McIDAS-X for XP Fastrack Version 2012.2
Software and Instructions

This page contains the software and instructions for installing McIDAS-X version 2012.2 on a Windows XP workstation. If you are installing it on a Windows 7 workstation, go to the Windows 7 instructions. If you are installing it on an HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X or Solaris workstation, go to the Unix instructions.

McIDAS-X for XP version 2012.2 is a fully supported Fastrack release. Significant modifications made since the previous release (version 2012.1) are listed in the bullets below. The instructions for obtaining and installing McIDAS-X for XP 2012.2 appear after the bullet list.

• 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.

Before installing Fastrack version 2012.2, make sure you view the complete list of Fastrack 2012.2 Software Changes, and, if you do any programming or local code development/modification also view and complete the appropriate actions described in the Fastrack 2012.2 Programmer Notes (pdf). You might want to print or download these two documents for future reference.

McIDAS-X 2012.2 is a fully supported Fastrack release. 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 will occur at least once on each platform during each calendar year. If you elect to install 2012.2, we ask that you notify the McIDAS Help Desk if you encounter any bugs. Please be sure to mention that you are running version 2012.2.

Also note that if you plan to upgrade to 2012.2 from a version earlier than 2012.1, you must first read and perform any required actions in the release documents for each of the versions you skipped so you know about their major changes and any required actions in the interim. For example, if you are upgrading from version 2010.1 to 2012.2, you must first read and perform any required actions in the release documents for versions 2010.2, 2011.1 and 2012.1. See the past versions page for links to those and other materials from past versions.

 

To obtain and install McIDAS-X and/or McIDAS-XRD 2012.2, complete the following steps.

1. Download (e.g., right-click and select Save option) the following files to the ~mcidas directory on your McIDAS-X for XP workstation.
   Note: The installation will fail if the names of the downloaded files do not exactly match those listed below. If your web browser changes the names of the files during download (e.g., mcidas2012.2_xp.tar.gz becomes mcidas2012.2_xp_tar.gz), you must rename the files to those below before installing.

   File name	Size	Description
   mcidas2012.2_xp.sh	20 KB	install/uninstall script
   mcidas2012.2_xp.tar.gz	156 MB	compressed tar file containing binaries, source and data files; compiled version of -X & -XRD is about 610 MB (updated 12 November 2012 at 21:38 UTC to correct a build error that prevented use of the McIDAS-X GUI, Configuration GUI and ASK1 command)
   mcidas.mcenv	8 KB	environment variables used by McIDAS-X
   mcidas.profile	4 KB	template for creating a .profile file in user accounts that don't have a pre-existing .profile

2. To install McIDAS-X and/or -XRD 2012.2 on your workstation, complete the instructions in the section titled "Installing and Configuring McIDAS-X" in Chapter 1 of the McIDAS User's Guide.