New IRAF software available

Doug Tody wrote on Nov 09, 2000

The following new software is available now for download from the IRAF
archives (iraf.noao.edu).  This and other new software will also be demoed
at ADASS 2000 next week in Boston.


IRAF GUI SCIENCE APPLICATIONS PACKAGE NOW AVAILABLE

Some time ago we started a project to develop prototype IRAF applications
with integral GUIs (graphical user interfaces).  These applications have
long since served their purpose in prototyping new technology for science
GUIs and component-based applications in IRAF.  The GUI prototypes are
much more than just technology prototypes however: these are solid science
applications with many new features, with a nice graphical user interface
to boot.  With the release of IRAF V2.11.3 and X11IRAF V1.2 earlier this
year (including the latest hooks needed to run IRAF GUI applications) it
became possible to wrap up work on the GUI prototypes and get them out
for people to use, so we are finally releasing them.

See http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/new_stuff/guiapps.html for more information
on the new IRAF GUI applications, including sample screenshots and
installation instructions.  Note that the new GUIAPPS package is a completely
standard IRAF package - you build and install it just as any other IRAF
package.  The only difference is that a GUI starts up when a GUI IRAF task
is run (Xgterm MUST be used to run the task).  The current standard IRAF
release (both IRAF and X11IRAF) already includes everything needed to run
GUI applications such as those in the new GUIAPPS package.


SYSINFO DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

The SYSINFO utility is a C-shell script which can be executed by IRAF site
managers or users to display information about the current platform and
IRAF installation, as well as run numerous (several dozen) diagnostic
checks on nearly all aspects of the system.  This tool is enormously useful
for diagnosing problems with your IRAF installation - plus it is just fun to
see all the technical details of how your system is configured.

For further information, or to download the software, see

    http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/sysinfo.html

This utility will be included in the next IRAF release, but to use it now
you will need to download and install it separately.

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Last post on Nov 09, 2000