20001027: DIFAX (fwd)

This message is forwarded from Rich Clark, Chair of the Unidata Users Committee 
concerning alternatives to Difax.

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Date: Friday, October 27, 2000 2:20 PM -0400
From: Richard Clark <address@hidden>
Subject: DIFAX

Greetings:

By now it is common knowledge that Alden is no longer a supplier of
Difax products. This has brought to the forefront the larger question
of the future of Difax, along with a flurry of healthy email about the
role of Difax and the creation of difax-like products by the community.
Let us first recognize that the days of Difax are limited (Alden or not).
I believe that the fading of Difax affords us the opportunity to build
a better mouse trap. Here are some things that have been going on to treat
the symptoms of Difax withdrawal.

Unidata staff, notably Jeff Weber, have been busy compiling
community-generated alternatives that can be employed to create Difax-like
products.  Jeff has added a link to these alternatives that can be
accessed via www.unidata.ucar.edu go to community, then Difax
alternatives <http://unidata.ucar.edu/community.difax.html>. These scripts, 
some Unidata-produced and others home brew, can be used to create Difax-like 
products on your home server using the IDD datastream, thus eliminating the 
need for Difax. But this is only part of the effort.

Many users may be interested in learning of the initiative by the University of 
Wisconsin (UW), notably Pete Pokrandt, in cooperation with Unidata, to create a 
full suite of difax-like products (about 100) on a UW server, and make those 
products available to the user community.  Testing has been going on for about 
a week at Millersville, Lyndon State, and UC San Diego to obtain Difax-like 
products created at UW, and so far the results have been very positive. 
Currently, the number of products is limited to ETA and MRF runs, surface maps, 
and ETA initializations on constant pressure surfaces, but this number is being 
expanded almost daily.  The maps created by UW are of very high quality, and 
printable on 8.5x11 or 11x17 postscript printers. The topology for product 
distribution has not been ironed out yet, but Unidata and UW are working on it. 
It is likely that the products will be piped into the IDD system. A general 
announcement to the Difax community regarding the availability of these 
products will be forthcoming when a topology has been worked out.

In addition to the UW/Unidata initiative, the user community can, and
should, participate in generating specialized products that could be 
distributed to other institutions using the IDD topology. Wisconsin should not 
be seen as
providing one-stop-shopping for the variety of specialized products that the 
user community may want. Most sites receive the data needed to create the 
charts and could run the scripts that generate them at their own installation. 
That would give the community more control over what is produced, enable us to 
generate products specific to our region, and eliminate a single point of 
failure in the system by providing alternate IDD sources for the maps. Unidata 
can assist institutions interested in developing such products with getting 
those products to the IDD for community-wide distribution.
(Remember that Unidata's business is the management of data and software,
not the generation of products, per se.) Again, if you want to replicate what
Wisconsin is doing, or create specialized products, you can start the process 
by obtaining scripts using the web link given above.

We have an opportunity to create a suite of valuable products through the
spirit of cooperation that has become the cornerstone of the Unidata/User
Community relationship.  Wisconsin is poised to deliver a suite of general 
products in the near future that, if the test products are any indication, 
should satisfy the most discerning user. In addition, specific products and 
replicates of the Wisconsin suite of products can be generated at the local 
institutions and distributed to others.  Many believe this is the appropriate 
path to follow, but Unidata and the UserComm continue to solicit your
comments through the Difax email list, <address@hidden>

On behalf of the Unidata UserComm, I would like to extend a sincere thanks
to Jeff Weber, Pete Pokrandt, Linda Miller and other members of the Unidata 
staff, the test site point persons, and the contributors to the Difax, 
ldm-users, and usercomm email dialogue for their combined efforts. There is 
still much that can be done, but it appears that we are making progress. 
Unidata staff will continue to provide updates as necessary. If you
want to participate in the ongoing dialogue regarding difax, please
subscribe to the difax email list (www.unidata.ucar.edu, go to support, then 
click email lists).

Thanks,
Rich Clark
Unidata UserComm Chair.

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