A SanDisk USB 2.0 12-in-1 Card Reader/Writer has been purchased for the ADPF. It is currently residing on Draco, but can be used on any Linux, Windows and Mac OS X computer in the department. This device allows us to read and write to the following types of media: Compact Flash I &II, SD, miniSD, MultiMediaCard, RS-MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SmartMedia and xD.
More information can be found at:
A HP Laserjet 4350 dtn printer has been installed as a replacement for lw2 in Robinson room 211. This new printer is a black and white, duplex laser printer and can print to letter and legal sized paper. The old lw2, an HP Laserjet 8150, has been moved to Robinson room 52 and now prints jobs sent to the "ps" queue.
If you have a Macintosh or Windows computer that prints to either lw2 or ps, you will want to update your drivers. Drivers can be obtained at:
Printers in the ADPF are self-service. This means that users should change out the toner cartridges and install paper when necessary.
AUCTeX is an emacs package that supports writing and formatting TeX documents. For more information, please see:
To activate this mode, add the following line to your ~/.emacs file:
The firefox web browser has been installed. This program is based on the mozilla/netscape navigator and provides a faster, safer and more efficient web browser. It is a web browser only; If you need a mail client, please use the related "Thunderbird" software.
For more details, see:
The "cherry" version of the Gemini Observing Tool (OT) has been installed. The Gemini Observing Tool is the software used for detailed definition and pre-planning of observations from approved proposals during the Phase II process. This version supports new programs for semester 2004B. The program is run under Linux and Solaris by typing:
On Mac OS, the program is a Mac OS application in /usr/local/Applications/.
There is a built-in Help menu, and more details can be found on the web page:
The ISAP (ISO Spectral Analysis Package) and LIA (LWS Interactive Analysis) packages have been installed. These packages are IDL routines for the analysis of ISO data from the SWS and LWS instruments. The software is run by typing:
For more information, see the web page at:
Mpack and munpack are utilities for encoding and decoding binary files in MIME format. For more details, see
| > man mpack |
| > man munpack |
The MX Extensions for Python are a collection of high-quality Python software tools which enhance Python's usability in areas such as ODBC database connectivity, fast text processing, date/time processing and web site programming.
For more info on the package, see the web site:
The Sun Performance Library has been added to the Sun Developer 7.0 compiler set. This library contains enhanced versions of the LAPACK and BLAS routines, as well as FFT and other matrix functions, all optimized for performance on Sun processors. Anyone requiring fast math computation on the Suns should investigate this library.
This library set itself can be found in:
A quick summary of the library can be found in:
along with pointers to more extensive documentation.
The Thunder e-mail client has been installed. This program is based on the mozilla/netscape communicator but provides a faster, safer and more productive e-mail experience.
For more details, see:
Tiny Tim is a software package for generating Hubble Space Telescope (HST) model point spread functions (PSFs). It is easy to use and relatively fast.
For more details as well as example applications of PSF models and the FAQ list, check:
In order to run it, you will probably want something like this in your .cshrc (or other startup) file:
The available programs are tiny1, tiny2, tiny3.
The Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT) from STScI has been upgraded to version 14.0. This useful tool contains two features:
| APT | The Astronomer's Proposal Tool allows users to create and submit Phase I and II HST proposals. This tool must be used for Cycle 14 HST proposals. |
| VTT | The Visual Target Tuner allows users to view and manipulate HST instrument apertures against an image of the target. |
These programs are invoked as 'VTT' and 'APT'. The APT software also includes the latest version of StarView. StarView is a Java-based tool for browsing the HST archive. Users will find more and better features compared to accessing the archive via the HST web site. This program can be invoked as:
There is extensive on-line help using the question-mark icon. For more information, see the StarView web page:
In Mac OS X, APT is a Macintosh (not X11) application, so these programs are run by double-clicking the application icon in /usr/local/Applications/.
The 'cdrecord-prodvd' utility for burning DVDs has been upgraded on Linux and Solaris. Now both DVD-RW and DVD+RW formats are supported. DVD writers can currently be found on the public machines "kronos" and "draco". More help can be found in the cdrecord-prodvd file:
and on our local web page:
DVD-R media can be purchased at Caltech Wired or in limited quantities from Robinson 10.
The CFITSIO library for FITS file input/output has been upgraded to the latest version. This library is needed by a number of astronomy tools, but is easy enough to use in your own FORTRAN and C programs. The library provides for easy access of FITS data files, including the header and data segments. For documentation, see:
| file://usr/local/lib/cfitsio/fitsio.ps.gz |
| file://usr/local/lib/cfitsio/cfitsio.ps.gz |
or the web page:
To use the library, you will need something like this in your compile command:
The CFITSIO.pm Perl module for accessing CFITSIO routines in Perl has also been upgraded to version 1.03. For a bit of information on this feature, see:
CIAO, the X-ray analysis package for Chandra data, has been upgraded to version 3.2.1. This release includes several new and updated instrument- specific tools, as well as a number of bug fixes. Complete release notes documenting the changes in this version can be found at:
To use the CIAO software, you will want something like this in your startup file (e.g. .cshrc):
Then type 'ciao' to load the software. More information is available on the CIAO web site:
The X-ray calibration database for use with CIAO has also been upgraded, to version 3.0.1. This upgrade includes a number of changes outlined in:
While most of the changes from version 2 to 3 are organizational, a few calibration files have changed, and a number of older, obsolete calibration files have been removed.
For more information on CALDB, there is a web page:
The FFTW Fast Fourier Transform library has been upgraded. This is a very fast FFT library for use in C and FORTRAN programs. For more information, see the web page:
or the user manual:
| file://usr/local/lib/fftw/fftw_toc.html |
| file://usr/local/lib/fftw/fftw.ps |
To use this library in a program, you will need to link to the library with something like this in your compile command:
| -L/usr/local/lib -lsfftw | <-- single-precision |
| -L/usr/local/lib -ldfftw | <-- double-precision |
We have also installed the threaded version of this library, for optimization on parallel processor machines. To use the threaded (double-precision) library, add something like this to your compile command:
This is the final version 2.x release of the FFTW library. Those requiring version 3.x of the library (which is not entirely compatible with version 2.x) should contact help@astro.
The Ghostscript package has been upgraded to AFPL version 8.15. This includes the interpreter which underlies 'ghostview' and 'gv', as well as some utilities, such as 'ps2pdf' and 'ps2epsi'. There are manual pages as well as documentation at:
The Grants Management System (GMS) for electronically submitting HST grants has been upgraded. This is a minor update that improves some supplemental budget issues. It can be run as:
on Linux and Solaris. On Mac OS X, just double click on:
The HP Advanced Design System has been upgraded on the Solaris machines. HP ADS is a linear and nonlinear circuit simulator. In order to run it, you will probably want something like this in your .cshrc (or other startup) file:
To start the software, run 'ads'.
There is extensive local documentation at:
Included there are release notes describing the changes in this latest version, such as support for remote simulations on RedHat Linux computers.
IDL has been upgraded to the latest version, v6.1.1. This powerful data analysis and visualization package has online help (type '?'), as well as a manual set available in the computer room (Robinson 52). Power users should come by Robinson 10 for their own paper copy of the "What's New in IDL 6.1" manual. This manual and others are also available in PDF form, including "Using IDL" and the "IDL Reference Guide":
| file://usr/local/rsi/idl/help/using.pdf |
| file://usr/local/rsi/idl/help/refguide.pdf |
| file://usr/local/rsi/idl/help/whatsnew.pdf |
There are additional useful manuals in that directory. Users might also consult the RSI web site:
Please note that all IDL processes older than 5 days will be automatically killed, in order to conserve our floating network licenses. Please contact help@astro if you have any questions concerning this policy.
The most recent version of the IDL Astronomy User's Library has been installed in /usr/local/rsi/idl/external/astron/. For more information, please see the README and a description of the available procedures:
| file://usr/local/rsi/idl/external/astron/README |
| file://usr/local/rsi/idl/external/astron/contents.txt |
The primary web site, with more detailed descriptions of the various IDL procedures, can be found at:
To use the library, you may want to add something like this to your IDL .startup.pro file:
|
; add all subpaths of the IDL external directory, prepending !PATH = expand_path('+' + !DIR + ':' + 'external' + ':' + !PATH) ; setup non-standard system variables for astro library astrolib |
The following must be defined in your startup file (e.g. .cshrc) for the above to work:
A graphics manipulation package called ImageMagick has been upgraded to version 6.1.5-7. This package includes programs like "convert", "combine", "identify", "mogrify", "montage", "animate", "display", and "import". There are man pages for each of these programs. More information can be found at:
This package is especially good for image type conversion.
A perl interface to ImageMagick is also available. More details can be found at:
Maple, another mathematical package, has been upgraded to version 9.5. There is on-line help available, including a "New User's Tour", under the "Help" menu in the X Windows version of the program. It can be invoked as:
| > xmaple | # X-windows version |
| > maple | # non-gui |
Matlab is a computing environment that provides tools for data analysis, visualization, and algorithm and application development. Matlab has been upgraded from Release 13 to Release 14. There is on-line help available by selecting "MATLAB Help" from the Help menu, or from loading this URL in your browser:
With this release, we also have installed Matlab on the Mac OS X machines, where it is a Macintosh application.
PyDrizzle and MultiDrizzle have been upgraded. These tools are PyRAF programs for drizzling dithered data, particularly from the ACS instrument on HST. For more information, see the web pages:
| http://stsdas.stsci.edu/pydrizzle/ |
| http://stsdas.stsci.edu/pydrizzle/multidrizzle/ |
The latest changes are documented in:
| file://usr/local/iraf/extern/stsdas/python/pydrizzle/History |
| file://usr/local/iraf/extern/stsdas/python/multidrizzle/README |
and include a number of improvements in the handling of WCS information.
SpamAssassin is a mail filter program that can help identify and mark e-mails that have contents resembling SPAM. It can be run on a per-user basis, or on a site-wide basis. When SpamAssassin identifies a spam, it changes the "Subject:" of the e-mail to contain the word "*****SPAM*****". It also adds certain headers mail programs can use to sort out the spam.
For more information, see:
Or see the documentation with this command:
| > perldoc spamassassin |
| > perldoc Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf |
| > man spamassassin |
The SIRTF Planning Observations Tool (SPOT) has been upgraded. This is a Java-based tool for preparing observations on the SIRTF observatory. This version is required for Cycle 2 proposals. The Leopard archive tool has also been upgraded.
Note that the Mac OS X version of these tools is a native Mac application and as such can be found in:
There is an on-line "Help" menu, and the User Guide is available locally:
| file://usr/local/optical/spot/Spot_UserGuide_v110.pdf |
| file://usr/local/optical/spot/Leopard_UserGuide_v20.pdf |
Users will also want to visit the web site for the Spitzer Science Center:
Supermongo, the plotting package, has been upgraded. This is a minor release, primarily for bug fixes. For more information, see
or use the info program to read the Supermongo documentation. There is also a paper manual in Robinson 52, and a PostScript copy of the manual at: