Version 1.2.1 is now available.

We would like to announce a patch to GBTIDL version 1.2, which is GBTIDL version 1.2.1. See the release notes for version 1.2 for a complete list of the new features and bug fixes in version 1.2.

The starting point for GBTIDL documentation, bug reporting and tracking, and discussion is here:
http://gbtidl.sourceforge.net/

GBTIDL is an interactive package for reduction and analysis of spectral line data taken with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. The package consists of a set of straightforward yet flexible calibration, averaging, and analysis procedures (the "GUIDE layer") modeled after the UniPOPS and CLASS data reduction philosophies, a customized plotter with many built-in visualization features, and Data I/O and toolbox functionality that can be used for more advanced tasks. The entire package is written in IDL.

GBTIDL version 1.2.1 is a patch of GBTIDL version 1.2. This patched version contains several bug fixes, as described in these release notes.

Using the gbtidl command in Green Bank or Charlottsville will automatically bring up this patched version of GBTIDL. If you are using a local installation, you will need to download and install this latest version at the Source Forge site.

Bug Fixes

* An error in the calculation of Tsys as
described in a separate note has been fixed.
Read more at: http://wiki.gb.nrao.edu/bin/view/Data/GbtidlCalibrationFix
* The ability to supply a vector of weights
to accum was broken.
The standard scalar weighting was unaffected by this
bug as was internally generated vectors of weights
(e.g. due to blanked data).
* The frequency_resolution in the data container could
sometimes be negative when it should always be positive.
* Regenerating an index file associated with an output
sdfits file (fileout) could sometimes generate record
numbers that were not the same as the original record
numbers. This made extracting that data by record
number (getrec, kgetrec) confusing and (because of the
nature of the bug) the regeneration of the index file
could take substantially longer than necessary. To fix
an index file that has this problem, install this
patch and remove that index file. Then, the next time
you use filein or fileout to open this file, the index
file will be regenerated with the correct record
numbers.
* Several minor documentation issues have been fixed
(including documentation of several user contributed
procedures and functions).

Getting Started

* The starting point for GBTIDL documentation, bug reporting and tracking, and discussion is here: http://gbtidl.sourceforge.net/

Running GBTIDL in Green Bank or Charlottesville:

* At the unix prompt, simply type 'gbtidl'

Running your own copy of GBTIDL
IDL License

* You must have an IDL license to run GBTIDL. IDL
version 6.0 and later is supported. If you don't have
a license you can run GBTIDL remotely, using the
computers in CV or GB. See the GBTIDL homepage for
details.

Download GBTIDL

* To obtain GBTIDL, download the files here
* Create a directory for the installation and unzip the tar ball:
o ex: mkdir mygbtidl
o ex: cd mygbtidl
o ex: gzip -d gbtidl-1.2.1.tar.gz
o ex: tar -xvf gbtidl-1.2.1.tar
* go to the top level directory, 'gbtidl':
o ex: cd gbtidl
* copy 'run_gbtidl' to 'gbtidl':
o ex: cp run_gbtidl gbtidl
* edit the 'gbtidl' script to replace "PLACE_INSTALLATION_DIR_HERE" with the full path to the gbtidl executable script:
o ex: export GBT_IDL_DIR=/home/mygbtidl/gbtidl
* start the package by calling the script 'gbtidl':
o ex: ./gbtidl
* You may wish to add the installation directory to your unix path