AAREADME.TXT
Remove Frame
ED. NOTE: Filename AAREADME.DOC is stored as AAREADME.TXT on the
CD-ROM.
Note: all information files are now in the form AAREADME.DOC. The old
file names are being retained for a transition period but now contain
only pointers to the AAREADME.DOC files.
This main directory contains copies of version 0.3b of the NASA/OSSA
Office of Standards and Technology (NOST) Draft Standard for
Implementation of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS). This
version is the result of the Technical Panel review of the comments
received on version 0.2 of the standard during the period
June-September 1991. The most significant changes are elimination of
the restriction on alphabetic characters to upper case in table field
names (value of TTYPEn keywords) and replacement of the informational
appendix describing the AIPS A3DTABLE construct with text describing
the BINTABLE binary tables proposal. Given the nature of the comments
received, the Panel concluded that only minor revisions, if any, to
version 0.3 would be necessary before it could be submitted to the
NOST Accreditation Panel for approval as a NASA Standard and to the
IAU FITS Working Group for endorsement as the Standard for FITS. No
general community comment period is envisioned, although comments or
questions can be sent to the address at the end of this file.
Version 0.3b is being reviewed by the Technical Panel to ensure that that it
properly incorporates the Panel decisions. When that review is complete, a
revised version will be announced and released, if necessary; any differences
from version 0.3b are likely to be small. The new version is being made
generally available now to allow those individuals or groups who may have been
using earlier drafts as a reference on FITS, in spite of their provisional
status, to replace their copies of the earlier draft with the improved one.
As before, the form of the Standard is not final and should not be considered
to supersede the existing FITS documentation.
This directory also contains a list of the extension type names that
have been registered with the IAU FITS Working Group. The file
containing the list includes a brief summary of the extension type
corresponding to each name, the developer, and the status of the
extension. Also described is the procedure for registration of
extension type names. This file will be updated from time to time as
new extension type names are proposed and extensions corresponding
to reserved names progress through the process required for IAU FITS
Working Group approval as a standard extension. As a result, it
should be used rather than the appendix in the Standard covering
reserved extension type names, because the XTENSION.LIS file will be
more up to date.
The BASICS_INFO.TXT file is an adaption of material revised and
periodically posted to the Usenet sci.astro.fits newsgroup, normally
the third week of the month. It contains a brief description of FITS,
a list of FITS references, and information on where other material on
FITS is available, including an answer to the frequently asked
question of how to convert FITS to one of the pure image formats.
The text of one proposal for a new extension type, the IMAGE proposal
of Ponz, Thompson, and Munoz appears in the directory. Readers should
be aware that this extension type is at present only in the *proposal*
stage and is subject to revision as a result of community review,
until a final form has been approved by the IAU FITS Working Group. In
the meantime, anyone using the specific type name IMAGE must make sure
that their files remain in conformance with the current rules. Keep
up to date on developments through the USEnet newsgroup sci.astro.fits
or the fitsbits mailing list (to subscribe, send mail to
[email protected]).
There are two subdirectories
The SOFTWARE subdirectory contains software and information about
publicly available software. It is described further in the
AAREADME.DOC file it contains.
The ERRTEST subdirectory contains a number of sample FITS primary
HDUs with a variety of deliberately inserted header errors, for use in
testing FITS readers. Further information is in the AAREADME.DOC file
of the ERRTEST subdirectory.
The FITS directory contains the following ten files:
AAREADME.DOC;1 Information on the contents of this directory
BASICS_INFO.TXT;1 General FITS information and references
FITS_STANDARD.PS;1 PostScript version of the processed LaTeX file
FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 LaTeX source file for FITS Draft Standard
FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 Flat ASCII text version of the processed LaTeX file
FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 LaTeX index file. Needed to produce LaTeX index.
IMAGE.TEX;1 LaTeX version of the IMAGE extension proposal
NOST.STY;1 LaTeX style file. Needed to run LaTeX on source file
README.;1 Pointer to AAREADME.DOC
XTENSION.LIS;1 Extension type names registered with IAU
Procedures for access and retrieval are as follows:
NB: simulated sessions
===============================================================================
== default DECnet copy command example ==
===============================================================================
ndadsa $ dir nssdca::anon_dir:[000000]
Directory NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[000000]
ACTIVE.DIR;1 ADC.DIR;1 ASTRO-1.DIR;1 CDF.DIR;1
FITS.DIR;1 FORMS.DIR;1 HST.DIR;1 IUE.DIR;1
NCDS.DIR;1 OPERATIONS.DIR;1 PUBLIC.DIR;1 TOOLKIT.BCK;32767
USING_EAST_GATEWAY.DAT;32766
Total of 13 files.
ndadsa $ dir nssdca::anon_dir:[fits]
Directory NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]
FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 FITS_STANDARD.PS;1 FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1
FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 NOST.STY;1 README.;1
Total of 5 files.
ndadsa $ copy/log nssdca::anon_dir:[fits]aareadme.doc *
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]AAREADME.DOC;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]AAREADME.DOC;2 (16 blocks)
ndadsa $ copy/log nssdca::anon_dir:[fits]nost.sty *
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]NOST.STY;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]NOST.STY;1 (17 blocks)
ndadsa $ copy/log nssdca::anon_dir:[fits]fits_standard.* *
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]FITS_STANDARD.IND;2 (11 blocks)
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]FITS_STANDARD.PS;1 (710 blocks)
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 (234 blocks)
%COPY-S-COPIED, NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 copied to
DISKA":[MEV]FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 (230 blocks)
%COPY-S-NEWFILES, 4 files created
===============================================================================
== Anonymous FTP command example via Internet ==
===============================================================================
ndadsa $ ftp nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
NDADSA.GSFC.NASA.GOV MultiNet FTP user process 2.2(100)
Connection opened (Assuming 8-bit connections)
<NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV MultiNet FTP Server Process 2.2(11) at Mon 24-Dec-90 9:17AM-EST
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>user anonymous
<anonymous user ok. Send real ident as password.
Password: [email protected]
<Guest User [email protected] logged into ANON_DIR:[000000] at Mon 24-Dec-90 09:17, job 202003a1.
<Directory and access restrictions apply
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>ls
<List started.
active.dir
adc.dir
astro-1.dir
cdf.dir
fits.dir
forms.dir
hst.dir
iue.dir
ncds.dir
operations.dir
public.dir
toolkit.bck
using_east_gateway.dat
<Transfer completed.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>cd fits
<Connected to ANON_DIR:[FITS].
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>ls
<List started.
fits_standard.ind
fits_standard.ps
fits_standard.tex
fits_standard.txt
nost.sty
aareadme.doc
<Transfer completed.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>dir
<List started.
ANON_DIR:[FITS]
FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 11 21-MAY-1991 23:57 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
FITS_STANDARD.PS;1 713 3-SEP-1991 16:01 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 235 3-SEP-1991 15:54 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 231 3-SEP-1991 16:14 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
NOST.STY;1 17 26-MAR-1991 17:21 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
AAREADME.DOC;1 15 3-SEP-1991 16:24 FITS_ANON (RWED,RWED,RE,RE)
Total of 6 files, 1218 blocks.
<Transfer completed.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>get readme.;1 readme.
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]AAREADME.DOC;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 316 (8) bytes transferred.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>get nost.sty nost.sty
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]NOST.STY;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 8250 (8) bytes transferred.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>get fits_standard.tex fits_standard.tex
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 129024 (8) bytes transferred.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>mget fits_standard.*
<List started.
<Transfer completed.
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.IND;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 5632 (8) bytes transferred.
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.PS;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 509440 (8) bytes transferred.
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.TEX;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 118272 (8) bytes transferred.
<VMS retrieve of ANON_DIR:[FITS]FITS_STANDARD.TXT;1 started.
<Transfer completed. 129024 (8) bytes transferred.
NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>quit
<QUIT command received. Goodbye.
======================================================================
For further information send electronic mail to the FITS Support
office at
(DECnet) NCF::FITS
(Internet) [email protected]
or telephone at +1-301-513-1634. The telephone is equipped with a voice
mail system to take messages from touch tone phones if no one answers.
