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 Release of V4.40 TNT products
September 1993
Table of Contents
XXI. TNTsdkTM (Software
Development Kit)
Release Notes Index
Release of TNTmipsTM V4.4
Introduction
Effort on TNTmipsTM since the shipment of V4.30 has
been concentrated on improving the speed and reliability of selected processes.
Missing minor features of MIPS V3.33 processes were restored to TNTmips
as fast as they were identified by users of V4.30. The most important new
feature added with V4.40 is a complete rewrite of the plotting process to
make it part of Map and Poster Layout with advanced features. The first draft of
all the on-line documentation has been completed. As usual, all significant new
features added to V4.40 are reviewed in detail below.
The primary distribution form of TNTmips has been moved to the more
reliable and convenient CD-ROM at the request of most clients. This has
delayed the distribution of V4.40 by additional 2 weeks while MicroImages
learned the hidden details of producing a single CD-ROM for use with 9
different types of computer platforms. This CD-ROM version of TNTmips
4.4 is being supplied to every client irrespective of the status of your
subscription. Floppy disk media for PCs and tape media for workstations
are also supplied where so specified in your response to the recent
questionnaire.
If you did not order TNTmips 4.4 you can not install it from this CD-ROM.
If you wish to do so now please contact MicroImages by FAX or phone to arrange
to purchase the required updates. MicroImages will immediately supply you with a
16 digit code number. Entering this code number when running the TNTmips
installation process will allow you to complete the installation and immediately
use V4.40. With the release of V4.50 on CD-ROM, any
additional support feature (P5, X3, L3, and so on) can be directly ordered via
phone or FAX. A similar 16 digit number will be provided by phone or FAX which
will allow the immediate installation and use of that feature.
Loading a full install of the TNTmips 4.4 processes onto your PC
hard drive will require just less than 60 megabytes. The full installation size
will vary for a workstation depending upon the platform type. Installing the
on-line illustrations, which are not yet compressed, will require another 80
megabytes on any platform (47 megabytes if compressed by DOS 6.0). Thus,
as explained in detail below, it may be realistic to many of you who have a CD-ROM
drive to leave the illustrations on the CD-ROM and let the on-line
documentation process display them from this disk as needed.
TNTmips 4.5 will be shipped about mid-December on the normal quarterly
release schedule. However, it is clear from past experience that this September
release of V4.40 will be that with which you are most familiar when we
see you at the 6th Advanced Users' Workshop in January.
TNTviewTM
TNTview 4.3 (product MV10) was shipped about 1 month ago to all
those clients who had purchased the DOS HyperIndex stand-alone product
(product J10) at any previous time. This $1000 product contains all the
visualization capabilities for *.RVC files outlined in an earlier
MicroImages Memo together with complete ability to access and display any
HyperIndex stack created with TNTmips.
TNTatlasTM
TNTatlas can use only prepared HyperIndex stacks. It has a vastly
simpler user interface than TNTmips or even TNTview as most of the
use of a HyperIndex stack is highly interactive clicking and pointing. The only
essential initial window activity is the location and selection of the stack to
be started if multiple choices are available. MicroImages is now accepting
orders for 30 day delivery of units of 5 or more TNTatlas products. TNTatlas
is $400 per unit on a PC (uses a black key) and $500 per unit for use
with any other platform (uses a red key).
TNTsdkTM
This software development kit is available for all supported platforms for V4.4.
It now contains the prototype of an interactive X/Motif windows layout
tool which will be perfected for release with V4.5.
Installation
from Tape and Floppies
from floppies for Microsoft Windows 3.1 (MS W3.1).
The 5.25" disk version has 30 disks as follows: 25 containing processes
(outline fonts are not being replaced); 4 containing the on-line documentation;
and 1 with the installation process and the utilities.
The 3.5" disk version has 25 disks as follows: 21 containing processes
(outline fonts are not being replaced); 3 containing the on-line documentation;
and 1 with the installation process and the utilities.
Running INSTALL from the corresponding floppy upgrades your key to
authorize it for V4.40. It then decompresses and writes a copy of each
process you have licensed from the disks containing V4.40 into a TNTmips
directory on your hard drive. You must use the INSTALL routine on
the installation disk supplied with this release on floppies to
decompress the files during installation. Installing this V4.40 will replace
V4.30 or earlier versions of TNTmips if the same hard drive is
selected.
from tape for 7 brands of Unix workstation.
If you have requested your Unix variant of TNTmips 4.4 on 4 mm, 8 mm,
or 1/4" QIC tape please see the instructions in the Detailed
Installation and Optimization Manual (ring notebook) supplied with your original
product or shipped with TNTmips 4.3 and dated 31 June 1993 or later.
Alternately, follow the instructions on the page which accompanies your tape.
The large capacity 4 mm and 8 mm tapes contain all 7 Unix variant versions. The
master installation process automatically checks for the type of Unix and
platform you are using and installs that particular version of TNTmips 4.4.
Larger 250 mb QIC tapes (150 mb were previously used) are being used with
V4.40 but still have room for only 5 versions. The specific 5 were
selected as the most likely to be needed on QIC tape (the remaining 2
versions can be obtained by special request if needed on QIC media).
MicroImages would have used larger 550 mb QIC tape, but it was concluded
that the majority of you who have QIC tape drives could not handle this
larger capacity media.
Installation from
CD-ROM
from CD-ROM for Microsoft Windows 3.1 (MS W3.1).
The installation from CD-ROM onto your DOS drive is simple. Simply run
the INSTALL process on the CD-ROM and select the installation
choices from the menu and all the files, which are not compressed, will be
copied into the correct directories. Directories will be created if they are not
already available. The time to install V4.4 from a fast CD-ROM
drive on a 486 is about 10 minutes. The time to load V4.4 from a slow CD-ROM
on a 386 is about 20 minutes. The times to load the illustrations for the
on-line documentation are somewhat longer as they take up somewhat more file
space than the analysis processes.
from CD-ROM for 7 brands of Unix workstations.
(Sun - Solaris 1.x, Sun - Solaris 2.x, SGI - IRIX 4.0.5, DEC - Ultrix version
4.3, IBM - AIX version 3.2, Mac - AU/X version 3.01., Data General - DG/UX
version 5.4.1, HP - HP-UX version A.08.07) If you have a red key authorized at
level U100 or higher, any of these Unix variant versions can be installed from
the CD-ROM using the installation script of the appropriate name. For
further assistance also see the README.UNX file. Running the installation
script will untar the appropriate file, create the proper directories, and place
the files within them. It is suggested that you first erase all V4.3
files and directories or rename the directories which contain them in order to
insure that no V4.3 programs remain in the directories selected for the V4.4
installation.
expanding to 11 Versions on CD-ROM.
The current CD-ROM contains 9 versions and has about 100 megabytes of
free space. This space should accommodate the addition of the 2 new versions of TNTmips
for Microsoft NT for the DEC Alpha and Intel processors. These new
versions should be available on or before the release of V4.5 in December
(see details below). Expanding the single CD-ROM beyond 11 versions may
be accomplished by reducing the size of the current processes on the CD-ROM
and your hard drive. This may be done by using dynamic linking at run time where
selected subprocesses are automatically loaded as requested at the time of
execution rather than compiled into each separate process. For example, the
subprocesses for georeferencing and map projection transformation may add as
much as 100 kilobytes to each of 30 TNTmips processes. The dynamic
linking approach is commonly used in Unix based software but is only now
becoming possible via the 32-bit compilers available for PCs.
moving between platforms using the CD-ROM (or tape).
The CD-ROM you have received contains all currently available versions
of TNTmips 4.4 and the appropriate installation routines. If you have
purchased TNTmips for a workstation (U100 = red key) you may attach this
serial key to any supported workstation, PC, or Macintosh and quickly
install TNTmips 4.4 from this CD-ROM. Alternately, you can run the
PC version of TNTmips directly off this CD-ROM
within 1 minute of its insertion into the drive.
If you have purchased TNTmips for a Macintosh (U45/M = red key) you
may also attach your serial key to a PC and quickly install or run TNTmips
4.4 from this CD-ROM.
Should you have the parallel key (D30 to D60 = black key) for a PC,
your general use of the CD-ROM is the same but is restricted to the PC
platform. These black PC keys can be exchanged for a red key for $100 if
you have purchased display product level D45 or greater which is equivalent to
the U45/M product level for the Mac version. This new red key would then allow
installation of either the PC or Mac versions on these platforms.
Confusing? Just remember that MicroImages' pricing policies are always inclusive,
not predatory. If you have paid enough to have a particular display level or
special feature level, then MicroImages will try to make its use
available to you on all the platforms we support.
It is now quite easy to move and install TNTmips from platform to
platform via CD-ROM if your key is authorized for that level of use.
Simply move the key and run the simple install program on the CD-ROM for
that platform (no tedious disk insertions or time consuming tape access).
Installation
to Run Directly from CD-ROM
running directly from CD-ROM for PCs.
As noted above, a serendipitous new option is now available with the use of
the CD-ROM which was not anticipated. TNTmips processes can
actually be effectively run directly off the CD-ROM at reasonable speeds.
You should at least try this as it's so simple, taking only 15 seconds to
install. During the installation on a PC you have the choice to install
to run directly off the CD-ROM. Select this option in lieu of a full
install, and it will transfer only about 115 kilobytes of control files
to your hard drive (TNTMIPS.INI, TNTMIPS.SAV, TNTMIPS.RES,
and others). With your drive access paths set correctly as suggested during the
install process, TNTmips can then be completely run from the CD-ROM.
Remember, for future reference, you may subsequently get correction programs
for V4.4 from MicroImages. If you are running TNTmips directly
from the CD-ROM, these revised programs should be copied to the hard
drive from the floppies (or a subsequent intermediate CD-ROM) into the
appropriate directory which is set up in your path statement so that it will be
checked first before the CD-ROM. In this fashion, these revised or
patched programs will be found and used before searching the CD-ROM
versions which they replace.
why does it work?
Running from the CD-ROM is reasonably fast since all that it uses the CD-ROM
for is to load each process to memory requested. Head seek time can be 10 to 15
times longer for a new CD-ROM relative to a new hard drive. However,
reading anything sequentially from a CD-ROM is fast since very little
head movement or seek time is used and the reading speed depends primarily upon
data transfer rates and not head seek time.
Transfer rates on the newest CD-ROM drives (at 1 mb-per-second) equal
or exceed those of all but the fastest hard drives. Transfer rates on a PC
can also already be limited for either drive type in such ways as bus transfer
speed or some other feature of your system. Furthermore, when installed directly
on the hard drive, the files making up TNTmips can be fragmented due to
the condition of the drive at the time of installation. That is, the individual
files may get broken up and scattered around on the hard drive requiring
increased head seeking time and associated delays each time the process is
loaded from the hard drive. The very nature of the way a CD-ROM is
permanently produced insures that each file will have no fragmentation so that
the effect of longer seek times is minimized. Remember, your kids are now
starting to play Sega and computer games where, at a minimum, all the graphic
data resides on the CD-ROM and perhaps even the programs.
customizing your running from the CD-ROM.
Certainly the idea of running TNTmips directly on a PC system
from the CD-ROM is attractive. Since it takes only 15 seconds to install
this version, so you may want to experiment with this new idea on your system
and give MicroImages your feedback. If you wish to experiment with speeding
things up from the basic minimal installation, you can copy the MI/X
server (XS.EXE or XS24.EXE) and the basic display process (DISP2D.EXE)
from the CD-ROM to your hard drive (remember the PC V4.4 programs
are not compressed). These two processes are used all the time and would only
occupy about 3 megabytes of additional hard drive space. They might even be
automatically loaded from the CD-ROM into a RAMdrive at boot-up
time if a lot of memory is available to you.
MicroImages will experiment further with the idea of running TNTmips
off the CD-ROM during this quarter and listen to your ideas. If
warranted, some additional options can then be added to install varying levels
of TNTmips depending upon how you have your system setup. For example, a
"4 megabyte install" option might be provided which would install an
optimal subset of processes on your hard drive including those window and
display processes frequently used when running from a CD-ROM.
Installation
to use Illustrations from CD-ROM
alas, full running from CD-ROM is not for workstations!
This same approach to running off a CD-ROM cannot be used on the
workstation versions of TNTmips 4.4 as all the process files are in a
compressed tar format to save space on the CD-ROM. However, the
illustrations for the on-line documentation are not compressed and can be used
directly off the CD-ROM for any platform.
standardized illustrations and sample data.
TNTmips 4.4 processes must be compiled for each platform! But, all
versions are being distributed and can be read from the CD-ROM if written
in the standard 9660 recording format. However, you will find that the
illustrations and the standard sample data sets only occur once on the V4.4
CD-ROM. They are simply data files in *.RVC format which can be directly
used by any version of TNTmips for any platform. Other
data files can also be easily read from the standard 9660 file format used on
the CD-ROM. Thus a single *.RVC file or HyperIndex® stack can be
produced on CD-ROM for use on any platform running TNTmips, TNTview,
or TNTatlas. Those using the TNTsdk (Software Development Kit) may
wish to keep this in mind. This approach should also be of interest to those
various MicroImages customers who already have or will shortly purchase a CD-R
drive (write-once CD-ROM makers) to distribute data sets of your own
design. You can create materials once on CD-ROM for use on any platform
supported by MicroImages products. While there will be some further details to
work out, this approach appears to be rather unique in the computer industry.
Price Increase for
Upgrades
upgrade cost increases go into effect.
As announced 6 weeks ago, effective with this release of TNTmips 4.4,
the cost of an annual subscription for a PC or Mac via CD-ROM will
continue to be $800 while the price for continuing to receive floppies will be
$1000 for any new subscriptions placed from this time.
On-Line Documentation
IMPORTANT. The on-line illustrations for TNTmips have
not yet been compressed and will take up a large amount of space on your hard
drive (47 megabytes on your double spaced drive via DOS 6.0). If you are using a
CD-ROM with TNTmips on any platform, then you may leave these
illustrations on the CD-ROM. TNTmips will access the illustrations
directly from the CD-ROM as needed. The access speed for this will not
differ much as the illustrations are read sequentially with transfer rates
similar to those of a hard drive.
A total of 1161 pages of TNTmips documentation are included in the
on-line form with V4.40. Several sections were completed after the master
disks were sent into the reproduction process. These 114 additional pages are
included in supplemental, printed hardcopy form. The documentation of TNTmips
4.4 is now considered complete in draft form. The on-line documentation
printing capability is available but will not yet print the on-line
illustrations. All 7 of the MicroImages technical writing staff spent almost all
of the 3 weeks prior to the shipment of V4.40 in testing the processes
for general correct operation and for concurrence of the on-line documentation.
Most of the staff of MicroImages Press will spend next quarter expanding this
version of the documentation and illustrating it further. It is anticipated that
the documentation of TNTmips will therefore grow to between 1400 and 1600
pages by the release of V4.50 in mid December. At that time it will be
considered as complete and will then be modified as new features are added or
existing features are altered and improved.
As in the past, a master copy of the V4.40 on-line documentation,
including illustrations, has been deposited at Kinko's Copy Center in Lincoln
for your direct ordering. It does not include the temporary supplemental printed
sections which you are directly receiving with V4.40. Please be careful
to specify the exact version number of the printed copy of the documentation you
wish to order from Kinko's as they have both V3.32 (no changes for V3.33)
and V4.40 on hand. Please contact George Hiatt; Kinko's Copy Center; 1201
"Q" Street; Lincoln, NE 68508 at voice (402)475-2679 or FAX
(402)475-2523 for this service. The printed copy of the 1320 pages for MIPS
V3.32 (specify single or double sided) is approximately $80 plus the charge
for shipping by the method specified. The printed copy of the 1161 pages for TNTmips
4.4 (specify single or double sided) is also approximately $80 plus the
charge for shipping by the method you specify. A credit card is the best way to
pay Kinko's for both the copying and shipping.
MicroImages
X Server (MI/X)
Windows 3.1 for the PC.
No changes have been made in the MI/X
server for Microsoft Windows 3.1 this quarter as no errors have been identified
which were not traced to the MS W3.1 driver of the board or some other
related system setup problem. Correspondingly, all effort in this area has been
concentrated upon completion of MI/X for NT.
The concept of network sockets has now been
supported by Microsoft for MS W3.1 by using a DLL released with
their latest Software Development Kit. MicroImages has just expended
considerable effort to adapt this network interface API (Application
Programming Interface) concept into MI/X for the NT version. This
may allow MicroImages to retrofit this concept to improve the MI/X for MS
W3.1 so that it also provides full X client and server support. In
other words the MI/X supplied with TNTmips for the PC using
MS W3.1 would, as it will in the NT version, allow you to run TNTmips
locally on the PC and to run as an X terminal with any X
software or TNTmips processes executing on a workstation. Currently MI/X
supports use of TNTmips only as a client running on the PC.
Windows NT for the Intel based and DEC
Alpha PCs.
Microsoft Windows NT V3.1 has now been
released, and the final version and developers kit has been received.
MicroImages now has TNTmips working with MI/X functioning inside NT
on both processors via a network using sockets. This development version of MI/X
allows you to run NT on a PC, start up MI/X within it, and
execute TNTmips or any other non-MicroImages software using X
on a remote workstation and operate that software as though you had an X
terminal. MicroImages is now recompiling TNTmips processes for both the
Alpha and Intel based machines and will work out any minor problems with running
TNTmips locally in a similar fashion to what you are using for MS W3.1.
Please note that MicroImages still uses Watcom
C 9.0 for compiling the MS W3.1 version of TNTmips and MI/X.
However, the Intel and Alpha based versions are currently being built with
Microsoft's 32-bit C released with the NT software development kit.
Recently MicroImages tried building the MI/X process for NT using
the Watcom C 9.5 and found pesky compiler errors. MicroImages will spend more
time later comparing these two 32-bit C compilers.
Unfortunately, we have found that our supplier
of hardware protection keys can not provide support for the current black keys
via a parallel port for MS NT. Thus when TNTmips is
available for NT on the Intel based PC you will need to
swap out your existing black key for a new tan key which will need to be
attached to a serial port. This tan key will work with MS NT, MS
W3.1, and Mac versions of TNTmips.
The DEC Alpha AXP based version
of TNTmips will cost somewhat more than the equivalently priced versions
for MS NT and MS W3.1 for Intel 386, 486, or 586 PC platforms.
Thus, for this product MicroImages will use the more expensive and versatile red
serial keys that are used with the current workstation versions. Thus clients
with a red serial key and a U/100 license will be able to immediately try TNTmips
for the DEC Alpha AXP running MS NT.
DEC Alpha PC users will not be
able to use Unix until DEC releases the Unix variant called OSF/1
for these Alpha based PC products and MicroImages releases even another
version of TNTmips for that Unix variant. However, a TNTmips for OSF/1
will work on the Alpha PC platform as well as the larger DEC
workstations based upon the Alpha processor and for which OSF/1 is
already available.
POSSIBLE PUBLIC DOMAIN RELEASE OF MI/X.
MI/X for MS NT and possibly for a future version for MS W3.1
will provide full X workstation client/server operation just as with
current commercial products costing $500 per PC (XVision, Desqview/X,
XView, and so on). Presently MI/X checks the hardware key present
on the PC. Thus to use MI/X for remote execution of TNTmips
(and other Unix software) on a workstation requires a key attached to the PC.
It also requires a key be attached directly to the workstation, DEC
alpha, or remote PC which would execute the TNTmips processes.
This is not a very practical approach to using TNTmips remotely.
Furthermore, MicroImages is not interested in
promoting the sale of other manufacturers' X terminal software packages.
They are expensive, complicated to set up, and each one seems to have little,
but irritating errors which are acknowledged when reported but never fixed. MI/X
will certainly have similar errors, but MicroImages can then fix these. As a
result of these circumstances, where MicroImages can not control its own
destiny, consideration is being given to removing the key protection from MI/X
for the MS NT (and MS W3.1 if modified for full network support).
This would place MI/X in the public domain as an unprotected, giveaway X
terminal package. Additional consideration is even being given to going one step
further and placing the source code for MI/X in the public domain by
posting it up on one of the X or Motif related Internet bulletin boards.
It might be possible for MicroImages to package
and sell MI/X as a product but this is not in line with the plan to
continue a very clearly defined focus to make TNTmips into the most
advanced product of its type available worldwide. Such a low cost, but high
volume product, might become a big distraction from the single-minded
MicroImages objective.
What is the value of a public domain MI/X?
It seems that a public domain MI/X concept would spread and would also
further both your interests and MicroImages'. For example, it would allow you
more flexibility in the network use of TNTmips which serves MicroImages'
interests. It also would help market more multi-user versions of TNTmips
and make those aging 386 machines around the world into useful X
terminals. It also sends a silver bullet at Bill Gates (doubt he'll ever notice
it however) who wants nothing done to further the use of Unix in the face of MS
NT. He certainly could have made NT run X/Motif software a lot
more easily and sooner than MicroImages. However, maybe releasing this source
code will contribute to the need for moving X/Motif and MS V3.1
together as a standard, common user interface. At this point, MicroImages would
like your input on this topic as a decision is pending here. Should this be
done? Why? Are there pitfalls and other considerations being overlooked? Maybe
we could get Gates to pay us not to do it?
Display
Boards
The only new specific information on the
selection of appropriate display boards occurs in the article: Steve Gibson;
1993; Life in the Fast Lane, Infoworld determines just how effective 11 VESA
Local Bus cards are at improving video performance. INFOWORLD, 28 June 1993;
page 118 to 132.
Optimizing
MS W 3.1
Just prior to the shipment of V4.40 a
client site has reported that they have been able to reduce the loading times
for TNTmips by a factor of 2 relative to those shown on the bright orange
chart Getting Up to Speed included with V4.40. These adjustments
also appear to have increased the display rates by a factor of 2 times.
MicroImages has not yet had time to try and verify these results achieved with a
486/66 machine with 22 megabytes of real memory. However the general methods
used were: 1) remove double space; 2) defragment the hard drive and reinstall TNTmips
immediately; and 3) install an 8 megabyte disk cache using the NCACHE.EXE
in Norton Utilities V7.0. The times reported were 7 seconds to start TNTmips
and 7 seconds to start Display 2D (starting TNTmips on a Sun SPARCstation
2 would take 5 seconds). MicroImages will keep you informed of these
developments.
One point that has become clear is that
software which is large with large modules should not be fragmented when used.
For example, the TNTmips display process is a large module which is
loaded over and over, and loading in this fashion with many head seek operations
is slower. Therefore, it is advisable to defragment your hard drive immediately
before installing TNTmips (in other words get all free drive space
together into 1 large block). Use SPEEDISK.EXE from MS W3.1 or
Norton Utilities 7.0 for this purpose.
Use
on a 586/60
Several client sites have installed TNTmips
4.3 on 586 microcomputers operating at 60 megahertz. V4.3 was not
recompiled but operates without known difficulties. The test times they have
provided us for starting Microsoft Windows was 10 seconds; TNTmips was 7
seconds; and Display 2D was 6 seconds. These times are recorded upon the new
bright orange chart Getting Up to Speed. It is possible that the times
reported for the 586 would be reduced to as much as 1/2 if the optimizations
noted above were applied.
Use
on Workstation Clones
MicroImages recently had occasion to install TNTmips
4.4 for Solaris 2.x on a Tatung SPARCstation clone of a Sun SPARCstation 10.
The installation was immediate and the V4.40 ran without problem or
modification. Tatung is the largest selling clone of the SPARCstations and is
binary compatible with them. As a result MicroImages has acquired, and is
evaluating for possible resale, a Tatung clone of the Sun SPARCstation LX
SPARCstation. Any workstation clone which is 100% binary compatible with the 7
workstation lines supported by TNTmips can be expected to function
satisfactorily. Tatung's SPARCstation clones can be purchased for about 25% less
than the price of a Sun workstation. MicroImages has also purchased a Tatung X
terminal to test and it operates excellently with V4.40.
Sun
Solaris Error
There is an error in Solaris 1.x in Open
Windows version 3 when used with a Motif 1.2 program. If your not sure if you
are using Open Windows version 3 check this on the Open Windows startup screen. TNTmips
4.3 used Motif 1.1 and is not affected! TNTmips 4.4 uses Motif
1.2 and will be affected! If your version of Open Windows has this
problem you will find that TNTmips 4.4 windows will lock up within the
first few operations and/or you will be dropped out of open windows. If your
windows lock the <ESC> key will release the menu so that you can quit TNTmips.
As a convenience, the TNTmips 4.4 CD-ROM
contain the patches needed to repair Open Windows 3. These will be found in the
"sunpatch" directory on the CD-ROM. There are README
files in the sunpatch.tar which contain the instructions from Sun on how to
apply these patches.
If you are using tape to install, the
installation procedure will extract the same patch and README files to
your hard drive. You will then have to apply them as instructed by those README
files.
If you have any further difficulties on this
Sun error please contact MicroImages' technical support.
Windows
for Workgroups
MicroImages has acquired and installed the
current version of Windows for Workgroups (WfW) in both client and server
modes. No special difficulties were experienced in the use of TNTmips 4.3 or
4.4 other than those which would also occur with its use with Microsoft
Windows 3.1. This also corresponds to results reported by several client
sites.
Difficulties were experienced unless WfW
was set up perfectly. TNTmips is a complex user of MS W3.1 in ways
which other software never use. Thus TNTmips has identified errors in WfW
where non-standard or improperly installed hardware is used which creates subtle
conflicts (especially with varying brands of network cards).
WfW is very sensitive to installation
issues. The network board has to be installed so as not to conflict with
anything. Just because WfW works with some spreadsheet or word processor
does not mean it is set up properly or that conflicts will not occur. These
conflicts will more likely occur with software such as TNTmips which uses
all the system and network resources such as the system memory, serial,
parallel, SCSI, and many other devices.
Some useful pointers in setting up WfW
for use with TNTmips are as follows: 1) Be sure the ROM space on
the card is mapped out of the emm386 or qemm space if used. 2) There should not
be any conflicts with the systems I/O ports. 3) It may be necessary to
tell MS W3.1 to exclude the ROM space on the board.
Symptoms of a poor installation include the
following. 1) You won't be able to network. 2) Network communication will be in
error. Trying to execute a program from another computer will randomly fail as
the data being transferred is corrupted. 3) TNTmips crashes when many
clients are using the WfW server, if the machine is too slow, or if the
setting CPU usage is configured for fastest network response (hence
slowest local response at server). Please ask MicroImages Technical Support for
help on these matters.
Networks
in General
MicroImages now has 9 workstation brands, 16 of
486s, 7 of 386s, 2 Macs, a DEC Alpha AXP, 1 X terminal, and
a variety of printers and other peripheral devices operating via Ethernet and NFS
with an attached Appletalk adjunct network with 17 additional Macs.
Using software and procedures developed by
MicroImages, overnight "builds" of all TNTmips software
modified that day are automatically performed on each platform. Information on
any compiling errors and warnings are E-mailed automatically as compiles are
completed to each originating software engineer before morning. The software
engineer then determines why their code does not compile correctly on a
particular platform. In this fashion, each software engineer learns quickly to
avoid the idiosyncrasies of the manufacture's mostly standard 32-bit
compilers and their definitely non-standard Unix variants. As a result
MicroImages continues to gain experience on how to make it all work together
with TNTmips.
Temporary
Limitation to RVC Project File Access
WARNING, do not attempt to use
the same RVC Project File in two or more TNTmips processes at
the same time unless the file is set to read only. Simultaneously
executing two or more TNTmips processes in a multiprocessing sense which
attempt to write to the same RVC file may result in unrecoverable loss of
data in the RVC Project File. This restriction will be removed in a
future version of TNTmips.
New Features
* Features preceded with this symbol "*" were minor features which
were in MIPS 3.33 and were omitted from V4.30 and have now been
improved and added with V4.40.
Display 2D.
The concept of defining null or "no value" cells in a raster has
been gradually introduced with TNTmips and released as a new feature in
various processes. Display will now treat null value cells as transparent if
this new option is selected. This important, useful new feature will now allow
the overlay of raster layers in the display process. Also remember that this
feature combines rasters transparently at display time regardless of their
cell size, extent, map projection, etc.
A "mask" binary raster object can now be selected together with its
corresponding data raster object. This will make the masked data cells
"transparent" allowing complex overlays of the data raster object to
be created. A mask object can be created in processes such as SML,
Feature Mapping, Edit Raster, and others. Values of "1" in the mask
raster object will cause the corresponding cells in the associated raster object
to be displayed while values of "0" will be treated as null values and
become transparent.
The user can specify whether to perform "local" or
"global" color optimization where appropriate for raster objects.
Local color optimization may be faster for viewing small portions of large
rasters and will generally produce better results. Global optimization is faster
if the entire raster is to be displayed and subsequently zoomed/panned.
The Layer / Quick-Add / Raster (single) option now allows multiple layers to
be added at the same time.
The currently selected layer will be used if possible to determine the
default projection/coordinate system for map coordinate display.
The user can change the "layout mode" from "display" to
"map and poster".
Examine / Object Extents now displays zone, datum, ellipsoid and actual
projection used for the reference coordinate system.
*RGB raster display allows "skipping" of one or two colors.
*Measurement tools now display the extents and center in object coordinates
for all layers in the group covered by the current tool.
*Raster histogram uses a crosshair to display position, value, cumulative
left/right distribution under the histogram.
*Correlation histogram now displays X/Y position and counts.
Snapshot Saves.
Most object display windows now have a View / Snapshot option to save a
snapshot of the window into a raster object.
Graphical Editing Tool Changes.
The following changes have been made in all processes where graphic editing
tools are used.
The polygon editing tool, where appropriate, now always graphically
illustrates how a polygon will be closed. This is shown continuously by a dashed
line from the start to end points when a polygon is being created or altered.
This makes it much clearer that a closed polygon is being created when defining
an area for measurement, creating a polygon when editing a vector or CAD object,
and others.
The undo feature in these tools now removes all changes in the selected line
or polygon elements. If this undo is not yet available where it seems logical in
a particular process using the graphical editing tools please let
MicroImages know.
The "Close Line" feature adds the first point of the line to the
end, thereby forming a polygon. This is not used in the polygon editing mode.
The graphical editing tool dialog no longer undraws and redraws after
pressing the right mouse button or the "Save" button.
A circle can now be resized via the arrow keys with the shift key pressed.
The graphical editing tools can be moved via the arrow keys and the Home,
End, PgUp, and PgDn keys.
File Selection.
*During file selection the user can now press a letter key to jump to the
first file starting with that letter. This permits more rapid selection of the
files.
*During file selection, when moving from the "object" to the
"file" level, the file just moved into for that object will be
reselected in the list.
Project File Maintenance.
The georeference object parameters can now be edited. This feature should be
used with care, but allows the correction of values which were erroneously
specified previously by you or in the imported objects, such as the UTM
zone.
The content of the window which is displayed by the "Info" button
can now be saved to a *.TXT file.
*Selected object attributes can be edited. Raster cell sizes and
"null" values can be specified. Vector/CAD scale values can be set.
*The delete operation is now allowed on project files.
General File Maintenance.
*The "Copy", "Rename", and "Delete" operations
are now supported.
Batch Jobs.
Under MIPS V3.33 batch jobs were set up for individual processes and
there was an option under that process selection to run batch jobs for that
process. This approach did not permit multiple types of batch jobs to be queued
at the same time.
In TNTmips, selected processes will have a "File / Batch
..." option or a "Batch ..." push-button, depending on the
process. The behavior for such processes when the "Batch ..." option
is selected is the same as if the "Run ..." option is selected except
that the parameters will be saved to a "batch setup" *.TBF file
which you name.
The "Support / Run Batch Jobs ..." option allows the selection of
multiple *.TBF files and executes them all in the order they were
selected. The processes specified by *.TBF do not all have to be the same
type of process.
Georeferencing.
*An "implied" georeference object can be created for vector and CAD
objects.
*The computed cell size, orientation, and shear is displayed based on the
active control points.
*The projection coordinate systems can now be saved and will subsequently
appear in the "System..." selection list.
On-Line Documentation.
The on-line documentation process will now allow the creation of ASCII
files for any or all of the documentation text volumes. During the setup to
create the files you can specify if you wish these files to retain or suppress
the hidden indexing codes which the MicroImages documentation building process
uses to embed index points and formatting into the on-line documentation for use
when it is on-line.
Several clients have requested this feature so that they can get at the
contents of the on-line documentation to reorganize, add to, print, translate,
and otherwise change sections. You can use this new feature to create ASCII
files of the documentation to load in your preferred word processor. In a
subsequent TNTmips release, a translation table feature can be provided
so that the simple formatting used (bold, underline, etc.) can be translated
through the table to corresponding codes producing these special text effects in
your word processor file. The ability to suppress all the special documentation
indexing from the ASCII file will also be added.
Some clients are busy translating the TNTmips documentation into
Russian, Polish, German, and other languages as fast as it is created and
released. Using this new feature they can move the most current on-line
documentation volumes into ASCII files with all their encoding and load
them into their non-English word processors for translation. In this
circumstance they wish to retain all original hidden encoding. The actual text
can then be added to, altered, translated to another language, and otherwise
changed. The program which MicroImages uses to build and link up the on-line
documentation can then be used to rebuild and link the translated version of the
documentation. MicroImages Application Note entitled Internationalization and
Localization contains information on how you can rebuild the on-line
documentation.
Previously, special current documentation files had to be obtained from
MicroImages for translating as the on-line version of the documentation, as
distributed, is compressed and altered in a number of ways for efficient on-line
use. With this new feature the exact same input files can be recreated from the
on-line documentation for the currently released version from the CD-ROM.
These files will be exactly the same as MicroImages uses to build and link this
version of the on-line documentation. It would even be possible for any user to
add notes to documentation subsections as they are used. However, if this
"note annotation feature" is useful MicroImages will add simpler
procedure(s) which could be more directly used.
Editing Rasters.
The loading time of an existing or new raster to be edited has been markedly
increased by a factor of 30 or more.
Tool positions are now retained as defaults when switching between tools.
Brush cursors now have the same white outline as other cursors so they show
up over dark background areas.
*The process now uses a revised color map/palette editor and color spectrum
and spreads can be performed.
Filtering Rasters.
All data types in raster objects, 1 to 128 bits per pixel, can now be
filtered, not just 8-bit integer data. The output raster object will be of the
same data type as the input.
Multiple input objects can now be selected for filtering to create multiple
output rasters.
Importing and Exporting
Rasters.
The format used by the large format LVT (Kodak subsidiary) film
recorder can now be imported and exported.
The Laser-Scan LSLI formats can be imported. This format is produced
by the software which controls the large format Scan 1000 sold by Laser Scan
U.S.A.
The DSEE (Dianippon Screen Engineering Europe)
format can also be imported. This is the format created by the software which
Dianippon provides directly for the same large Scan 1000 color scanner as above.
The import and export of Canadian line data in Digital Map Data
record Format (DMDF) into CAD or vector objects has been
adjusted to accommodate variants encountered in client's data sets.
Simple array, ERDAS, TARGA, and GGR (see section below)
raster files can now be externally linked to a *.RVC project file. Using
this option via the appropriate raster import process will simply link the
file(s) to a project file and they will appear to be a normal part of the
project file to every TNTmips process while remaining in their original
format for use in your other software. This will also reduce the overall size of
a project file by retaining several smaller files which may even be on other
drives somewhere else in the network. A single project file may also link to
files in more than one type of format.
Multiple input file selection has been added to the processes which import
simple array, TIFF, TARGA, GIF, PCX, LVT, and
GGR. You can also elect a *.TXT file that contains a list of the
files to be imported and their extended paths. Such a *.TXT file can be
generated by TNTmips or other software and control large scale mass
imports of raster objects (for example, a swarm of video images).
All the above formats now prompt for the output raster object location after
clicking upon the import button.
The above formats and several other import and export formats now leave the
main window up while performing the import/export and then return to that window
when done for possible reuse. Older formats closed the window and required you
to select the format again.
The previous enhancements will gradually be added to all applicable
import/export processes, especially if specifically requested.
Generic Georeference Raster
(GGR).
MicroImages has now defined and documented a public domain raster file format
called GGR. This format can be imported, exported, or linked to a *.RVC
project file. Detailed information on the GGR format and its
characteristics are contained in Appendix 5 in the on-line documentation. In
summary, GGR defines a generic raster format for data which is 1- to
64-bits per pixel, contains georeference and map projection information, and is
built to be extensible for new descriptive fields rare encountered, such as for
use in georeferencing each line separately for line scan, sonar, Lidar, or SAR
type devices.
If you are writing your own programs elsewhere outside of TNTmips, you
may want to consider placing your raster data into this format, especially if
you want to link TNTmips to a lot of your files. For example, you may be
generating or saving a lot of images from a video camera, automatically scanning
35 mm photos, and so on. When your software creates each GGR file it can
automatically name it and write the drive location, path, and file name into a
separate *.TXT file. This file can then be used to immediately link or
import into *.RVC all the GGR files generated in your process,
each of which might be automatically georeferenced by your collection system.
The automatic linking/import feature has been included in the import process
for the GGR format as outlined above. Mosaic, as also described below,
has also been modified in V4.40 to use the same *.TXT file to
automatically mosaic your images. When this new "bulk" linking feature
is added to HyperIndex and other TNTmips processes you can automatically
deal with the selection and processing of your images, which if linked, are also
available to your software for analysis.
Why define another format for this purpose? MicroImages had requests for an
expanded external format defining more of the ancillary information used by TNTmips,
especially georeferencing and wider raster data types. After careful review of
the many raster formats already well known, none were found to be complete or
even extensible. For example, the many public domain TIFF formats handle
many useful data types but allow for little in the way of georeferencing or
other flexibility. Conversely, most of the other raster formats will handle only
1 or 2 data types (for example 8 bit and 24 bit). Thus it was decided to define
and maintain support of this new flexible format for your use. If you need
features added to the format for your special use, please request them.
Perhaps someday MicroImages will define a similar linking concept for CAD
and vector data types. However, a similar generic file format is already defined
for creating vectors by using the MOSS format which is simple to create
and well documented. The *.DXF format also functions well for creating
generic CAD data sets which you wish to create with your software. It is
widely used by many software packages and is documented in the AutoCAD
Release 11 Reference Manual; 7 August 1990 in Appendix C; entitled Drawing
Interchange and File Formats; pages 527-558. However, at present it is not
readily possible to define the concept of linking to these line oriented
formats. Any editing or other changes to a linked *.DXF or MOSS
file would require considerable rearrangement (defragmentation or expansion) and
thus abrogate the linking.
Copying Rasters.
This formerly separate process has been merged into the raster analysis
process, which saves about 3 mb of disk space. Its access and use is unchanged.
Mosaicking.
A set of raster objects can now be selected automatically for mosaicking. Use
any text editor, create a file where each raster object to be mosaicked is named
and located. The full drive:path/filename and raster object name are entered as
a line in this *.TXT file for every raster object to be mosaicked.
Selection of the *.TXT file in the mosaic process will now automatically
select these raster objects for mosaicking. If you are creating rasters with an
outside program that has the ability to automatically generate a text file with
file names, then mosaic can use this text file as input.
The mosaic process is now 3 times faster or greater relative to V4.3
depending upon the characteristic of the raster objects involved. Under some
circumstances, depending upon the size and number of raster objects, this time
improvement can be much greater.
Slope, Aspect, and Shading.
This process has been modified so that it does not automatically create all
three of these new raster objects. Any combination of the 3 raster objects can
now be specified for generation. The process can also now overwrite existing
rasters if this is specified.
Importing and Exporting
CAD/Vectors.
The import/export for the MapInfo format for MS W3.1 into a CAD
object was almost finished at the time of release of V4.40. If you need
it before the shipment of V4.50 ask MicroImages' technical support for a
special shipment of it.
*An ArcINFO coverage file can now be imported into a vector object with a
capability equivalent to that in MIPS V3.33.
CAD to Vector Object
Conversion.
Conversion of a CAD object will now generate a database table
consisting of vector label strings. The polygons that the labels are in are
attached to the records in the new table.
Text Editor.
A search for a text string can be made.
A search and replace of a text string can be performed.
Pen Plotting. WITH MAJOR
CHANGES
Pen plotting has been completely rewritten for this release. It contains
major new features and capabilities described in detail in the on-line
documentation. It is no longer a separate process and is now integrated into map
and poster layout process within the display process with numerous new features.
You can now layout and plot, (via pen support product L3) anything you
could previously select and design in a layout for a printer including text
(using bird fonts), vector objects, CAD objects, text objects, line styles, and
so on (everything except rasters which will simply be ignored). Scale bars and
map grids are also supported. Much more elaborate and complex plots can now be
prepared with pen plotters and much more so with ink jet and electrostatic
plotters.
Color Merge Process.
A color merge process is now available which will merge a stack of 2 or more
single raster objects which have the same dimensions. The process treats null
values as transparent, allowing the values in the lower layers to show through
in the final raster object.
Surface Fitting.
The polygon fitting methods have now been made available as a part of the
surface fitting process which uses the triangulation mehtod. Thus the surface
fit by this method to a swarm of data points in a vector object can be confined
to the polygon area defined. This polygon boundary also defines the boundary for
the surface fitting process.
Feature Mapping.
The process now makes use of any available georeference or cell size
information to determine feature areas. The georeference takes precedence over
any cell size specified by the raster.
*The "cell aspect ratio" can be specified when performing cell size
calibration.
*A line can be drawn instead of filling a polygon in the "Draw
Prototypes", "Draw Features", and "Protect Areas"
tools.
Polygon Fitting.
A new home range analysis process has been added based upon a tesselation
method and might be described as finding the individual polygonal areas of
influence of a swarm of points. The process grows out circles at uniform rates
around each point defined by a database query. When the circles from a pair of
points touch, a tangent through that point defines the face of a polygon
dividing those 2 points. Taken to completion this process describes a polygon
area of influence around each point except those around the edge where growth
outward of the circle is never stopped. You may also limit by area the polygons
which are written out to the CAD object. For example, only those points which
are close together and have a small area will have their polygons saved in the
CAD file.
Every point on the edge of a polygon is equidistant from a specific pair of
points. In effect this process assigns each point the area it can influence by a
process taken to completion in all directions until stopped by the same process
initiated elsewhere. These polygons might define the home range of animals which
live in burrows and eat the surrounding grass, the growth of random inoculations
of a petri dish on a nutrient base, or the spread of an infectious disease.
Detailed information on this new process can be found in:
Wray, S., Cresswell, W.J., and Rogers, D. 1992. Dirichlet
tesselation: a new, non-parametric approach to home range analysis. In
Wildlife Telemetry: Remote Monitoring and Tracking of Animals. edited by Imants
G. Priede and Susan M. Swift. Ellis Horwood, New York. pp. 247-255.
Editing CAD and Vector Objects.
Other display layers (e.g. reference objects) under the vector / CAD
object being edited can now be removed or added.
Trend Removal.
A separate raster trend removal process has been created. A trend restoration
is also available. Thus, the trend to be restored or artificially added can be
designed and defined by providing the coefficients of the trend polynomial.
Classification.
The covariance matrices can now be saved.
A dendrogram can be displayed for the output classification result.
X-Y Digitizing.
All digitizer processes are now supported on Unix based platforms.
Orthoimages from Single Images
(Restitution).
When this process is used, a matching DEM raster object can now be
optionally created matching the new cell size and map projection to that
requested for the orthoimage. Thus the orthoimage and DEM raster objects
which result can be immediately displayed in the 3D display process.
All Orthoimage Creation
Processes.
All these processes will now allow the selection and subsequent automatic
processing of multiple raster input objects. Thus a color orthoimage can be
created by selecting all three RGB raster objects for processing.
A preprocessing feature has been added to allow polygons of known elevations
to be drawn on one image of the stereo pair. Closed shape areas should be
predefined in this fashion if they represent areas of uniform tone and fixed
elevation (such as water) or inclined slopes (such as agricultural fields).
These areas of uniform tone will produce poor elevation results in the DEM
as their cells do not autocorrelate well between the pair of images. For flat
polygon areas, such as water, a single elevation value can be interactively
entered as part of this process for a cell in each polygon. For inclined polygon
areas, a number of elevation values can be entered (usually for cells near the
inside edge). If multiple points are entered in a single polygon, they will be
used to determine an inclined elevation plane for that polygon by least squares.
The DEM raster computation process will determine each cell's elevation
in these polygons from the value(s) defined by this new graphical preprocessing
step (thus fixing elevations for water bodies and determining them from the
inclined planes for sloped areas). Note, the shape of the outline of a lake or
other feature whose elevation has been predefined in this fashion will still be
altered as it moves through the DEM and orthoimage creation process.
SML.
SML processes have now been improved so that they are now 8 to 16
times faster in execution than in V4.30 and are generally faster than
those in MIPS V3.33.
*The function SelectOutputRaster in MIPS V3.33 had optional parameters
for number of lines, number of columns, and data type. If omitted, the user was
prompted for them when the SML script was run. In TNTmips 4.3 and
before, these parameters were mandatory. As of V4.40, they are optional
again, and if omitted, the user will be prompted for them when the script is
run.
Importing
TrueType™ Fonts into MicroImages Fonts.
The first pure Microsoft Windows utility has been created to assist with
moving TrueType fonts into the MicroImages bird font outline format. This
utility duplicates the import procedure which is already added to the Outline
Font Editor in V4.30. This unprotected utility TTFTOTNT.EXE can be
run on any computer using MS W3.1. It will enable you to convert any
TrueType font into an outline *.OF bird font for use in TNTmips.
This public domain utility can be used to capture fonts on MS W3.1
platforms for immediate use on any type of platform, especially your Mac or Unix
workstations. After creating the *.OF font file with this utility, simply
move it to the other platform as a binary data file and use it in TNTmips.
TNTsdkTM
(Software Development Kit)
MicroImages Interface Builder. Prototype Process
MicroImages releases for the first time with TNTsdk 4.4, a MicroImages
Interface Builder and Motif Interface Builder
(MI/B). The MI/B is an interactive Motif window design tool and
will be expanded further next quarter. V4.40 supports the design of X/Motif
Windows for fast prototyping. It provides an interactive design approach with
all the standard tool kit of OSF/Motif (except for menus). In this first
version you can quickly test the look and feel of a user interface design before
writing any code.
Next the MI/B will be extended to actually generate usable C code on
request. Processes you are developing with the TNTsdk can then include
this 32-bit interface code for use on any platform supported by MicroImages.
Good public domain interactive design tools for Motif have not been found.
Commercial interactive Motif design tool kits have several significant
limitations such as high price per user (for example, $5000 per chair or user);
limited to a few platforms; not available for use with MS W3.1, limited
to a few C compilers; too expensive for our TNTsdk users; and others.
MicroImages thus initiated development of the MI/B for our internal
development as well as the use of our clients, especially those of you using TNTsdk
to extend TNTmips.
New
Image Printers/Plotters Supported
HP Deskjet
1200C (model C1676A) [without PostScript] and
HP Deskjet
1200C/PS (model C1686A) [with PostScript].
This 300 dpi color ink jet printer is faster
than any other comparable color ink jet. It is capable of printing quality
images on up to 8.5" by 14" plain paper, slightly better on the
special HP clay coated papers, and very high quality on the HP expensive
Glossy paper (looks like plastic). The 1200 printers have a parallel interface.
Their base memory is 2 mb which is all that is needed when used as a printer
with MicroImages Map and Poster Layout printing process. For printing it
requires TNTmips with a P5 printer support level.
This printer also includes as standard the HP-GL/2
support so that it can be used as a pen plotter via TNTmips using the L3
plotter support level. This dual use (printer and pen plotter) is strongly
recommended with the new advanced plotter features released in V4.40
which makes it possible to design and then plot complex maps from CAD and
vector objects (via the HP-GL/2 and the built-in raster engine). For
example, a map looking like a state highway map with complex line types can
quickly be designed and plotted from Tiger line data in a CAD object on this
printer at very low cost and fast plotting. TNTmips now supports solid
fills and other similar features for plotting to this and other devices which
use HP-GL/2 protocol. However, the size and the complexity of a pen plot
via HP-GL/2 is limited by the amount of printer memory available,
especially when solid polygon fills are being made. Memory can be expanded up to
16 megabytes for this purpose.
HP DesignJet
650C (models C2858A [24"] and C2859A [36"])
Pen plotting on this printer via support
feature L3 and HP-GL/2 should be seriously considered with the
advent of the advanced features now included in Map and Poster Layout. Pen
plotting as well as printing can both access and use the single parallel port on
the printer. A large format "highway type" map for a county of medium
complexity Tiger data can be plotted in 7 to 10 minutes with text labels. Again,
as with the 1200C, the size and complexity of the plotted vector or CAD
objects, text, scale bars, and other data is limited by the amount of memory
available, especially where solid polygon fills are being made.
The inks used with the HP 650C color ink
jet printer are water soluble. They can be fixed for field use of a print and
protected against fading by spraying the output with a clear, matte, waterproof
spray such as those used on charcoal drawings and artwork. A typical spray which
will work is Blair Spray Fix #150 available from most art stores or Blair Art
Products, Twinsburg, OH 44087. The ink jet output can also be laminated.
Tektronix
4693DX.
This older 300 dpi color thermal transfer
printer previously support by MIPS is now supported by TNTmips V4.4.
New
Scanners Supported
No new color scanners were supported by TNTmips
4.4 during the quarter, but support for several should be available by the
time you read this memo. Call technical support if you need the use of one of
these devices before receiving V4.50. They include the Nikon Coolscan, a
low cost, high resolution, 35 mm color scanner which interfaces via SCSI.
Also, being supported are the new Calcomp large format (24", 36", and
44") grayscale scanners which are identical in every way (except name
decal) to the Ideal/Contex scanners which also interface via SCSI. The
Epson ES-300C or G520A flat bed color scanner supported by MIPS V3.33 is
being supported by TNTmips via SCSI. The Nikon LS-3500 high end 35
mm color scanner supported by MIPS V3.33 has now also been supported by TNTmips.
Support of other new scanners will also accelerate now that we have a new
software engineer familiar with this activity.
GPIB
or IEEE 488 Interface Cards.
The users with color scanners such as the
Howtek Scanmaster series and others are using National Instrument's GPIB
interface card. If you are using the GPIB version of this board it may never
work with MS W3.1. If you have an earlier board with a ASSY number
starting with 180xxx it will never work with MS W3.1 based software. If your
board shows an ASSY number starting with 181xxx it will work. Generally the ASSY
number is located in the upper left corner, third line down.
National Instruments has quoted the following
prices for exchanging the older boards for new ones which will support MS
W3.1: $150 from 8-bit to 8-bit interface version, $250 8-bit to 16-bit
interface (scans twice as fast), and $150 for 16 bit to 16-bit interface.
MicroImages
Utilities (MI utilities are not protected by the hardware
key)
The SAVEFILE.EXE and RESTFILE.EXE
utilities have been upgraded to work properly with DOS 6.0.
A MS W3.1 utility has been created to
import TrueType fonts into bird fonts on any MS W3.1 equipped machine
(without TNTmips installed). See the section on new features for more
information.
Service
Information Updates
Tape to
Disk Service.
MicroImages has previously performed only one
specialized data service for clients. That was the transfer of rasters from open
reel tape (Landsat TM, SPOT, and others) to erasable optical drive
cartridges at a cost of $200 per tape/scene. This is offered for clients who do
not buy many such antiquated tapes and do not want to purchase a tape drive for
such casual use. Furthermore, the many different tape formats used are hard and
ridiculous enough for MicroImages to keep up with.
MicroImages will now also offer an additional
service of this type to its software users via its CD-R (write-once CD-ROM)
drives for $200 per tape/scene. Downloading images into *.RVC format onto
CD-ROM blanks is particularly useful as it can then be used directly from
the CD-ROM if the rasters are linked only and the small "glue" *.RVC
project file is moved to the hard drive where it can be kept current as the
images are used or modified (for example, when georeferenced or color balanced).
The general types of images which will be downloaded will be restricted to a few
which include Landsat TM, SPOT, Russian 8 mm photographs, and
related. Those wanting other more general transfer services to CD-ROM
will be referred to one of the several MicroImages Reps or VARS who offer
such services. MicroImages is also willing to use this service to create a few
initial CD-ROMs of HyperIndex stacks for initial demonstration use in TNTview
or TNTatlas. These large stacks can be provided to MicroImages on EO
cartridge, 4 mm DAT, or 8 mm tape in TAR format.
If you plan to prepare stacks, *.RVC,
and other data to write on CD-ROMs in the 9660 format please make sure to
restrict your file names to the proper character set. MicroImages has defined a
very restricted character set (more restrictive than required for 9660) to
insure that file names will work with all platforms currently supported. Using
these restrictions will insure that your file names will not be mangled when
transferred to the CD-ROM and more importantly when read from a specific
platform's SCSI service of CD-ROMs. The restricted file name
character set is described in a reference sheet shipped with V4.40
entitled "File Naming Conventions for Use on All Platforms". An
abstracted version of this reference sheet appears in the file renaming
discussion of the supplemental documentation section entitled General File
Maintenance, and will be incorporated directly into the on-line
documentation for V4.50.
Color Map
Scanning.
A brochure from Land Information Technology,
Ltd., in Denver is included. They are offering prompt and good quality scanning
of large color maps and related materials at prices starting at $99 per map and
decreasing to $25 per map for a whole state. Their prices include the rapid
acquisition of U.S. topographic maps from the nearby Denver Federal Center.
Large scale color scanning service is not yet available from a MicroImages
client, Rep, or Reseller.
MicroImages has examined their sample color
scans which were provided in a form which mapped all colors into 32 colors. They
produced realistic map displays in TNTmips and had good definition of
linear features (for example contour lines) in 1 or 2 colors and the white and
green background colors were also restricted to 1 or 2 values. This color
compressed data would work well in the TNTmips raster to vector
conversion processes such as smart color line following. You may also request
the scan be provided in three 8-bit color rasters of red, green, and blue so
that you can subsequently manipulate the full color spectrum within TNTmips.
GIS
Bulletin Board System.
Information on the GISnet bulletin board
is enclosed. Those MicroImages clients who might use this service may want to
request a TNTmips forum be established.
Exclusive
International Representatives
France
MicroImages products will also now be sold in
France by expanding the territory of Nigel Press Associates located in London to
include all of France.
Advanced
Users' Workshop 6 (AUW6)
For the 6th straight year, Bert Wallace, owner
of the Peace Pipe Cattle Ranch in the great sovereign state of Texas, has signed
up for the Advanced Users' Workshop. He is also usually the first to pay, as he
was this year. Bert was the second person in the world to purchase MIPS V1.00
a lot of quarters ago and knows about as much about the use of MIPS and TNTmips
as anyone including those at MicroImages. He has maintained his subscription and
used the product regularly ever since in the management of his cattle ranch when
not on horseback. At the last workshop he jokingly complained that he was now
having to build on to his ranch house to accommodate his system. Who says
cowboys and horses are not high tech!
Those planning ahead to attend AUW6
should let MicroImages know if they would like to have an opportunity scheduled
during the evening sessions to a particular new advanced application. As in the
past everyone is encouraged to bring along samples of their wonderful work and
products to be posted up all over the halls and rooms as part of the informal
reference materials in a continuing coffee break and revolving poster session.
MicroImages will supply mounting boards and glue materials to those who wish to
assemble things "on the spot".
Questions have already been posed concerning
the availability of space/power for your computers and access to MicroImages
computers. You are encouraged to bring and set up your own computer, especially
your portables. As usual MIcroImages will have the back room set up for your
use, and you will find that everyone is interested in what you are doing. Those
who wish to bring only an EO disk cartridge(s) or a CD-ROM can
then demonstrate their work on the machines provided by MicroImages.
Staff
Changes and Expansions
Srisuda (Hui) Gawgirdwiboon is no longer
employed as a software engineer at MicroImages. Srisuda wrote the text editor in
TNTmips.
Dr. James Chu is no longer employed as a
software engineer at MicroImages. Jim was responsible for the development or
management of the photogrammetric processes, 3D display process, surface
fitting, classification, and raster filter processes.
Scott Si is no longer employed as a
software engineer at MicroImages. Scott was responsible for the maintenance of
the MI/X server for MS W3.1 and the creation of the MI/X
server with network support for MS NT.
Dr. Robert Y. Li has just joined
MicroImages for several months while on a sabbatical sojourn to investigate
advanced image interpretation process(es) in TNTmips. While Bob's time at
MicroImages is his own to spend, he has initially proposed to add a minimum of
another advanced neural network approach into TNTmips. Bob has a BS
degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1972 and an MS
degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 1976 with a thesis
entitled "Syntactic Pattern Recognition". His Ph.D. degree in
Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas was completed in 1981 with
a thesis topic entitled "A Combined Optical / Microwave Approach to Crop
Classification". Previously Bob was an Assistant Professor at the
University of Nebraska at Lincoln from 1987 to 1993 where he taught and
conducted research in image processing, pattern recognition, and GIS
concepts. Earlier he has experience in related fields as a Research Scientist at
Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. (1981 to 1986 in Palo Alto, CA); a Project
Engineer in the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Kansas (1978 to
1980 in Lawrence, KS); and as an Associate Engineer at IBM (1972 to
1977).
Randolph G. Arbeiter has just joined
MicroImages as a software engineer for programming. Randy received his BS
degree in Wildlife Management from Oregon State University in 1971. He also has
an MS degree in Meteorology from Texas A&M University in 1977
and a second MS degree in Computer Science from Creighton University in
1992 with a thesis entitled "Pattern Recognition of Acousto-Ultrasonic
Signals from Nondestructive Tests of Material". Most of Randy's career
in the U.S. Air Force, from which he has just retired, involved computer
processing of weather satellite images and other sensor data. With his recent
degree in computer science and completion of his career in the Air Force, Randy
wishes to concentrate on innovative software creation.
Steve Mackie has joined the MicroImages
team as a software engineer for technical support. This brings to 5 the total
number of technical support software specialists provided by MicroImages to
assist via phone, FAX, and training in the use of TNTmips and other
MicroImages products. Steve received his BS degree in computer
information systems from Bentley College in Massachusetts in 1985. More recently
he completed a BS degree in wildlife biology from Colorado State
University in 1992. Between these two degrees Steve was a Second / then First
Lieutenant at the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha from 1986 to 1990.
During this service he was the Command and Control systems analyst responsible
for the team which maintained the SAC master strategic information
display systems.
Steve Mackie is the 4th software engineer at
MicroImages with the first name of Steve. Needless to say, simply asking for
Steve when calling on the technical support phones has a 25% chance of reaching
the correct person.
Features
missing from V4.40
The MIPS V3.33 features listed below are
not available in TNTmips 4.4. These features are being reworked as time
allows. If any particular feature listed is specifically holding up your
conversion to TNTmips 4.4 or your projects please let us know so we can
give their conversion a higher priority.
Generally used features.
Raster profile display
Elliptical arcs - (arc, wedge, and chord) can
not be created
Snap to grid feature is not available in CAD
editor
Vector route tracing
Printers which communicate via GPIB, SCSI,
and Xerox VPI cards
Making legends for the screen and Map and
Poster Layout (being redesigned)
Preparing and showing a slide show
"CLASS-CMAP" - special image
analysis routine
Importing all raster formats directly from
open reel CCT tapes.
Specialized features used by 1 or a few
users.
Transfer of labels from vector polygons in
Feature Mapping
Dual raster color overlay method for
georeferencing
Automatic interval capturing (intervalometer)
in video digitizing
WDBII - World Data bank II import (use
RVFTORVC to convert)
|
25 March 2009 |
page update:
16 Jun 11
|
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