Three weeks later - was RE: Time and downfits

["Robert Creager" <Robert@CarolineCreager.com>]

Sorry it took me so long to get this together.  No excuses, just 
lollygaging around.

I've put the tarball up on Michael's incoming ftp site, but until he 
moves it public, it's also at 
http://www.carolinecreager.com/tass/downfits.tgz  I'm calling it 
version 1.0, as this is the first CVS version of the stuff.  

Within are the DLL's and .exe needed for Windows, and the source 
needed for Linux.  I've run on both systems, and they seem to be 
doing the right thing.  If anyone is interested, I can include the 
Borland project files.

The README.txt has the info on how to run it, but basically it's 
<downfits (naxis1) (naxis2) file_name_1.fits file_name_2.fits>, so 
you can name the files whatever you want.  The program looks for 
the files <constant>, <plate_1> and <plate_2>.

You won't get new features unless you ask, so ask away.

Happy New Year,
Rob

> Both Michael and I are working on reatime control programs. Michael's will
> run under Linux, mine will run under Windows.  Just as a check, my program
> says the Julian date right now (December 16, 2001, 23:11 EST) is 2452260.
> How does that compare with other programs?
> 
> On another note.  Our new file format is supposed to be jjjjxxxc.fit where
> jjjj is julian date-2450000, xxx is a sequence number (000 - 999) and c is
> the site character.  Unfortunately downfits is looking for a filename of the
> old type where the second character is the filter.  I was testing my program
> tonight to try to create a dark file when I discovered this.  (It kept
> looking, and not finding, the plate_2 file.)  Is the source code available
> for downfits or can it be modified to use the new format?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike G.
>