National Aeronautics and Space Administration

         Platform-specific information for fv 2.6.1 for Windows

The Windows and Mac OS versions of fv contain a number of "peculiarities"
which are either due to limitations/bugs in the tcl/tk language or the
Windows/Mac operating system. Here are a few we know about for Windows...

   * As with previous versions, fv for Windows cannot print images.  fv is
     built using the Tcl/Tk package, but the port of the TK package is
     incomplete for nonunix machines...  the postscript driver used for
     printing does not support images.  The Windows and Mac OS versions of
     fv/POW thus can only print line plots.  Any images in a graph being
     printed will be ignored.

   * Checkmarks in menus and selection boxes may not be visible when first
     displayed.  They become visible when the cursor passes over them.
     (Seen only on Win98)

   * Dashed or dotted lines in graphs are not transparent with the background
     showing between the dashes/dots.  Instead the spaces are usually white.
     Dash spacing is also uneven.

   * If resizing the POW window is slow under Win98, you may need to go to
     the Control Panel/Display/Effects and disable the "Show window content
     while dragging" option.

   * Running fv requires the creation of several environment variables
     at startup.  This potentially fills up the environment space,
     causing an error like "couldn't read file \fedit" when trying to
     run fv.  The solution is to tell Windows to allocate more space.
     To do this, edit your system file C:\CONFIG.SYS and add the
     following line at the end of the file:
                SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /E:4096 /P
     You need to reboot your computer to have this take effect.


Bug reports should be sent to

    ftoolshelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov

Visit the fv web site at

    http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools/fv

for a detailed description of fv's capabilities and to learn of updates
and bug fixes.

-----------------  Installation Instructions  ----------------------

To install fv on a Windows platform -- 95, 98, or NT --:

1. get the fv_win261.zip file located at:

   ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/software/lheasoft/fv/fv_win261.zip

2. unzip it at the top of your c: drive.  A directory c:\fv will be created.

   NOTE: This is "REQUIRED".  For simplicity in installation (no editting
   of AUTOEXEC.BAT nor rebooting is required), fv is setup to run at
   this location right after decompressing.  If you want to place it
   someplace else, you can, but you will need to edit the first line of
   the fv\bin\fv.bat file, which sets the FV_HOME variable, to point to
   the appropriate installation directory.  Also discard the pre-made
   shortcut (see #3) and create a new shortcut to the fv\bin\fv.bat file.

3. Drag the pre-made shortcut from c:\fv to your desktop.

4. Run fv by double clicking the shortcut or dragging one or more FITS
   files onto the shortcut.

   Note: One NT user has reported an error in starting fv using the
   supplied shortcut.  If fv doesn't startup and you are running NT,
   discard the shortcut and create your own for the file c:\fv\bin\fv.bat.