SDDAS.org - Notes

General:

You can find out the version of your system through "uname -a". OpenGL, although recommended, is not required. We also support the Crystal Eyes glasses on all platforms.

Exporting data from IDFS to either CDF or netCDF requires these programs installed on your computer. You may find them at our Related Links section.

Notes by platforms
	Sun Solaris Linux Windows/Mac OS-X Windows Mac OS-X

Sun Solaris:

OpenGL is recommended, and can be had from Sun Microsystems web site. It comes pre-installed on Solaris v2.7 and later. Our build is done on Solaris v2.8. Earlier versions may not work.

Linux:

We build on Centos v5.0 and all software is bundled using ErmineLight. There are a couple issue with this new build:

You can't type on the keyboard, but the mouse works. Lots of odd error messages on the console.
Solution: export XKEYSYMDB=`locate XKeysymDB`
If you type locate XKeysymDB from the command line, it may return several results. If this occurs, you can probably just use the first result. Something like:
export XKEYSYMDB=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB.
With this solution, you will have to add it into your environment when you login (i.e. your .bashrc). For a more permanent solution for all users, you can add a line like: XKEYSYMDB=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB into your /etc/environment file.
When throwing the display of an executable from Linux to a Solaris box, it can not find a font so there is no text.
1. Save the original X setting by making a copy of the following files:
  xrdb -query > X_font_orig
  xrdb -query > X_font_mod
2. Edit X_font_mod.
  motif/X does not not like font settings ending with a colon in them.
  The two typical settings that are causing the crashes are:
```
   *XmText*FontList: -dt-interface  user-medium-r-normal-m*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:
   *XmTextField*FontList: -dt-interface user-medium-r-normal-m*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*:
```
  If the colon on the end of the font is removed, then there is no crash.
3. After editing run...
  xrdb -load X_font_mod
  
  This enables the new Xfonts to apply to this system/host
4. If you want to go back to your original settings type...
  xrdb X_font_orig

Windows/MacOSX General Notes:

Even though we have compiled SDDAS for both of these platforms, the software still depends on an X server being present on the computer. Free ones are available for both platforms.

Windows:

The current Windows port works with Cygwin v1.5.1 which can be had from the Cygwin home page. Earlier versions of Cygwin may not work.

If you do not have an X-Server, and do not want to pay for one, you will need to install the XFree files distributed by Cygwin at http://www.cygwin.com/xfree/. X is included in the standard install of Cygwin.

You may also have to add a "export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0" into your .profile (C:\CYGWIN\home\<user name>\.profile from Windows) if you wish to use any of the X applications outside of the control panel.

Instead of sourcing the creating .sddasrc file, it is suggested that you set the SDDAS_HOME variable and update the path in your .profile file. SDDAS_HOME should be set to the Windows style of path such as C:/SDDAS. You only need to do this if you use SDDAS from the command line.

For example:

		export SDDAS_HOME=C:/sddas
		export PATH="/cygdrive/c/sddas/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:$PATH"

Much of the problems of SDDAS on Windows are dependent on the X-Server being used. We use the X that comes with Cygwin with no issues. Other X Servers may not be so nice. Make sure GLX and backing store are enabled. To enable backing store with cygwin, edit the "startxwin.bat" file. You will see a line that says "%RUN% XWin ...". Add a +bs to the end of that line.

A high color depth is also desirable.

You can start X from a Cygwin window by typing "startxwin.bat" from the command line. An xterm should come and a grey X should appear in your systray. You will also need to install lesstif which gives Windows a Motif library. Lesstif is not installed by default. Use the Cygwin setup program to download Lesstif.

If you use the IDL environment, you will probably have to set some environment variables. You set environment variables using Windows native control panel. In XP, it is in Start->Control Panel->System->Advanced->Environment Variables. You ought to add C:\cygwin\bin to your path so all commands can be done from a Cygwin window or native Windows command (cmd.exe) window.

Depending on your X-Server, showing the Earth in Orbit plots may not work since texture maps have to be supported by the GLX server.

Printing does not work on Windows 95/98. It should work fine in Windows 2000 or higher.

Mac OS-X:

You must have an X-server installed on your Mac. Apple ships one with Panther (10.3), but it is not installed by default. It is easily installable from disk 3 that came with Panther. Earlier versions of Mac OS-X may give problems since we build on Panther, but most of SDDAS should work fine.

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