20021104: Setting up LDM for McIDAS-XCD (cont.)

>From: address@hidden
>Organization: UC Davis
>Keywords: 200210282019.g9SKJIX04447 McIDAS-XCD scour

Hi Richard,

>Question for you...
>
>Since we're at an impasse as far as McIDAS goes here...

Are you referring to the XCD dmsyn.k routine problem, or is there something
else?

>I'd like to ask you if
>you could tell me on which operating systems mcidas seems to run best on.

This is an interesting question for sure.  I personally run McIDAS on
Linux, and it works great for me (24-bit color, etc.).  McIDAS-XCD,
on the other hand, runs best on Solaris SPARC and Solaris x86.

>As we've got money to upgrade and we won't have it in the future.

One of our development machines is an aging x86 box (dual 550 Mhz
processor Pentium III) that is receiving ALL of the feeds available in
the IDD AND all of the satellite imagery in NOAAPORT channels 1 and 2
AND a couple of other feeds that are point-to-point only.  It is
decoding everything into McIDAS and GEMPAK formats, and it just keeps
humming along.  We have always been of the opinion that x86 is a much
better operating system for server kinds of stuff.  As far as it being
the ideal workstation for interactive use, Sun does not keep x86 up to
date for video drivers, etc., but it does keep the OS up to date for
disk drivers (SCSI and the like).  Sun's position wrt x86 has always
been that it is for use on servers, not workstations.

Then again, Linux is getting very popular in the Unidata community.  I
personally find that I spend a lot more time troubleshooting problems on
Linux than I ever did on other OSes that I support for McIDAS (with
the exception of Compaq/DEC OSF/1 that is).

>Thanks again for all your help.

Hopefully, I can figure out what is going on with dmsyn.k and make a fix
_soon_!  I will probably try to do this on your machine (if that is
OK) since the other user box that I was using is pretty well hammered
with all of the stuff it is trying to do.

Tom