Getting IDL to run

program names, file names
variable names
prompts, commands, program code

First you'll have to get an account on holly. At the time of this writing (1 July 2000), holly is administered by the staff of the Barnes Computing Center on the first floor of Bausch & Lomb. The reason that you need a holly account is that the license for running IDL specifies holly as the computer on which IDL is to be run. If you try to run IDL on an unlicensed machine, it'll run a seven-minute demo mode, or something.

Make sure you use ssh to log in to holly, as ssh is the only protocol (of which I am aware) which will automatically and apropriately port the display and all that jazz. DO NOT USE TELNET, RSH, RLOGIN, OR ANY OTHER DAMN THING!!!!!

Once the account is active, edit your .cshrc file to contain the following environment variable:
setenv IDL_STARTUP ~/idlpro/startup.pro
Remember to source the file so that the new changes take place:
UNIXprompt> source .cshrc

Next you should put a copy of my idl.tar in your home directory. When this tar file is expanded, it will create, in your home directory, a directory called idlpro. If you already have a directory by this name in your home directory, I suggest you rename it. Then, from your home directory, expand the tar file with the following command:
UNIXprompt> tar xf idl.tar

You will now need to edit two files: ~/idlpro/startup.pro and ~/idlpro/startup.nodisp.pro. These two files contain the following line:
defsysv, '!home', '/home/username/', 1
Change username to your own username. DON'T MESS WITH ANY OF THE PUNCTUATION!!!!!

IDL should now be ready to run:
UNIXprompt> idl
This will start IDL. A new window should appear -- this is the display window. After a few moments, an image will appear in the window. This is just a sanity check to see that everything is working properly. At first, the viewing program will be active, and you won't be able to do anything. Put the mouse over the viewing window and click the third button (ring finger for the right hand). This will terminate the viewing program, clear the window, and restore control to the text window (a prompt should appear there).

Just type exit to exit IDL:
IDLprompt> exit
This will end the application, remove the display window, and return control to the shell (you'll see the UNIX prompt, as opposed to the IDL prompt).

Carl Welch