI pipeline.

   We trust that postponing the official 96NOV distribution to
February 1997 will not cause you major problems but provide us
with a better tested product including the first pipeline
procedures used for the NTT/SUSI instrument.


Best regards,

Preben Grosbol
European Southern Observatory