Frequently Asked Questions

Contents

General

  1. Who is `The Random Factory' ?
  2. How do I report a bug
  3. Where can I get versions of the packages for other operating systems
  4. When will ??? run on NT
  5. Which Linux distribution do I need
  6. Which Linux kernel version do I need
  7. HTML document links don't work
  8. LfA database searches don't work
  9. Why isn't package ??? included

Mini-Linux

  1. Mini-Linux X-windows will not start
  2. Mini-Linux networking does not work

IRAF

  1. SAOIMAGE cannot find imtoolrc
  2. IRAF display doesn't!
  3. IRAF cannot find iraf.h
  4. IRAF cl does not start
  5. How do I compile a new IRAF package
  6. Why don't my IRAF .imh files work

  1. Why doesn't the MIDAS image display window open

General

Who is `The Random Factory' ?

`The Random Factory' is owned and operated by Dave Mills, who is currently under contract to the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (based in Tucson, AZ). Dave previously worked for the European Space Agency, the UK Starlink Project, and the Optical Science Laboratory at University College London. The `Linux for Astronomy' project is self funded, but relies on the cooperation of Astronomical Software project groups world-wide.

How do I report a bug


Send email to rfactory@theriver.com with the Subject - LfA Bug Report. The current distribution includes the VNC (virtual network computing) tools which make it possible to perform remote diagnosis on your system (given an adequate internet connection). If we cannot solve your problem via email we may ask you to run a VNC session and demonstrate the problem live.

Where can I get versions of the packages for other operating systems


The main LfA website has links to the current locations of the ftp sites for each package. They are also mentioned in the /astro/SPECS/*.spec file for each package.

When will my-favorite-package run on NT


`The Random Factory' is actively investigating the options for porting the major packages to NT. This would be a significant undertaking, and would only be practical for packages which are distributed under the GNU licence. Watch our website for news.

Which Linux distribution do I need


The V3/4 LfA cdroms included a full Linux system distribution and we recommend that you install Linux from the LfA cdrom for maximum compatability. The latest release (V5 and 6) does NOT include Linux system code. Volume 5 & 6 have been extensively tested with the latest Linux distributions from RedHat (6.2) and SuSE (6.4). We recommend either of these distributions. Other distributions which have been tested include Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 and Mandrake versions 6 and 7. These are compatible with minor issues which can be worked around. It is possible to persuade the LfA packages to run on any Linux system based on the 2.2 kernel series, but in some cases it may be necessary to load newer version of system libraries. Another option is to use the VMWARE product which can support multiple virtual machines running different operating systems simultaneously (including multiple flavors of Linux). In this case you can keep your favorite Linux distribution and create a virtual machine to run the LfA packages in one of our recommended Linux flavors.

Which Linux kernel version do I need


The basic requirements for LfA V5 & 6 (the latest release) are Linux kernel 2.2.x, GLIBC 2.0 and GLIBC 2.1. The previous release (V3 & 4) included a full Linux system.

HTML document links don't work


There are two main causes.

LfA database searches don't work


The database searches rely on having BOTH httpd running, and the htdig scripts available. You must install the lfa-search.tgz contents from V6 before you can use the search facility.

Why isn't package ??? included


This release of the cdrom was completely full, even after we compressed some packages to fit them on. If you have a recommendation for a package please send us the details.

Mini-Linux

Mini-Linux X-windows will not start


Mini-Linux is a VERY minimal distribution. It only includes X-server executables for low-end graphics cards. The executables for most other cards are available at all the major Linux ftp sites (eg sunsite.unc.edu).

Mini-Linux networking does not work


Mini-Linux only has network drivers for the most common network cards. We are planning to include a somewhat more complete (and modern) Not-so-mini-Linux with release 2.

IRAF

SAOIMAGE cannot find imtoolrc


SAOIMAGE needs a link to be set up 
       ln -s /astro/iraf/dev/imtoolrc  /usr/local/lib/imtoolrc
You need to be Superuser to make this link.

IRAF display doesn't!


Are you running an image display server (SAOIMAGE, Ximtool) ?

Check that the /dev/imt* files exist. Are the permissions correct ? Try running /astro/bin/setupiraf from an xterm (as root). The IRAF Ximtool will run ONLY on 8-bit X-windows, if you are running in a different mode (16,24,32 bits per pixel) then you can either

IRAF cannot find iraf.h


A link needs to be set up 
         ln -s /astro/iraf/unix/hlib/libc/iraf.h  /usr/include/iraf.h
You need to be Superuser to set this up.

IRAF cl does not start


Check that the link referenced above is present. You may also need to set up the link 
       ln -s /astro  /iraf
You need to be Superuser to set this up.

How do I compile a new IRAF package


You will need to have GCC and g77 installed if you want to build IRAF packages.

Why don't my IRAF .imh files work


IRAF .imh files are machine dependent. You cannot transfer them from some other computer and expect them to work (unless the other comuter is also an x86 Linux system). In general you must first convert to FITS (using wfits), transfer the FITS file (using BINARY transfer mode) and then convert back to .imh (using rfits).

MIDAS

Why doesn't the MIDAS image display window open


A common problem is lack of color-table entries. If you are running a program which uses a lot of colortable slots, try stopping it and then restarting it after you have opened a MIDAS image display.

Last updated 3rd-June-2000