20000907: Unidata McIDAS-X 7.7

>From: "Alliss, Randall J." <address@hidden>
>Organization: Litton-TASC
>Keywords: 200009072049.e87KnoN09566 Unidata McIDAS

Randy,

>I was wondering when Unidata Mcidas7.7 was to be made available. As you know
>we are running on Dec-Alphas which is not a supported platform at SSEC.
>thanks,

Believe it or not, I am still going back and forth with SSEC on
revisions of code that I feel need to be in my 7.7 release.  I don't
mean to imply that SSEC has not been helpful, because they have been
VERY helpful.  Most of the modifications that we have been working on
relate to the new MAP command and how routines that can put up maps
interact with it.  The new incarnation of MAP uses context files
(MAP.USER, MAP.SITE, and MAP.CORE) for things like the mapping of map
mnemonics to LAT,LON settings; map colors; line widths; the ability to
plot a map using several OUTLxxxx files in one go; etc.  All-in-all,
Russ Dengel is doing a great job at finishing/fixing the work that Rod
started (Rod no longer works at SSEC, and neither does Dan Forrest!).

In one of my first passes through the code, I found and implemented
fixes that were needed for DEC OSF/1 (we have 4.0E but one of my sites
is using 5.0).  The major hole that I have not even had time to address
was the ADDEization of my MCGUI.  After checking out several newly
modified routines from SSEC today (SFCPLOT, SFCCON, RAOBPLOT, RAOBCON),
I could cut you a distribution, so you could get moving.  Is this of
interest, or do you want to wait for my "official" release (a release
that has now missed two of my own deadlines).  Let me know.

>Dr. Randall J. Alliss
>Senior Meteorologist
>Litton-TASC
>4801 Stonecroft Blvd
>Chantilly,VA 20151
>703-633-8300 x4002
>www.tasc.com

Tom