McIDAS User's Guide
Version 2011.1
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The McIDAS-X software is installed in the mcidas account. However, you can not run McIDAS-X as user mcidas. Ask your system administrator to create individual accounts for running McIDAS-X. Then, the user or system administrator must complete these two tasks for each account:
1. Log on to the account and modify the environment variable PATH in your $HOME/.profile (ksh) or $HOME/.cshrc (csh) file. Insert $HOME/mcidas/bin, the directory with your site's locally developed code (the suggested directory is ~mclocal/mcidas/bin), and ~mcidas/bin, in that order, at the beginning of your PATH.
2. You may also need to modify your PATH if it does not contain all of the required directories or have them in the correct order. If you will be writing and compiling your own McIDAS software, update your PATH with the modifications listed in step 3 of Preparing the mcidas Account.
If you will not be writing and compiling McIDAS software, update your PATH with the modifications listed below.
| Operating System | Modification |
| AIX 5L version 5.3.3 | none necessary |
| HP-UX 11.11 | add this directory to your path: /usr/bin/X11 |
| Enterprise Linux 5.0+ | none necessary |
| Mac OS X 10.6.8 | none necessary |
| Solaris 10 | none necessary |
3. Log out and log on again for the changes to take effect.
The actions required to enable certain keys used by McIDAS-X (for example, Alt A, Ctrl F11) vary depending on your workstation and its configuration. This section describes these actions for workstations running the following SSEC-recommended configurations:
These directions assume you are in the account's $HOME directory and logged on to the workstation console.
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for AIX Motif --Follow the steps below if you use an AIX workstation console and the Motif window manager (mwm).
1. Make a copy of the mwm configuration file; enter the commands below.
2. Remove Alt<Key>Fn from the following lines in the Menu DefaultWindowMenu section in the account's .mwmrc.
"Restore" _R Alt<Key>F5 f.restore "Move" _M Alt<Key>F7 f.move "Size" _S Alt<Key>F8 f.resize "Minimize" _n Alt<Key>F9 f.minimize "Maximize" _x Alt<Key>F10 f.maximize "Lower" _L Alt<Key>F3 f.lower |
This allows McIDAS-X to use the Alt F3, Alt F5, Alt F7, Alt F8, Alt F9, and Alt F10 keys.
3. Remove Alt<Key>F4 from the line below in the Menu DefaultWindowMenu section in the account's .mwmrc.
"Close" _C Alt<Key>F4 f.kill |
This allows McIDAS-X to use the Alt F4 key.
4. Delete or comment out the line below from the Keys DefaultKeyBindings section in the account's .mwmrc.
Alt<Key>F6 window f.next_key transient |
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for AIX Common Desktop Environment --Follow the steps below if you use an AIX workstation console and the Common Desktop Environment (dtwm).
1. Create or modify the account's $HOME/.Xdefaults and add the following line.
Dtwm*windowMenu: NoAcceleratorWindowMenu |
2. Select the Edit Dtwmrc icon from the Desktop_Tools section of the Application Manager. The Application Manager is started by clicking its icon on the Front Panel.
3. Delete or comment out the line below in the Keys DefaultKeyBindings and Keys DtKeyBindings sections in the account's dtwmrc file.
Alt<Key>F6 window f.next_key transient |
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for HP-UX Visual Users Environment --Follow the steps below if you use an HP-UX workstation console and the Visual Users Environment window manager (vuewm).
1. Set the environment variable EDITOR. If you use sh or ksh, enter the command below.
If you use csh, enter the command below.
2. Use the command below to display the vi editor and the vuewm resource file in a separate window.
3. Add the line below to the vuewm resource file using the vi editor, write the file, and quit vi.
Vuewm*windowMenu: NoAcceleratorWindowMenu |
This allows McIDAS-X to use the Alt F4 key.
4. Use the command below to display the vi editor and the vuewm initialization file in a separate window.
5. Delete or comment out the line below in the Keys VueKeyBindings section of the vuewm initialization file. Then, write the file and quit vi.
Meta<key>F6 window f.next_key transient |
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for Linux and GNOME --Follow the steps below if you use an Linux workstation console and the GNOME desktop environment.
1. Bring up the Keyboard Shortcuts window by clicking the following in order: Main Menu (in lower-left corner), Preferences, Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Highlight each shortcut associated with a key combination you want to use in McIDAS-X (e.g., <ALT>F2) and press the Backspace key to change it to Disabled. This allows McIDAS-X to use the key combination for strings and other applications.
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for Mac OS X and X11 --Follow the steps below if you use an Mac OS X workstation console and Apple's X11 desktop environment.
1. Start X11 by double-clicking the X11 icon in the Applications>Utilities folder. If X11 is already running, click the X11 icon in the dock to make the application active.
2. Click the X11 menu at the top of the display, then click Preferences to bring up the X11 Preferences window.
3. Click the Input tab, then uncheck the checkbox labeled Enable key equivalents under X11.
Steps 1-3 allow the open-apple keys (on each side of the spacebar) to function as the Alt keys in McIDAS-X.
4. Start a Terminal by double-clicking the Terminal icon in the Applications>Utilities folder. If a Terminal is already running, click the Terminal icon in the dock to make the application active. Then use the xmodmap utility to configure a key to function as the Insert key during McIDAS-X command entry. Choose the appropriate command below, depending on whether you have a fullsize (desktop) keyboard or a laptop.
On a fullsize keyboard, run the command below to configure the help key to function as Insert.
On a laptop, run the command below to configure the option (alt) key to function as Insert.Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for Solaris OPEN LOOK --Follow the steps below if you use a Solaris workstation console and the OPEN LOOK window manager (olwm).
1. Copy files .openwin-init and .Xdefaults to the account's home directory if they do not already reside there.
2. Add the following line to the account's .Xdefaults file.
OpenWindows.KeyboardCommands: SunView1 |
This allows McIDAS-X to use the Alt Q key.
3. Add the following line to the account's .openwin-init file.
xmodmap -e 'keycode 16 = F11' -e 'keycode 18 = F12' |
This allows McIDAS-X to use the F11 and F12 keys, and their Alt, Shift and Ctrl forms.
Enabling McIDAS-X Keys for Solaris Common Desktop Environment --Follow the steps below if you use a Solaris workstation console and the Common Desktop Environment (dtwm).
1. Create or modify the account's Xdefaults file $HOME/.Xdefaults and add the following line.
Dtwm*windowMenu: NoAcceleratorWindowMenu |
2. Select the Edit Dtwmrc icon from the Desktop_Tools section of the Application Manager. The Application Manager is started by clicking its icon on the Front Panel.
3. Delete or comment out the line below in the Keys DefaultKeyBindings and Keys DtKeyBindings sections in the account's dtwmrc file.
Alt<Key>F6 window f.next_key transient |
This concludes the instructions for installing McIDAS-X and configuring user accounts. Continue with Configuring McIDAS-X Sessions with .mcidasrc, which provides information about tailoring McIDAS-X sessions to your preferences.
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