McIDAS-X 2012.2 Fastrack Version
Now Available

16 October 2012 McIDAS Help Desk email notification to McIDAS Site Coordinators and the mcidas-users list:

McIDAS-X Fastrack version 2012.2 was recently added to the McIDAS Website.

The significant changes for McIDAS-X version 2012.2 include the following:

• Added support of McIDAS-X on Mac OS X 10.7 Intel. Please note that due to a Tcl/Tk incompatibility with OS X 10.6 and 10.7, the McIDAS-X GUI, Configuration GUI and ASK1 command are not available/supported on OS X systems. All sites should also review the 2013 Operating System Support Plans so you're aware of the changes in support expected in 2013.
• Added new keyword EXClude= to WXTLIST command. The new keyword allows you to exclude output that matches the specifed string(s).
• Increased the size of MAXDEFELEMENTS parameter in mcidas.h and areaparm.inc from 22000 to 25000 so that commands like IMGFILT and IMGOPER can be used with images that contain up to 25,000 elements.
• Updated the GEODATA.CORE and LEODATA.CORE context files (which are used to identify the data used in commands GEO and LEO) to use current satellites and datasets. For example, in GEODATA.CORE datasets MSG/FD, EASTL/NH, WESTL/NH, WESTL/SH, MTSAT/FD and INDOEX/FD were updated, and in LEODATA.CORE the NOAA 15-18 LAC datasets were removed.
• Updated the AVHRR Level 1b server to support Metop-B data. The satellite, which was launched 17 September 2012, is currently in the six week in-orbit verification stage as of October 2012.
• Added ability to access datasets on remote servers that use SSH tunneling. See the new SSHADD, SSHDEL and SSHLIST options and the new remark in the DATALOC command documentation in the McIDAS User's Guide for more information.
• Updated the station database (file STNDB.CORE) to include 12 new TAF stations (K22, KCKV, KCPS, KFVE, KM89, KPSF, KSEZ, KSGU, NZIR, NZPG, NZSP, NZWD) and new Metar station KQSA, plus corrected latitude and longitude of TDWR station MCI. Also removed TAF data type for station KDRA because it no longer issues TAFs.

McIDAS User Services issues its McIDAS-X software updates via fully-supported Fastrack releases (including online documentation updates). This means that the software is fully supported by SSEC, and that each change to the software has been tested on all of the supported workstation configurations. Full system testing occurs at least once on each platform during each calendar year.

If you have questions about this release, call the McIDAS Help Desk at (608) 262-2455, or send email to the Help Desk.