Ferret v4.4 release

["Jonathan Callahan" <callahan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

***** Announcing Point and Click Ferret for Sun and DEC Systems *****

Hello Ferret users.


The Official release of Ferret version 4.4, which includes a
Graphical User Interface (GUI), is now available for:
	SunOS 4.x
	SunOS 5.x (SOLARIS)
	OSF   3.x (DEC UNIX)

We thank you for your patience awaiting Ferret's point and click
interface.  We hope that you find it useful in your work.  In
the release of the GUI we have focussed on the most frequently
used Ferret capabilities.  Novice users should be able to browse
data, apply transformations, define new variables, regrid and
more without having to learn the Ferret command language.

Features which are not yet available as point and click controls
are still accessible from within the GUI.  The GUI includes a
Command Line Window in which you can type and edit Ferret
commands.  Future versions of the GUI will widen the range of
Ferret features accessible through point and click controls.

Version 4.4 is, in one executable file, both the GUI version and
the traditional command line version of Ferret. When used as a
command line program version 4.4 is identical to version 4.3
(with minor bug fixes). The Unix command "ferret" will launch
the command line version as it always has. Use the Unix command
"ferret -gui" to launch Ferret with the point and click interface.

Instructions for picking up version 4.4 are attached at the end of this
message.

A revised and expanded Users' Guide for version 4.4 will be available
shortly -- we will send an announcement.

Online documentation is available for the GUI version of Ferret
as well as a response form for comments/suggestions/bug reports.
Access these pages through the Ferret home page:

  http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/ferret/home.html


For all other comments please contact us as usual with email to:

  ferret@pmel.noaa.gov

Happy Ferreting!

    =================================================================


 	   ***** Installing version 4.4 of Ferret ******

You may retrieve Ferret 4.4 from our ftp site using anonymous ftp.  You'll want
to pick up the new executable, plus support files for the Ferret environment;
the file README_about_updates provides complete instructions on the install.

Retrieve that file and the new release with anonymous ftp to
abyss.pmel.noaa.gov.  Once in, move to the 'pub' directory, and then the
directory corresponding to your OS.

To run Ferret with the Graphical User Interface (GUI) you only need to type:

  > ferret -gui

If you wish to customize the appearance of the GUI you must first install
the file "$FER_DIR/doc/Ferret_4.40_xdefaults" which contains parameter defaults
used by your X windows system to run the Ferret GUI. The GUI has fallback
resources in case no app-defaults file is found but these are ignored if
the application defaults file exists.  (Regardless of the contents of the
app-defaults file!)

Therefore: You should not delete any entries when modifying the app-defaults
file.

To install `Ferret_4.40_xdefaults':

  1.Use the Unix `su' command to become super-user. (Get help from your
	system manager if this command is unfamiliar.)

  2.Create a soft link in the X11 defaults directory to the
	$FER_DIR/doc/Ferret_4.40_xdefaults' file.  The soft link should
	have the name `Ferret'. On systems based on Motif window
    	managers (most Unix systems) this will be the command:

    ln -s $FER_DIR/doc/Ferret_4.40_xdefaults /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Ferret

    On Sun systems running OpenWindows use, instead, the command:

    ln -s $FER_DIR/doc/Ferret_4.40_xdefaults
	/usr/openwin/lib/X11/app-defaults/Ferret




-- 
                   |  NOAA/PMEL               | ph. (206) 526-6801
Jonathan Callahan  |  7600 Sand Point Way NE  | FAX (206) 526-6744
                   |  Seattle, WA 98115-0070  | callahan@pmel.noaa.gov