19990720: use of OS/2 to run McIDAS

>From: "David J. Travis" <address@hidden>
>Organization: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
>Keywords: 199907201834.MAA28226 McIDAS

David,

>We are currently using Linux to receive McIdas data and then forwarding the
>data to a second workstation running McIdas on OS/2.  At this time things
>seem to be working fine.  I'm wondering if the sunset activities that
>you've been warning us about regarding OS/2 have taken place? If so, and
>things are still running okay on OS/2, can I assume that this will continue
>or are you planning to make additional changes which will eventually
>disable OS/2 completely?   

Unidata McIDAS-OS2 will be sunset as of July 31, 1999.  This means that:

o there will be no new development on Unidata McIDAS-OS2
o it will continue to work as long as:
  o the datastreams being decoded by the XCD for OS/2 decoders don't change
  o the format of the imagery products in the Unidata-Wisconsin datastream
    don't change

We do not do anything to intentionally make any version of McIDAS not
work.  We can not, however, guarantee that things will continue to work
when things like the NOAAPORT datastream being deliverd by the Unidata
IDD are out of our control.

>Although its ingesting fine, we're having problems with the display on our
>linux machine.

What are the problems?  I run McIDAS-X under RedHat Linux and am quite
pleased with its speed and utility.

>I would prefer to continue using the OS/2 machine as our
>primary classroom display for as long as possible. 

Again, I don't forsee any problems immediately.  You could probably
prolong the longevity of your McIDAS-OS2 machine(s) by having your Linux
machine run the XCD decoders and then either accessing the data by
NFS mounted file systems or by migrating to ADDE usage.  The only
problem with the latter option is that there will be no work on the
Unidata Fkey menu interface to make it more and more ADDE compatible.

If your decision to keep using OS/2 is based on your experience with your
Linux machine, then it would probably be best to get to the bottom of
your display problem on it.  How can we help?

>Thanks.  
>David Travis
>
>****************************************
>*Dr. David J. Travis, Asst. Professor  *
>*Department of Geography               *
>*University of Wisconsin-Whitewater    *
>*Whitewater, WI 53190                  *
>*Phone: 414-472-5125 Fax: 414-472-5633 *
>****************************************

Tom Yoksas