[AWIPS #NUM-336985]: AWIPS II

> > Hi,
> Hi Mark,
> 
> >
> > We are registered with Unidata and we are currently using GEMPAK and
> > would like to migrate to AWIPS II.
> > Can we get the code in its beta
> > state and start getting some experience with it?  We do not need the
> > Windows client or 64 bit support.
> 
> We would love to open it up to everybody, but for the near future we are not
> distributing the beta code to anyone but our university site testing group.
> 
> 
> Wish we could, but we cannot...
> 
> We have your contact and will notify you when we can open it up to the public.
> 

Hi Mark, 

..another mail, just to be complete.

AWIPS II is now publicly available, please read the announcement below:

Greetings AWIPS II downloaders,
 
I have three important pieces of information for you...
 
First, a preliminary version of AWIPS II ADE 14.1.1 has been made 
available at the usual download location 
(https://collaborate2.nws.noaa.gov/partners/).  This is NOT the final 
(official) version of 14.1.1 -- that's expected in April.  But since 
14.1.1 is the first release developed for RHEL6/64-bit, many of you will 
probably want to get a jump on updating the OS on your development 
machines and testbeds to work with AWIPS II.
 
Second, I did not break up the ADE into 500MB pieces as I've done in the 
past.  I think comms have improved to the point that I don't need to do 
that anymore.  If you have any issues with the download timing out 
before completion, let me know.  Otherwise going forward I'll probably 
keep the delivery whole in order to save time for everyone.
 
Last, and this is the most important part..._*this will be the last 
announcement of new AWIPS II releases (public version) via email*_.  
There will continue to be regular AWIPS II releases, just no official 
announcements of the releases.  Why?  Read on...
 
The AWIPS II support contract is up next year.  In anticipation of the 
bidding process for the new contract, the Federal Government must treat 
all potential vendors equally.  Since the download portal for the public 
version of AWIPS II is now open to the world, we have no way of knowing 
everyone who is downloading the software.  Because of that, we can no 
longer use an email list to announce new releases of the public version 
of AWIPS II because it has the potential to alert some users to new 
releases well before others are aware of the new releases.
 
How can you be informed of new releases?  My suggestion is to look for a 
plug-in or add-on for your browser of choice.  Just a couple seconds of 
searching pointed me to plug-ins for both Firefox and Chrome that will 
notify you when a page gets updated.  There are undoubtedly other 
plug-ins/add-ons/standalone applications that will do the trick.  I 
tested one for Firefox and it worked very well.  Each change on the 
download portal updates the timestamp on the top level directories, so 
the URL above can be monitored for changes.
 
Keep in mind that we generally do not post content on a daily basis.  
Please try to be nice to our server and limit your "pinging" using such 
methods to no more frequent than daily.  That should be more than 
sufficient to keep you updated.
 
If there is any news to share in the future, I'll put it in READ_ME.TXT 
files on the server.  If you're using a plug-in or add-on, it'll pick up 
the change and let you know about it.
 
If you have any thoughts or concerns on this process, please feel free 
to contact me by email.  I'm happy to incorporate any suggestions that 
improve the process as long as they are fair to all and not too 
time-consuming.
 


Cheers!

Jeff




Jeff Weber
Unidata User Support
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: NUM-336985
Department: Support AWIPS
Priority: Normal
Status: Open