Latest FTOOLS and XSELECT releases now available

["Charles Day, ASCA GOF, NASA GSFC" <DAY@lheavx.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Dear ASCA PIs and archival researchers:

Versions 3.3 of FTOOLS and 1.3 of XSELECT are now available. Detailed
release notes are appended to this message. Here are the highlights:

 o SISPI: This FTOOL for filling the SIS PI (Pulse Invariant) column in
   Bright mode event lists has now been incorporated into ASCALIN and
   the "faint" command in XSELECT. In addition, it can be invoked from
   within XSELECT using the command "sispi".

 o FAINT and DFE: The bug reported earlier in FAINT has been fixed: the
   FTOOL now correctly reads the name of the DFE file for all platforms.

 o PI IS NOW THE DEFAULT COLUMN FOR EXTRACTING SIS SPECTRA IN XSELECT.
   If you wish to extract a PHA spectrum, you should issue the command
   "set phaname pha" before the extraction.

 o FTOOLS NOW RUNS UNDER SGI/IRIX.

 o GRPPHA: Two enhancements come with this latest release. The ability
   to overwrite the input file move conveniently, and a new class of
   commands called "dump" which write settings, such as grouping, to
   ASCII files.

Although not making their debut with this release, the Perl scripts
ASCASCREEN and its GUI-driven version TKASCASCREEN still provide the
most convenient way of reducing ASCA data.  They are part of the FTOOLS
release and are invoked by simply typing "ascascreen" or "tkascascreen"
at your system prompt.

Limited exposure map and flat field generation is possible using 
XIMAGE and the FTOOLS ASCAEXPO and ASCAEFFMAP.

 
Charles Day, ASCA GOF, NASA GSFC

Please send comments and questions to ascahelp@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov


----------------------------------------------------------------------

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< SOFTWARE  RELEASE  ANNOUNCEMENT >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                    ---------------------------------
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< FTOOLS  VERSION 3.3  DISTRIBUTION >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< XSELECT VERSION 1.3  DISTRIBUTION >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

How:    Anonymous FTP from legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov
Where:  software/ftools/release/FTools_3.3 directory
What:   ******* FTOOLS Source and Data *******
        ***(get both unless you are only building "core" FTOOLS) ***
        ftools.v3.3.tar.Z   -  Source Code Distribution for all platforms
        refdata.v3.3.tar.Z  -  Minimal subset of Calibration Database 

        *** Compressed Postscript Documentation ***
        ***(in software/ftools/release/doc directory)***
        Develop.v3.3.ps.Z    -  Developer's Guide
        Install.v3.3.ps.Z    -  Installation Guide
        Users.v3.3.ps.Z      -  User's Guide
        TechRef.v3.3.ps.Z    -  Complete User's Guide and help pages

        *** HTML Documentation ***
        at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/ftools/ftools_menu.html

Supported Platforms: (See Installation Guide for details)
        unix         ALPHA/OSF, DEC/ULTRIX, SUN/SunOS, SGI/IRIX
        vms          ALPHA/VMS, VAX/VMS

FTOOLS Version 3.3 Summary:
===========================

The FTOOLS have now been ported to Silicon Graphics workstations running
IRIX.  With the release of Perl5, most FTOOLS Perl scripts can be run
on VMS machines (complete porting of all non-GUI scripts is planned).  

New tasks available:

        abc - Apply Barycentric Corrections to ROSAT event data.
   ascaexpo - Generate an exposure map for an ASCA observation.
        bct - Produce a Barycenter Correction Table from ROSAT orbit data
        bkg - Subtract a background from a binned light curve
    col2img - Converts a collimator response dataset to an image
   fvec2img - Create an image from a column of vectors
  hriexpmap - Creates exposure map for given ROSAT HRI observational dataset
    hrifilt - Creates a ROSAT HRI makefilter file
    modalid - Print the space craft modal configuration (ASCA)
    perdgrm - Adds a sine curve and/or pulse-profile to a light curve. (XTE)
     sky2xy - Transform from sky to pixel coordinates using WCS keywords
    src2pha - Creates a PHA file from specified extensions in a ROSAT src file
     xy2sky - Transform from pixel to sky coordinates using WCS keywords



XSELECT version 1.3 summary:
============================

New Commands:
* SISPI this will fill the PI column for SIS BRIGHT data.  This
  command is run automatically as a part of FAINT, so there is
  no reason to run it on FAINT data, but you can. 

Bug Fixes:
* Sometimes Xselect would use the original data rather than the
  appropriate product events file.  This might cause the effects of
  SELECT EVENTS to get lost.  This is now fixed.
* The ROSAT support is more robust. 

New Features:
* The default energy column for the ASCA SIS instruments is now PI



ROSAT FTOOLS News
============================

New tools:

 hrifilt   - Creates a ROSAT HRI makefilter file.
             The resultant makefilter file can be used to screen data 
             using Xselect.
 
 hriexpmap - Creates exposure map for given ROSAT HRI observational dataset

 abc       - Apply Barycentric Corrections to ROSAT event data.

 bct       - Produce a Barycenter Correction Table from ROSAT orbit data.

 rosbary   - script to do ROSAT barycentric correction 
             This runs abc and bct together.

 src2pha   - Creates a PHA file from specified extensions in an RDF
             src file. NOTE: There is a driver script to call this
             FTOOL, EXTPHA, type 'extpha' at your UNIX or DCL prompt
             and follow the directions.
 hiback    - Script to create a qsrc file from an src file.  It runs
             MKQSRC and adds a BKG_SUSP keyword to the output file as
             well.

HEASARC FTOOLS News
=============================

New features in GRPPHA:

Users are now  allowed to over-write the input  file. This can be achieved by
either setting the hidden  Boolean parameter "clobber" to  yes, or by  making
use of the "!"-convention whereby the output filename is preceded by an "!".

A new "family" of  command  strings, DUMP, has  been  introduced. DUMP allows
the user  to write an ascii file  containing the  current settings, this file
may be useful if the user wishes to apply the same settings in another GRPPHA
run. Currently there are 3 possible commands: DUMP GROUPING, DUMP SYSTEMATICS
and DUMP QUALITY.