McIDAS TUTORIAL

SETUP
To run mcidas there's a few things you need to add to your own directory.

Make a directory called mcidas/data/ and cd into the data directory. Once there,
copy the files from my directory into it.
ex.  cp /h/tuttle/mcidas/data/* .

Then cd to your root directory & copy this next file into you root account.
ex.  cp /h/tuttle/.mcidasrc .

Then add these lines to your .cshrc file:

setenv McINST_ROOT /unidata/mcidas
setenv MC_DATA /data/mcidas
setenv MCDATA ~/mcidas/data 
setenv MCPATH ${MCDATA}:${MC_DATA}:${McINST_ROOT}/help
setenv MCGUI ${McINST_ROOT}/bin

and make sure that your "set path" line contains /unidata/mcidas/bin/ in it.
After you've done this(and saved it) logout and log back in.

Now you should be able to type the word "mcidas" in your unix window and it
will automatically start up.

OTHER HELP
You can find help about using mcidas commands at this url address:
http://www.met.tamu.edu/documentation/mcidas.html

Or for more sophisticated help, try:
http://unidata.ucar.edu/packages/mcidas/mcx/index.html

IR ENHANCEMENT
One of the files that you copied into your own data directory is "MB.ET"
This contains the Maddox MCS IR Satellite enhancement curve.

Once your viewing a loop of IR images, you can type a simple command to make
this enhancement apply.

For ex.
	ALOOP 1500 1547 1 10 EC ACT 2 (Loops 10 frames around Waco zoomed in times 2)
	EU REST MB 1 10  (Causes all 10 frames to show the MCS enhancement)
	EU REST IMAGE 1 10 (Causes all 10 frames to revert back to default)

DIRECTORY OF STORED DATA
If you're looking at images read off a tape in a particular directory, you
must do the following:

1st: Get on the machine that contains your directory of images. Ex. If your files
	are on chac, either login at the terminal or telnet to it from another
	machine.
2nd: Once you're on the right machine, just open a unix window and type "mcidas"
	or type it at the prompt of the machine if you've telneted into it.
3rd: Now its time to tell mcidas to go to your designated directory to view your
	particular list of files.

For ex.
	login chac
	type-->mcidas in unix window(after this, you will type in the
		mcidas window)
	type-->REDIRECT ADD AREA15* "/mb/atutt/satellite/jun10 
		(this grabs all IR area files from 1500-1547 from another
		directory and remember this is a case sensitive command)
	type-->ALOOP 1500 1510 1 10, or DF 1500 1, to view the files(from here
		you can use xv to grab the images to convert over to gifs if
		desired)
	type-->REDIRECT REST in the mcidas window when done with that 
		particular group (in this case the AREA1500 files under jun10)
	type-->REDIRECT ADD AREA(whatever-14*,21*,etc)for your next directory
		of files.

NOTE: Due to lack of departmental space, make sure that when you're reading the
AREA files off of the departmental tape that you open up another unix window and
cd into the directory you are storing the files. One window can be used to TAR 
the data while the other used to delete the data from the time period not wanted
in the same directory, thereby eliminating the problem of filling up your memory
allocation before you have a chance to grab all of the data to store in that
particular directory.

BUGS

Periodically check your quota on your account to see if it's filled. Mcidas
sometimes has a tendency to dump a large file like a core file under either
the data/ directory or under the .mctmp/ directory. Look into each of these
areas and type an "ls -la" command to see if there is an extremely large file.
The file is usually called SYSIMG.SAV--this file should be removed if found.