 Release
of V4.00 beta TNT products
August 1992
Table of Contents
Release
Notes Index
19 August 1992
Release of TNT-MIPS V4.00ß
Introduction
TNT-MIPS V4.00ß is being shipped to you
for your possible experimentation on either 3.5" or 5.25" high density
disks according to the preference expressed on your MIPS registration
forms. The floppy disks which make up TNT-MIPS V4.00ß contain a common
set of routines which are distributed to all current subscribers to MIPS
V3.30. Installation of TNT-MIPS will not alter your current
MIPS V3.30 in any way. It will create a complete new TNT-MIPS
structure on your drive and will subsequently recreate or update it with future
releases.
This release of V4.00ß is neither
complete nor reliable. The attached schedule indicates the status of each
process. The principal purpose of providing it at this time is to provide an
overview of how TNT-MIPS will operate on all computer platforms
supported. It will also get all of you either planning or experimenting with
Microsoft Windows (MS W) V3.1 and the possible hardware changes
you may need to make to accommodate it and TNT-MIPS in turn.
A maintenance upgrade to MIPS V3.30
designated V3.31 will be prepared and shipped in the next 6 weeks or
less. It will install revised, corrected versions of some of the processes in
V3.30. At this time it is not anticipated that a MIPS V3.40 will
ever be released. Those who have subscribed to MIPS V3.4 will receive
TNT-MIPS V4.1, V3.5 goes to V4.2, and so on.
Other Platforms
Versions of TNT-MIPS V4.01ß are
available for other platforms on a schedule and terms as outlined in the
MICROIMAGES MEMO dated 5 August 1992 and entitled Release Schedule for
TNT-MIPS V4.0. Supporting the creation of these products, MicroImages now
has available, or expects immediate delivery of, one example of every popular
workstation marketed today including Sun, IBM, DEC, HP, Data General, and
SiliconGraphics. No particular difficulties are being encountered with compiling
completed TNT-MIPS processes for these various workstations under their
brand of UNIX using their 32-bit C compilers.
Sample Documentation
A printed section of the planned on-line
documentation for TNT-MIPS is included. It covers both installation and
basic system features as well as details on the new advanced display program at
the heart of TNT-MIPS. You will immediately note that this printed
documentation includes extensive illustrations. Almost all of these
illustrations are direct screen saves from windows created in TNT-MIPS.
These windows are identical to those you
would see if you were running TNT-MIPS on any of the variety of PC, MAC,
or workstation setups supported. The on-line documentation process in
TNT-MIPS is now being rewritten. It will use windows for displaying the
manual text and also sample color "snapshots" of process windows and examples.
The on-line documentation process is also being expanded to print these
illustrations for you in black and white when and if, you print TNT-MIPS
manual sections at your location.
Installation
Running INSTALL upgrades your key to
authorize it for V4.00ß. It then decompresses and writes a copy of each
licensed process from the disks containing V4.00ß into a \TNTMIPS
directory on your hard drive. You must use the INSTALL routine on the
installation disk supplied with this release to decompress the files during
installation.
An initial printed section of documentation is
provided to assist you in setting up your system for TNT-MIPS once you
have MS W V3.1 installed using the material and assistance
provided by Microsoft. The TNT-MIPS INSTALL program works
essentially as it did with MIPS V3.30 but will not alter V3.30 in
any way. For example, it will check your hard drive to determine that space is
available for the installation you are making. Follow either the printed or
on-line INSTALL instructions to add TNT-MIPS to a system which
already has MS W V3.1 installed and operating correctly.
V4.01ß or even V4.02 should be in
your possession by the time many of you have worked through installing MS W
V3.1 and trying this V4.00ß. Remember, MS W V3.1 uses DOS
V5.0 and its addition to your system at this time will in no way will impair
your continued use of MIPS V3.30 or other DOS based software.
Thus, assuming you have sufficient hard drive space available, you can set up
and test MS W V3.1, install TNT-MIPS V4.00ß, and then delete the
directory containing TNT-MIPS if you are short on drive space. This would
leave MS W V3.1 installed for your next examination of TNT-MIPS V4.01ß
and its eventual use when complete.
It is our suggestion that you first choose menu
selection "T" (Install Minimal Test Version) offered by the
INSTALL program. This approach will use about 5 megabytes of drive space. It
will install only the new display program and its associated support elements
including the appropriate menu and the process to convert RVF project
files into RVC project files. This comprehensive new display process is
explained in detail in the enclosed documentation and is the heart of
TNT-MIPS. It still lacks some important features such as a line style and
point style editor but the pattern style editor is available to illustrate how
these options will eventually work. However, it will use line and point styles
imported with your objects from RVF project files.
When you experiment with this new display
process you will find that it is a much more comprehensive activity than in
MIPS V3.30. It should be apparent that since the severe memory constraints
of MIPS are being lifted by MS W V3.1, our new processes will be
considerably larger. Correspondingly, however, there will be fewer processes
involved as formerly independent processes are consolidated into fewer, more
comprehensive procedures.
After you have familiarized yourself with the
display process, you may subsequently choose menu selection "M"
(Install TNT-MIPS Version 4.00 Beta) on the INSTALL program to
complete the loading of all the other available processes. TNT-MIPS V4.00ß
will require 35 megabytes of your hard drive. Eventually this hard drive
requirement will shrink as processes are streamlined and integrated together.
The 5.25" version has 16 disks as follows: 14
containing processes, 1 installation, and 1 containing the MI wrapper.
The 3.5" version has 14 disks as follows: 12
containing processes, 1 installation, and 1 containing the MI wrapper.
Items below which are new and can be requested
for MIPS V3.30 or represent significant new information are preceded by
**.
New Image Printers/Plotters
Supported
The driver for the HP PaintJet XL-300 is now
available. Please contact Technical Support if you need a copy of this driver
for use with MIPS V3.30.
New Film Recorder Supported
**The Dicomed film recorder which is similar
and directly competitive with the Solitaire film recorder is now supported for
MIPS V3.30.
Exclusive International
Representatives
MIPS is now in operation in 33 nations.
Our Technical Support Staff is now in frequent contact via phone and FAX with
our clients around the world. Continued expansion of interest in TNT-MIPS
outside the United States has resulted in the addition of several new exclusive
representatives during the quarter. These new representatives with ongoing
TNT-MIPS projects and new pending clients are as follows.
**Eastern Canadian Provinces of Ontario,
Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and
Labrador will now be serviced for MicroImages products by INFOPLAN; 1460 Carson
Ave.; Dorval (Montreal); Quebec H9S 1M8; CANADA; voice (514)631-2090 and FAX
(514)631-2090. Marcel Desmarias is the principal at INFOPLAN. INFOPLAN markets
decision oriented software to large corporate accounts in Canada. Marcel
carefully investigated a number of GIS products and conducted a market survey
with MIPS materials before selecting it as the GIS product for INFOPLAN's
customers. MicroImages welcomes Marcel and his associates to our international
operations.
**S.E. Australian States of Victoria,
New South Wales, and Tasmania will now be serviced for MicroImages products by
CADABILITY; 3 Beena Court; Glen Waverly (Melbourne); Vic 3150; AUSTRALIA; voice
(613)560-6822 and FAX (613)560-6396. Arun Khanna is the principal at
CADABILITY. Arun is the Australian distributor of a number of software and
hardware products commonly used with TNT-MIPS including Howtek scanners
and Truevision display boards. We welcome him and his crew to our international
operations.
Staff Changes and Expansions
Carol D. Wells has joined MicroImages as a
Documentation Specialist. Carol has a BA degree in English from the University
of Nebraska. She joins our staff from that of Technical Management, Inc.,
another Lincoln software developer, where she was Documentation Coordinator. Her
first assignment will be as part of the existing team rewriting the illustrated,
on-line manual for TNT-MIPS.
Scott Campbell has joined MicroImages as a
Sales Specialist. Scott is a new graduate with a BA degree in Journalism and
Advertising from the University of Nebraska. He will assist Lee Miller in the
marketing of MicroImages products to our domestic Resellers.
Greg L. Harrison has joined MicroImages as a
Software Engineer. Greg has just completed his BS degree in Computer Science at
the University of Nebraska. His first assignment will be the preparation of the
illustrated, on-manual process for TNT-MIPS.
Carol Russell has departed from her position as
a Documentation Specialist with MicroImages.
Trent Bills has left MicroImages to complete
his degree and move on into a graduate program at another University. Trent was
one of the "charter members" of MicroImages software team and was responsible
for many innovative features in MIPS.
Advanced User Workshop 5 (AUW5)
The Fifth Advanced User Workshop (AUW5)
will be held in Lincoln as usual on the bitter cold days of 12, 13, and 14
January 1993. At your request, this year January 15 (a Friday) will be scheduled
as an additional "open day" for the workshop so you can all visit with your
favorite programmer and technical support specialist. This year the fee for the
3 day formal workshop will increase to $400 and the open day will be provided
without charge. AUW5 will find us all in the thick of using TNT-MIPS
and planning the exciting new, advanced capabilities it will allow. Please make
plans early for these dates if you are outside the U.S. and/or with a government
agency requiring long range planning.
One new topic area for AUW5 already
suggested by you will be the demonstration and comparison of performance
features of TNT-MIPS across a variety of platforms. MicroImages will
attempt to prepare and distribute performance information addressing this
question on some sort of normalized basis such as performance per dollar spent.
The "open" Friday session will provide an opportunity for a personal, close up,
comparative examination of these platforms and their performance.
TNT-MIPS Release Schedule
revised to 18 August 1992
Shipping as V4.00ß
7 August development cut off date
17 August shipping date
General utility materials
MicroImages' wrapper to convert existing MIPS
8-bit display board drivers into Microsoft Windows V3.1 drivers.
MicroImages' X server for Microsoft Windows
V3.1
Conversion of RVF project files to RVC
project files
Installation instructions for TNT-MIPS in
Microsoft Windows V3.1 and on workstations.
Printed draft manual section on use of
TNT-MIPS display and system processes
Object display and editing
Integrated composite display of raster,
vector, and CAD objects [the graphic windows for designing a line's style and
a symbol's style are not available. will display styles of existing lines and
points created and imported from RVF files. try the bit pattern editor which
is available to create fill patterns. see a list of other missing features
scheduled for V4.01ß below]
3D display of raster objects [create
and manipulate a wireframe for the raster but the raster can not be
subsequently draped or drawn on the wireframe]
Interactive editing of CAD objects [included
but will not actually allow editing as drawing tools, e.g. draw a circle,
line, etc. not completed]
Interactive editing of vector objects [will
not allow line to be drawn across an existing line so as to intersect it]
Mosaicking of raster objects [complete except
for trend removal, between frame color balancing, and abut method of seam
formation]
Object utilities
Raster import/export [available for selected
external formats]
Raster, vector, and CAD statistics
Copy raster utility
Database object import/export
Database object editor
Relational database object query operations
Object conversions
Raster to vector Conversion
Home range polygon finding
Surface fitting to swarms of data points
Viewshed computation from elevation object
Watershed properties from elevation object
Image and GIS processing
Fourier analysis of 2D images
Spatial filtering
Principal components on multispectral images
Multilinear regression on multispectral
images
Classification of multispectral images
(supervised and unsupervised)
Extract rectified DTM elevation models and
orthophoto/images from SPOT images and stereo airphotos using a relative model
[numerous advanced features included over MIPS V3.3]
Hardcopy Creation
Pen plotting
Raster printing [new color balance window is
designed and will show but does not yet function]
Additional features
shipping as V4.01ß
4 September development cut off date
11 September shipping date
General utility materials
MicroImages' wrapper to convert existing MIPS
16- and 24-bit display board drivers into Microsoft Windows V3.1 drivers.
Conversion of RVC project files to RVF
project files
Final printed copy of Application Note on
X-Y Digitizing
Final printed copy of Application Note on
Map and Poster Layout
Object display and editing
Interactive editing of rasters
Additional display processes
Interactive Contrast Enhancement
Pin mapping
Histograms of raster objects
Profile raster objects
Object extents
Measurements
Shading raster objects
Inspection tools
Raster object correlation
Raster object creation
Import raster object from 8 mm and open reel
tape
Scanning
Object conversions
Warping objects
CAD to vector object conversion
Vector to CAD object conversion
Georeferencing objects and changing object
projections
Computing buffer zones for vector elements
Image and GIS processing
Progressive image transformation
Hardcopy Creation
Plotting into a raster
Map and poster layout
Additional features
shipping as V4.02
2 October development cut off date
9 October shipping date
General utility materials
Illustrated, on-line manual (the process and
as much of the manual as available)
Editor for creating outline fonts
Object display and editing
HyperIndex and HyperIndex Linker
Capturing of live video
Object utilities
Import/export of CAD objects
Import/export of vector objects
Merging of CAD objects
Merging of vector objects
Image and GIS processing
Feature Mapping
Spatial Manipulation Language
Not yet scheduled
Slide show process
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25 March 2009 |
page update:
16 Jun 11
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