% @(#)midas-faq.doc
10.5 (ESO-IPG) 12/7/95 13:51:31
Please check out this FAQ, especially before posting your question to
the MIDAS hotline midas@eso.org or the mailing list midas-user@eso.org
You can skip to a particular question by searching for `Question n.n'.
========================================================================
Index
Section 1. Introduction and General Information
Q1.1
What is ESO-MIDAS ?
Q1.2
What is the ESO-MIDAS distribution policy ?
Q1.3
How is the source code of ESO-MIDAS structured ?
Q1.4
Which platforms are supported ? Which hardware is required
to run ESO-MIDAS ?
Q1.5
How much hard disk space does ESO-MIDAS need ?
Q1.6
Which software do I need to install and run ESO-MIDAS ?
Q1.7
How is the ESO-MIDAS documentation organized ?
Section 2.
Q2.1
Q2.2
Q2.3
Q2.4
Q2.5
Network sources and resources
Where can I get ESO-MIDAS material by FTP ?
How do I install ESO-MIDAS ?
I don't have FTP access. How do I get ESO-MIDAS ?
What other network services are there for ESO-MIDAS ?
Are the mailing lists archived anywhere ?
Section 3.
Q3.1
Q3.2
Q3.3
Q3.4
Q3.5
Q3.6
Q3.7
Q3.8
Q3.9
Q3.10
Q3.11
ESO-MIDAS most common installation problems.
Generic installation problems on UNIX systems.
Generic installation problems on VMS systems.
Installation problems on SunOS 5.3 and 5.4 (Solaris).
Installation problems on OSF/1.
Installation problems on PC/Linux.
Installation problems on HPs.
Installation problems on SGs.
I do not have Motif, how can I have the MIDAS GUIs ?
Why does the command line editing in the monitor not work ?
Why do I get "MIDAS version .. on VAX/VMS" if I am on UNIX?
Most MIDAS tutorials do not work. The demo data is missing.
Section 4.
Section 5.
Section 6.
Display and plotting with ESO-MIDAS.
The internal ESO-MIDAS system and monitor.
General applications in ESO-MIDAS.
Section 7.
Q7.1
Q7.2
Q7.3
Data I/O in ESO-MIDAS. Import-Export.
Why I cannot access my tape device with INTAPE/FITS command?
Out of Synchronism... when accessing a remote tape driver?
Can I use MIDAS format files between different platforms?
Section 8.
Q8.1
Standard reduction and calibration packages in ESO-MIDAS.
How are the calibration and demonstration data distributed?
Section M.
Miscellaneous
QM.1
QM.2
QM.3
QM.4
QM.5
QM.6
How to perform desktop computations with MIDAS ?
How do I get on-line help ?
How can I overplot a contour on an image?
How can I reinitialize failing graphic and display windows?
Why do the GUIS appear with missing colors?
How can I define my own commands and create windows when
I start a MIDAS session?
QM.7
The cursor rectangle created by, e.g. EXTRACT/CURSOR or
GET/CURSOR, does not react to arrow keys.
========================================================================
Section 1.
Q1.1
Q1.2
Q1.3.
Q1.4
Q1.5.
Q1.6.
Introduction and General Information
What is ESO-MIDAS ?
Which is the ESO-MIDAS distribution policy ?
How is the source code of ESO-MIDAS structured ?
Which platforms are supported ? Which hardware is required
to run ESO-MIDAS ?
How much memory do I need to run ESO-MIDAS ?
Which software do I need to install an ESO-MIDAS ?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.1.
What is ESO-MIDAS ?
ESO-MIDAS is the acronym for the European Southern Observatory
- Munich Image Data Analysis System which is developed and
maintained by the European Southern Observatory.
The ESO-MIDAS system
provides general tools for image processing and data reductions
with emphasis on astronomical applications including imaging and
special reduction packages for ESO instrumentation at La Silla.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.2.
Which is the ESO-MIDAS distribution policy ?
The ESO-MIDAS system is available, free of charge, to all non-profit
research institutes, whereas other organisations or companies may be
charged a nominal fee to cover distribution. Institutes interested in
using MIDAS must sign a User Agreement before distribution material
can be shipped. The necessary forms can be obtained by contacting the
Data Analysis Group at ESO/Munich. MIDAS is distributed in source code
copyrighted by ESO with all rights reserved. Institutes receiving the
MIDAS system are not allowed to redistribute it to other sites without
explicit written permission from ESO. The use of the ESO-MIDAS system
for data reduction should be properly acknowledged in papers and
publications. It is recommended to refer to the specific ESO-MIDAS
version used, e.g. 94NOV, in the acknowledgement.
The availability of new releases is announced through electronic
mail. Requests can be submitted either on a special ESO-MIDAS Request
Form or through e-mail quoting the user agreement number. Currently,
MIDAS has one yearly release in November (e.g. the release in 1994 is
will be named 94NOV). The current system at ESO/Munich is frozen
several months prior to the official release. The official release is
based on this version, which is extensively tested both at ESO and at
a number of beta-test sites. Problems detected during these tests are
corrected in the official release version which is then given free for
distribution. The release is is available on a wide range of tape
media and additionally, it can be obtained through a ftp account.
Binary copies of MIDAS (already installed and without sources) for
specific systems are publicly available in the anonymous ftp account
and do not need the signing of an ESO-MIDAS User Agreement. Official
user support and documentation service from ESO for these binary
copies are however not granted without a prior signed User Agreement.
Updates of the manual and other documentation take somewhat longer to
prepare and print and will be sent to all sites which receive a new
ESO-MIDAS release. Updates are normally not sent to individual
users. Copies and updates of documentation can be obtained by writing
to the Science Data Analysis Group at ESO/Munich.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.3.
How is the source code of ESO-MIDAS structured ?
The initial design of MIDAS was made on a DEC/VMS system in the early
80's. However, in the late 80's with the acceptance of UNIX as a
standard operating system and the introduction of workstations, the
system was largely redesigned and now runs on a wide variety of
computers, with either DEC/VMS or one of the various flavours of UNIX
as the operating system.
The latest official release 94NOVpl0 has been distributed as 30 Mbytes
of source code (11 Mbytes in a tar-compressed file). The number of
source code lines is shown in Table 1 for different types of files,
where "FORTRAN" and "C" correspond to actual program code, while "prg"
refers to high-level MIDAS procedures. Documentation is in for of
MIDAS help files.
Table 1: Size of source code for different file type in units of 1000
lines:
C
FORTRAN
prg
Help
----------------------------------------------------413
240
51
50
The size of the source code can also be divided into main MIDAS
classes. As a sample, Table 2 shows some main categories, namely
"core" MIDAS, graphic users interfaces (gui), system applications
(applic), standard reductions (stdred) and general application
packages (contrib):
Table 2 Size of source code in different directories in Mbytes:
Total
"core"
gui
applic
stdred
contrib
----------------------------------------------30.6
14.7
4.6
1.4
3.3
5.7
ESO-MIDAS documentation is not included in this distribution. It is
available however in PostScript and DVI format as the second file in
the distribution tape, or under the subdirectory "./94NOV/doc" in the
FTP account. See also Q ?.?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.4.
Which platforms are supported ? Which hardware is required
to run ESO-MIDAS ?
The next table shows in which platforms 94NOVpl0 has been installed
and verified succesfully. The "Size in disk" indicates the size
ESO-MIDAS occupies on disk after a complete installation including all
packages, source and object files.
System
Size in disk Remarks
-----------------------------------------------------------------------SUN SunOS/4.1.3 120 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
SUN SunOS/5.3
80 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
HP HP-UX A.09.01 82 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
PC Linux/1.0.8
25 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries, only binaries
DEC OSF1/V2.0
113 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
SG IRIX/4.0.5
197 Mbytes
Without shared libraries.
SG IRIX/5.2 70 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
DEC ULTRIX/4.3
243 Mbytes
Without shared libraries.
IBM/AIX 3.2 80 Mbytes
With MIDAS shared libraries.
VAX/VMS V5.2
114 Mbytes
Without shared libraries, without GUIs.
The total disk space required for ESO-MIDAS will be less than this
figures
if you do not install all optional packages. As a reference, on a HP-UX
you will need 82 Mbytes for a complete installation but only 36 Mbytes
for the
installation of only the "core" of MIDAS. In the same machine "applic"
requires 4 Mbytes, "stdred" 10 Mbytes, "contrib" 21 Mbytes and GUIs 10
Mbytes.
You can reduce the disk space required if you clean ESO-MIDAS
directory after installation (Option 9 - Clean MIDAS, in the main
menu). You can remove object files, source files, libraries and
optional packages that you might have installed but you do not need
any more). Again, on a HP-UX system using 82 Mbytes for a complete
installation, you can remove 11 Mbytes of object files, 31 Mbytes if
you remove object and source files and 37 Mbytes if you remove
objects, sources and libraries. Cleaning MIDAS is recomended if you
want to distribute copies of MIDAS to different machines. It is
however highly recomended to keep a master copy with all files (or at
least a backup) for the purpose of installing upgrades and patches.
In addition to the disk space required for the installation of
ESO-MIDAS, you will need optionally some more disk space for
documentation (5 Mbytes in compressed-tar PostScript files), demo
files (10 Mbytes in compressed-tar files, 24 Mbytes after the
installation) and calibration files (1 Mbytes in a compressed-tar
file,
Still you will need some more disk space for user data. 50, 100, 200
Mbytes per user of ESO-MIDAS?. This depends in the average number of
images per session and in the size of the images, e.g. 20 images of
1000x1000 pixels occupies 4 Mbytes on disk (4 bytes each pixel) will
need 100 Mbytes for the initial data and most likely another 100
Mbytes for the reduced data.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.5.
How much memory do I need to run ESO-MIDAS ?
This question is also difficult to answer with preciseness. It depends
in many different factors like which system, which MIDAS application
and which images.
In SunOS 4.1.3 the MIDAS monitor uses 1.1 Mbytes of memory, 2.6 Mbytes
if you open a display window and 2.7 Mbytes for a graphic window. Some
applications allocates 1 or 2 times the size of the image, that means
4 Mbytes or 8 Mbytes for an image of 1000x1000 pixels. Resuming... it
is recomended a minimun of 16 Mbytes of memory per user of MIDAS and
in any case as much as necessary to avoid the system to start swapping
(paging in and out blocks of memory to disk).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.6.
Which software do I need to install and ESO-MIDAS ?
First, you need a C compiler. Both ANSI C and the Traditional C from
Kernie&Ritchie can be used for the installation of ESO-MIDAS. If your
system does not provide you with a C compiler, or this is licensed and
you do not want to pay the license fee, get a copy of the GNU
public-domain C compiler "gcc" which is also available for almost all
platforms.
Second, you need a F77 Fortran compiler. Here again and without a
licensed Fortran compiler you can use the Fortran_to_C conversor,
which converts ESO-MIDAS Fortran code into C, which then can be
compiled with the C compiler. The Fortran_to_C conversor is again
public domain software from AT&T Bell Laboratories and is called
"f2c". A script called "fc" or "f77", which uses "f2c", reproduces the
same behaviour of the Sun Fortran compiler "f77". This option is used
with the installation of ESO-MIDAS on PC/Linux where the GNU ANSI C
compiler and the Fortran_to_C conversor "f2c" are normally included
with the Linux distribution. NOTE: Eventually there will be a GNU
public domain Fortran compiler, called "g77".
Third you need X11 software. ESO-MIDAS can be installed with both X11
release 4, or X11 release 5, but not yet with X11 release 6. X11 is
included with the system in all platforms, but is also public domain
software that you can installed yourself if you do not like the one
provided by your system.
Optionally you need Motif. Both Motif release 1.1 and release 1.2 are
supported by ESO-MIDAS. Without Motif software, you still can install
most of ESO-MIDAS packages, but not the Graphical User Interfaces GUIs
that require the Motif widget-library. Motif, unfortunatelly, is not
a public domain software. Many systems do include Motif by default in
their distribution like HP/HP-UX, OSF/1 or Solaris 5.4. For other
systems you will have to buy a Motif license (e.g. 250 DM for
PC/Linux). It is however our policy to distribute the GUIs already
compiled and linked with the static Motif library for those systems
that do not get Motif in their system distribution, like SunOS 4.1.3
or PC/Linux, so you do not have to buy any Motif license. See also
question Q?.?
The NAG library, the mathematical library from Numerical Algorithms
Group, is used for particular options of some MIDAS commands. If you
have a license for the NAG library tell the MIDAS installation script
where the library is located, otherwise a dummy NAG library will be
created by the installation script to complete the installation
without errors, but the options using the NAG routines will return an
error. See question Q?.? for more details about which MIDAS
commands/options need the NAG library.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 1.7.
How is organized the ESO-MIDAS documentation ?
The main source of information about MIDAS is the MIDAS Users Guide,
Volumes A, B and C (ESO-SDAG, 1993) ( MIDAS User Guide ) . The MIDAS
system has been described in various papers. General overviews can be
found in Banse et al. (1983) and in Grosbol and Ponz (1990). MIDAS as
a development environment is discussed in the document ``MIDAS
Environment'' (ESO-IPG, 1993) and by Banse et al. (1991). The
performance of MIDAS on different platform is described by Grosbol et
al., 1988. The implementation of the table file system is described by
Grosbol and Ponz, 1985. For a more complete reference list, see
References .
Volume A:
describes the basic MIDAS system with all general purpose facilities
such as MIDAS Control Language, all available commands, data
input/output (including plotting and image display), table system
(MIDAS Data Base). Site specific features are given in an appendix.
Volume B:
describes how to use the MIDAS system for astronomical data
reduction. Application packages for special types of data or
reductions (e.g. long slit and echelle spectra, object search, or
crowded field photometry) are discussed assuming intensity calibrated
data. A set of appendices gives a detailed description of the
reduction of raw data from ESO instruments.
Volume C:
gives the detailed description for all commands available. This volume
is not available to remote users as the complete volume C ias it is
accessed via the MIDAS GUI XHelp.
It is intended that users will mainly need Volume A for general
reference. For specific reduction of raw data and usage of special
astronomical packages, Volume B will be more informative. A printed
version of the MIDAS help files is available in Volume C. Users are
recommended to use the on-line help facility which always gives a full
up to date description of the commands available
Detailed technical information of software interfaces and designs used
in MIDAS is also given in the following documentation:
MIDAS Environment;
MIDAS IDI-routines;
AGL Reference Manual.
Users who want to write their own application programs for MIDAS
should read the MIDAS Environment document which gives the relevant
information and examples.
All above documents and further documentation can be obtained by
contacting the Science Data Analysis Group (preferable via the
HOT-LINE) or via FTP (See also Q?.?)
References:
- Banse, K., Crane, Ph., Ounnas, Ch., Ponz, D.: 1983, ``MIDAS'' in
Proc. of DECUS, Zurich, p. 87
- Banse, K., Grosbol, P.J., Baade, D.: 1991, ``MIDAS as a
Development Environment'', in Astronomical Data Analysis
Software and Systems I , PASP Conf. Series, Vol. 25, p. 120.
- Banse, K., Grosbol, P., Ponz, D., Ounnas, C., Warmels, R., `The
MIDAS Image Processing System in Instrumentation for
Ground Based Astronomy: Present and Future, L.B. Robinson, ed.,
New York: Springer Verlag, p. 431.
- Grosbol P., Banse, K., Guirao, C, Ponz, J.D., Warmels, R.H.:
1988, ``MIDAS Benchmarks of Workstations'' in ESO Messenger, ESO,
Garching, 54 , 59
- Grosbol, P.J., Ponz, J.D.: 1985, Mem. S.A.It., 56, 429
- Grosbol, P.J., Ponz, J.D.: 1990, ``The MIDAS System'' in
Acquisition, Processing and Archiving of Astronomical Images,, G.
Longo and G. Sedmak (eds.), OAC and FORMEZ, 1990, p.109
- Warmels, R.H.: 1991, ``The ESO-MIDAS System'', in Astronomical
Data Analysis Software and Systems I , PASP Conf. Series,
Vol. 25, p. 115.
========================================================================
Section 2.
Q2.1
Q2.2
Q2.3
Q2.4
Q2.5
Network sources and resources
Where can I get ESO-MIDAS material by FTP ?
How do I install ESO-MIDAS ?
I don't have FTP access. How do I get ESO-MIDAS ?
What other network services are there for ESO-MIDAS ?
Are the mailing lists archived anywhere ?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 2.1.
Where can I get ESO-MIDAS material by FTP ?
The Internet name for our FTP machine is "ftphost.hq.eso.org" or IP
address 134.171.40.2. We provide two different ftp accounts, the
standard "anonymous" and the restricted "midas" ftp account.
In the "anonymous" ftp account, you can find all public domain
information about ESO-MIDAS, such as binaries for PC/Linux, ESO-MIDAS
documentation, demo and calibration data, and the archives for the two
ESO-MIDAS mailing lists: midas-users and midas-announces. Everything
is under the directory /midaspub.
The "midas" ftp account provides sources of ESO-MIDAS to only those
sites with a valid and signed User Agreement (ESO-MIDAS sites). This
account is restricted to those registered hosts provided with a valid
password.
ESO-MIDAS sites with access to Internet are requested to retrieve the
MIDAS source code from this "midas" ftp account. Those ESO-MIDAS sites
that does not have registered their hosts, please send us a mail to
"midas@eso.org" indicating your User Agreement Number and the IP
addresses (e.g. 134.171.85.*) of those hosts from which you plan to
ftp the "midas" account. Your IP hosts will be registered and we will
send you back a mail for comfirmation with a valid password.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 2.2.
How do I install ESO-MIDAS ?
There are three different installation procedures for ESO-MIDAS:
- From source code on UNIX platforms, follow the document
"Installation of MIDAS on UNIX systems". The document is
available in PostScript and DVI format in the files
installunix.ps.Z and installunix.dvi.Z
in our "midas" FTP account in the directory "94NOV".
A paper copy of this document is sent together with the tape
distribution.
- From source code on VMS platforms, just follow the document
"Installation of MIDAS on VMS systems". Available in
PostScript and DVI format in installvms.ps.Z and installvms.dvi.Z
in our "midas" FTP account in the directory "94NOV".
A paper copy of this document is sent together with the tape
distribution.
- Binary distribution of ESO-MIDAS for PC/Linux. The
installation of a binary copy of ESO-MIDAS is simpler and faster
than the one with sources. The installation notes are found
in the file /midaspub/94NOV/linux/README.linux on our anonymous
FTP account.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 2.3
I don't have FTP access.
How do I get ESO-MIDAS ?
If you do not have FTP access, you can request ESO-MIDAS
via traditional mail on tape by completing the "ESO-MIDAS Request
Form"
Material will be shipped only to users with a valid ESO-MIDAS
User Agreement. If you still have tapes or a tape mailing box from
previous releases, please return them to us.
You can obtain the "ESO-MIDAS Request Form" on the last page of
our Newsletter "The MIDAS Courier", or send a e-mail to
"midas-announce@eso.org" with "get midas-request-form" in the body
of your message.
If you have a reasonably good email connection you could also
try to get all ESO-MIDAS distribution files available on
our FTP accounts via our FTPMAIL service. E.g. to get the
binary distribution of ESO-MIDAS for PC/Linux, send a mail to
"ftpmail@eso.org" with the following commands in the body of the
message:
open
size 2M
cd /midaspub/94NOV/linux
get README.linux
get 94NOVpl0.tar.z
Or to get the source distribution:
open ftphost@eso.org midas [password]
size 2M
cd /94NOV
get README.unix
get 94NOVpl0.tar.Z
get installunix.ps.Z
In both cases, binary files are "uuencoded" and splitted into max.
2Mbytes emails. It is your job to remove the header of the mails,
concatenated them, and run "uudecode" to obtain the original
file. Send "help" in the body of a message to "ftpmail@eso.org" for
more info about FTPMAIL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question 2.4
What other network services are there for ESO-MIDAS ?
- WWW (World Wide Web): http://http.hq.eso.org/midas-info/midas.html
- The ESO-MIDAS bulletin board: telnet bbhost.hq.eso.org, account
"esobb". Also available via anonymous ftp or via WWW.
- The MIDAS Courier: Newsletter of the MIDAS User's Community.
Distributed by traditional mail, but also available in the WWW and by
anonymous FTP account. Editor: rwarmels@eso.org
If you are not in the mailing list and want to receive future
issues of the Courier, contact the editor.
- The electronic mailing lists:
midas-announce: For official announcement related to ESO-MIDAS, like
patches and releases.
midas-users: For general discussion about ESO-MIDAS (un-moderated).
To subscribe to any mailing list, send a mail to "majordomo@eso.org"
with the following command in the body of the message:
subscribe midas-announce [your email address]
or
subscribe midas-users [your email address]
- The ESO-MIDAS support: only for ESO-MIDAS sites. Send your Problem
Reports to "midas@eso.org". Your mail will be checked by GNATS,
our tracking problem report system, and it will be forwarded to the
relevant person in the ESO-MIDAS group. If you have already installed
MIDAS we recommend you to use the Problem Report Graphical User
Interface generated by the feedback button on the XHelp GUI.
- Finally the MIDAS Hot-line: +49 89 320 06 456
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 2.5
Are the mailing lists archived anywhere ?
Yes. The archives are also available via Majordomo using the "get"
command (send "help" in the body of a message
to "midas-announce@eso.org" or "midas-users@eso.org for more info),
or via nonymous FTP from ftphost.hq.eso.org in directories
/midaspub/midas-announce and /midaspub/midas-users. The archives are
broken down by year, month and day, and are stored in files named
"midas-users.YYMM" and "midas-announce.YYMMDD".
========================================================================
Section 3.
Q3.1
Q3.2
Q3.3
Q3.4
Q3.5
ESO-MIDAS most common installation problems.
Generic installation problems on UNIX systems.
Generic installation problems on VMS systems.
Installation problems on SunOS 5.3 and 5.4 (Solaris).
Installation problems on OSF/1.
Installation problems on PC/Linux.
Q3.6
Q3.7
Q3.8
Q3.9
Q3.10
Q3.11
Installation problems on HPs.
Installation problems on SGs.
I do not have Motif, how can I have the MIDAS GUIs ?
Why does the command line editing in the monitor not work ?
Why do I get "MIDAS version .. on VAX/VMS" if I am on UNIX?
Most MIDAS tutorials do not work. The demo data is missing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.1.
Generic installation problems on UNIX systems.
1- One typical problem when installing a binary distribution of MIDAS is
that
it may have problems to access the MIDAS shared libraries, e.g.:
OSF/1 V3.0: /sbin/loader: Fatal Error: cannot map libmidas.so
HP-UX A.09: /lib/dld.sl: Can't open shared library:
<path>/libmidas.sl
Linux 1.2.8: <path>/prepa.exe: can't find library 'libgmidas.so.3'
SunOS 4.1.3: ld.so: libmidas.so.3: not found
SunOS 5.4:
ld.so.1: <path>/prepa.exe: fatal: libgmidas.so: can't
open
SG/IRIX 5.2: <path>/prepa.exe: rld: Fatal Error: cannot find
'libmidas.so'
You can solve this problem in different ways depending on the platform,
but one common one is to include the MIDAS library directory (e.g.:
/midas/94NOV/lib) into the system environment variable for shared
libraries.
This variable is called SHLIB_PATH on HPs and LD_LIBRARY PATH on other
platforms. To modify the variable, if it was already defined, just type
before running MIDAS:
C-Shell:
% setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/midas/94NOV/lib
Bourne-Shell: % LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/midas/94NOV/lib; \
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
or if the variable was not defined:
C-Shell:
% setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH midas/94NOV/lib
Bourne-Shell: % LD_LIBRARY_PATH=midas/94NOV/lib; export
LD_LIBRARY_PATH
You can make this modification permanently to all users, by including
its
Bourne-Shell form at the beginning of your inmidas,gomidas and
helpmidas
front-end scripts.
2- MIDAS uses namepipes to comunicate between the monitor and both, the
display server and the XHelp Graphical User Interface. Typically
you get the following error messages when starting MIDAS:
"cannot create server for GUI Xhelp.exe."
or
"OSX: Could not open Client WRITE channel, error = 2"
"OSX: Writing error in 'round_trip', error = -1"
Namepipes (like midas_xw00 and xhelp00) are special filenames which,
in some cases like Linux, OSF/1 and IBM are not recognized by NFS or
AFS.
To workaround the problem you can run MIDAS on a NFS filesystem by
telling MIDAS to use a local filesystem for the namepipes, e.g.
/tmp/midwork. Just define the environment variable MID_WORK, or use
the option "-m <mid_work>" in the inmidas script.
% setenv MID_WORK /tmp/midwork
or
% inmidas -m /tmp/midwork
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.2.
Generic installation problems on VMS systems.
One common problem with MIDAS installation on VMS systems is how to
install
or reinstall a particular package without installing MIDAS completely.
Let's assume as an example the package DAOPHOT, then proceed as follows:
- Assign MID_DISK to the disk where MIDAS is located (e.g. DBA2):
$ ASSIGN DBA2: MID_DISK:
- Assign MIDASHOME and MIDVERS to the directories in MID_DISK where
MIDAS
is located (e.g. DBA2:[SOFTWARE.MIDAS.94NOV]):
$ MIDASHOME :== SOFTWARE
$ MDVERS
:== 94NOV
- Execute the DCL file that defines some MIDAS logical files:
$ @ ['MIDASHOME'.'MIDVERS'.MONIT]MIDLOGS.COM
- Execute the DCL file that defines libraries and installation
procedures:
$ @ ['MIDASHOME'.'MIDVERS'.INSTALL.VMS]LIBDEF.COM
- Move to the directory of the package you want to install (or
reinstall):
$ set def ['MIDASHOME'.'MIDVERS'.CONTRIB.DAOPHOT]
- Execute the command "make" on each of the following subdirectories:
LIBSRC, SRC, ETC and PROC. The order is irrelevant, except for LIBSRC
which should be always before SRC (Note: some packages might miss some
of these subdirectories)
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
set def
make
set def
make
set def
make
set def
make
[.LIBSRC]
[.SRC]
[.ETC]
[.PROC]
- Finally and optionally, purge the MIDAS:
$ set def ['MIDASHOME'.'MIDVERS']
$ purge [...]*.*
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.3.
Installation problems on SunOS 5.3 and 5.4 (Solaris).
- Before you start the MIDAS installation and if you want to use the
the SUN C compiler, make sure your "path" environment variable contains
at least the following directories:
% set path=(/opt/SUNWspro/bin /usr/bin /usr/ccs/bin .)
- Before you start the MIDAS installation and if you use the GNU C
compiler,
then set your "path" should contain:
% set path=(/opt/cygnus/bin /opt/SUNWspro/bin /usr/ccs/bin /usr/bin
.)
and in the "./local/make_options" file the SLIB definition should be:
SLIB=-lsocket -lnsl -lgcc -R$(MIDASHOME)/$(MIDVERS)/lib
and /usr/lib/libgcc.a must be a soft link to /opt/cygnus/lib/libgcc.a
- Before you start the MIDAS installation, and for those users of MIDAS
the LD_LIBRARY_PATH should contains at least:
% setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH \
/usr/dt/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/opt/SUNWspro/lib:/usr/ccs/lib
- Users of MIDAS need "/usr/openwin/lib" and "/usr/dt/lib" (or equivalent
directories for X11 and Motif) in theirs LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment,
otherwise they will get errors like "libX11.so.n.n: can't open file".
- On SunOS 5.3 the Motif library is not included, thus MIDAS GUIs can not
be compiled. On SunOS 5.4 the Motif library is included and located in
/usr/dt/lib directory.
- The line editor may not work for MIDAS in an openwindows environment if
you run it in a cmdtool window, but it should work in a shelltool
window.
- You may find problems with INTAPE/FITS to read more than one file from
a DAT tape. The INTAPE/FITS may finish with an "End Of Data" after
reading the first file. The problem is simply solved by using the BSD
behavior for DAT tapes, that is, using devicenames with letter 'b'
in the component of the name (e.g. /dev/rmt/0bn instead of /dev/rmt/0n)
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.4. Installation problems on OSF/1.
If during the MIDAS installation you get this error:
Midas 001> @ ascii_bin
........
OSY_SPAWN: Child killed by a signal
Could not execute /usr/util/midas/94nov/prim/exec/crfram.exe
This is due to a bug in the f77 version 3.11-0. The bug has been
already solved in 3.11-4.
If you can not get the f77 release 3.11-4, you will have to remake the
MIDAS installation without using the MIDAS shared libraries. To do so,
put in comments the SH_CMD and SH_EXT entries in your
./local/make_options file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.5.
Installation problems on Linux.
- The binary version of MIDAS for PC/Linux requires the following X11R5
shared libraries libraries:
libX11.so.3.1.0
libXt.so.3.1.0
On a Slackware distribution of Linux you will get these libraries by
selecting the package "oldlibs: Shared X libraries from XFree86 2.1.1
(X11R5)".
- If you want to recompile MIDAS sources on your PC/Linux, you will need
also X11R5 include files and static libraries. These are available
in our anonymous ftp account in "ftphost.hq.eso.org" in
"/midaspub/94NOV/linux/X11R5.tar.z". To install them, as superuser,
type:
# cd /
# zcat X11R5.tar.z | tar xvf To compile MIDAS, and after executing option "5 - preinstall MIDAS" add
the following entries to your "./94NOV/local/make_options" file:
X11INC=-I/usr/X11R5/include
X11_LIBPATH=-L/usr/X11R5/lib
After that you can continue with the option "6 - install MIDAS" in the
installation menu.
- The binary distribution of MIDAS requires Motif 1.2 (run kit) for the
Graphical User interfaces. If you do not have Motif 1.2 (and do not
want
to buy one licence) you can retrieve the binary copy of MIDAS GUIs with
statically linked Motif libraries. They are available in our anonymous
ftp "ftphost.hq.eso.org" under "/midaspub/94NOV/linux/gui" directory.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.6.
Installation problems on HPs.
- The default installation of MIDAS for HPs uses the options "-O" and
"+z" for the C compiler. They are used to optimize the C code and to
generate position independent code for shared libraries.
Here you could get "Warning" messages because these two options are
not supported by the HP-UX C compiler when is provided as part of the
standard HP-UX system. They are supported by the C compiler sold as
an optional separated pruduct.
In this case, and after executing the "5 - preinstall MIDAS" option,
you
will have to remove in the "./94NOV/local/make_options" file the lines
"C_OPT=-O" and those ones starting with "SH_".
- One typical problem with MIDAS on HP is the terminal setup, e.g.:
- The key '@' cannot be typed in the command line, it removes the
already typed line.
- The key 'BACKSPACE' has no influence at all in the MIDAS
command-line.
These problems are most times solved with the following configuration
in
you .login file:
# set up the terminal
eval `tset -s -Q -m ':?vt100' `
stty erase "^H" kill "^U" intr "^C" eof "^D" susp "^Z" \
hupcl ixon ixoff tostop
tabs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question 3.7.
Installation problems on SGs
If in compilation time you get the following error:
Compiler error line 3764 of reduce.f: Too many names.
Try the '-Nn#' option (# currently = 8191)
*** Error code 1 (bu21)
You could solve it by executing the following:
%
%
%
%
cd <midas_dir>/94NOV/contrib/pepsys/src
make reduce.f
f77 -c -Nn15000 reduce.f
make
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.8. I do not have Motif, how could I run MIDAS GUIs ?
------------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.9.
The MIDAS monitor does not have line editing capabilities.
You might have the TERMWIN environment variable set to "no", or if you
are using 93NOV or 94MAY release of MIDAS you are probably using the
inmidas or gomidas script from 94NOV, which undefines the TERMWIN
variable.
With 94MAY and 93NOV you need the TERMWIN variable set to "yes" in
order to use the "TermWindows" line editor. This was done
automatically in "inmidas" and "gomidas" scripts. If TERMWIN is
defined by the user to "no" the line editor is disable.
With 94NOV, the "inmidas" and "gomidas" scripts, by default, do not
touch the TERMWIN variable. If it is undefined or pre-defined by the
user to "no", MIDAS uses the new line editor "readline" from GNU. If
it is defined to "yes" MIDAS uses the old line editor "TermWindows".
If you want to use the same "inmidas" and "gomidas" scripts for
different versions of MIDAS (93NOV, 94MAY and 94NOV), use those
provided in 94NOV and remove the comment character in lines
267-268-269:
if [ -z "$TERMWIN" -a "$MIDVERS" != "94NOV" ]; then
TERMWIN=yes; export TERMWIN
fi
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.10. Why do I get "MIDAS version 94NOV on VAX/VMS" if I am
on UNIX ?
You did forget to execute (or failed) the option "Select: 8 - setup
MIDAS"
in the main cofig menu.
This could also happens if a patch file applied to you version of
MIDAS updated the ./monit/syskeys.datorg or ./monit/syskeys.unix
files. In this case the option "Select: 8 - setup MIDAS" should be
re-executed AFTER the re-installation or update of MIDAS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 3.11.
missing.
Most MIDAS tutorials do not work. The demo data is
The demo data used in most of the MIDAS tutorials are not included in the
distribution source or binary files. They are however available under the
subdirectory "demo" in our "ftp" account, or as an extra file in the
distribution tape. In both cases a README file should explain clearly
how to install this data. The important thing is that MIDAS will look
for demo data in the directory $MIDASHOME/demo. If you have installed
your
demo directory somewhere else you will have to make a soft link to cheat
convince MIDAS of the contrary.
========================================================================
Section 7. Data I/O in ESO-MIDAS. Import-Export.
Q7.1
Q7.2
Q7.3
Why I cannot access my tape device with INTAPE/FITS command?
Problems accessing the remote-tape server.
Can I use MIDAS format files between different platforms?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 7.1. Why I cannot access my tape device with INTAPE/FITS
command?
If the error message you get is "Function not available: open", you
might
have installed an old "<midas_dir>/94NOV/incl/devcap.dat" file. Just
removed it and try again.
The "devcap.dat" was necessary for the 93NOV release and older. With
94MAY
was included a new "generic" driver for tape devices which allows access
to
most common tape devices (DAT/DDS, Exabyte, 1/2"Magtapes) by using a
semi-standard UNIX interface called "mtio". The "generic" driver has
proved
to be good enough for most platforms and it does not require the tape
configuration file "devcap.dat" anymore, but if it exists it will be
used.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 7.2. Out of Synchronism... when accessing a remote tape driver?
Check that client and server are using the same release of MIDAS.
The implementation of the client-server tape service in 93NOV and older
is
incompatible with 94MAY and newer. If you have the need of having two
two of these releases of MIDAS together (e.g. 93NOV and 94NOV), then use
94NOV for the tape server, and copy the executables "intape.exe" and
"outtape.exe" from 94NOV to 93NOV (in directory
<midas_dir>/<rels>/prim/exec).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 7.3 Can I use MIDAS format files between different platforms?
The MIDAS .bdf, .tbl and .fit formats use the local number
representation of
the machine on which it is installed in order to get optimal performance.
There are several different standards used by vendors. The two general
issues
are byte order (i.e. big or little endian; Intel PC's and DEC machines
use
little while most others use big endians) and number format for both
interger
and real numbers (e.g. ones or twos complement, IEEE or VAX; virtual all
vendors use twos complement and IEEE by now).
On UNIX systems, MIDAS format files are interchangeable between
platforms
using the same byte order (i.e. between PC/Linux, Ultrix and OSF/1 for
little
endian architectures, and SunOS, Solaris, HP-UX, Irix and AIX for big
endian
architectures)
As an example, the reason for the problem using SPARC .bdf files on a PC
Linux
system is the byte-order which is opposite. Although we have never seen
the
problem, there could also be different alignment requirements for
different
system.
For exact this reason the FITS format was defined several years ago as a
machine independent exchange format. You would need to use the
OUTTAPE/FITS
command to create a FITS formatted of your files. The FITS files can
then be
transfered to your PC Linux system either by ftp (use binary option) or
tar.
The FITS files are then converted back to .bdf format by the INDISK
(or INTAPE). The 95NOV version of MIDAS can also read FITS files without
an
explicit conversion.
========================================================================
Section 8.
Q8.1
Standard reduction and calibration packages in ESO-MIDAS.
How are the calibration and demonstration data distributed?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question 8.1.
distributed?
How are the calibration and demonstration data
A certain number of tables are distributed on request in complement
to the Midas releases. These tables are also available on anonymous
ftp at the host ftphost.hq.eso.org (IP number 134.171.40.2).
The files to be retrieved are located
in the directory /midaspub/calib and are named README.calib and
calib.tar.Z. Command SHOW/TABLE can be used to visualize the
column name and physical units of the tables. Demonstration
data required to execute the tutorial for the different packages
are also located on this ftp server in the directory /midaspub/demo.
FTP access is also provided on the World Wide Web URL:
http://http.hq.eso.org/midas-info/midas.html
The calibration directory contains other information
such as characteristic curves for ESO filters and CCD detectors, which
can be visualized with the Graphical User Interface XFilter
(command CREATE/GUI FILTER).
========================================================================
Section M. Miscellaneus
QM.1
QM.2
QM.3
QM.4
QM.5
QM.6
QM.7
How to perform desktop computations with MIDAS ?
How do I get on-line help ?
How can I overplot a contour on an image?
How can I reinitialize failing graphic and display windows?
Why do the GUIS appear with missing colors?
How can I define my own commands and create windows when
I start a MIDAS session?
The cursor rectangle created by, e.g. EXTRACT/CURSOR or
GET/CURSOR, does not react to arrow keys.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.1.
How to perform desktop computations with MIDAS ?
Use command COMPUTE/IMAGE, which can be abbreviated to comp,
like in:
Midas...> comp tan(45.) - ln(2.718282) + (1.E-01)**2. + log10(10.)
1.010000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.2.
How do I get on-line help ?
The XHelp GUI can be created with the command CREATE/GUI help
or directly from the shell with the helpmidas command. GUIs
require MOTIF libraries to be installed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.3.
How can I overplot a contour on an image ?
The command ASSIGN/GRAPH DISPLAY will set the display window as a
plotting device. In order to accord the bounds of the image to the
bounds of the plot, use PLOT/AXES [<,<:>,>] followed by PLOT/CONTOUR
command.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.4.
How can I reinitialize failing graphic and display
windows?
Use the command RESET/DISPLAY. Killing the idiserver could have
resulted from interrupting interactive comands with a CTRL-C. Try to
avoid it next time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.5.
Why do the GUIs appear with missing colors ?
Color demanding Midas applications like the display window or external
applications such as xv reserve for themselves a large number of
colors of the Xterminal. The Midas GUIs should be created before such
applications.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.6.
How can I define my own commands and create windows
when I start a Midas session?
Include definitions in your login.prg procedure which can be
located in your working directory or in the MIDWORK directory.
Such a file could include definitions like:
CREATE/COMMAND RK READ/KEYWORD
CREATE/COMMAND CD CHANGE/DIRECTORY
CREATE/DISPLAY
LOAD/LUT heat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Question M.7.
The cursor rectangle created by, e.g. EXTRACT/CURSOR or
GET/CURSOR, does not react to arrow keys.
This is more rather a problem of the keyboard input focus policy of
your window manager than a problem of MIDAS:
Before a window could get any input from the keyword (like arrow keys)
this must be selected. Most window managers support (by default) a
keyboard input focus policy of explicit selection. This means when a
window is selected to get keyboard input, it continues to get keyboard
input until another window is explicitly selected. The client window
with the keyboard input focus has the active window appearance with a
visually distinct window frame.
This focus policy of explicit selection means, for MIDAS commands like
EXTRACT/CURSOR and GET/CURSOR, that in order to use the arrow keys the
MIDAS display window must be selected first, and you do so not by
moving the cursor inside the window, but by pressing button 1 in the
title area of the window.
The other keyboard focus policy, that we here at ESO use by default
and is available in most window managers, is the the pointer one.
When set to pointer, the keyboard focus policy is to have the
keyboard focus set to the client window that contains the pointer.
The window selection is done automatically by moving the mouse pointer
to the window we want to activate.
With the pointer focus policy, MIDAS commands like EXTRACT/CURSOR
reacts immediately to the arrow keys as soon as the mouse pointer is
inside the display window.
To change from explicit selection to pointer focus policy, you will
have to change the resources of your window manager. For the Motif
Window Manager (mwm) is "Mwm*keyboardFocusPolicy: pointer", for
the Virtual Window Manager (fvwm) the pointer focus policy is the
default unless "ClickToFocus" is set in you "system.fvwmrc", for
the OPEN LOOK (openwindows) window manager (olwm & olvwm) the resource
is "OpenWindows.SetInput: followmouse" in your .Xdefaults file.
========================================================================