JObserve: Java based Observe

JObserve is a rewrite of the older observe program for generating observing schedules for the VLA. Among the features of JObserve are:

• Point and click graphical user interface
• Extensive on line html based user and software documentation.
• Written in Java to provide portability.
• Internet access to the most recent calibrator and frequency information.
• "Undo" of last editing function.
• Read source lists or entire schedules from text file.
• Several report generators.
• Save/restore environment.
• Read existing VLA schedule.

See also the Cookbook for JObserve for hints on using the latest release. The Cookbook for the previous release (1.6.5) is also available.

JObserve is still very much a work in progress; new bugs are discovered monthly, some of them are critical. We release new versions of JObserve every three to six months or so; interested parties should consider joining the jobserve-annouce mailing list (see below) to recieve notification via email when that happens.

Distributions have been rolled for i386 glibc 2 based Linux (tested under RedHat 9 and gentoo) and Sun Sparc Solaris. A kit is available for porting JObserve to other operating systems that have a modern version (1.4.2) of the Java Virtual Machine. We hope to release a Java Web Start version for Windows soon, perhaps by mid-August.

New releases of JObserve happen once every couple of months; these are mostly bugfix releases. As some of the bugs we've uncovered are fairly nasty, we've created a mailing list called jobserve-announce to help keep everybody up to date. This is a low volume list used for announcing new releases and broadcasting the details of any critical bugs that are found to the user community. To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to:

http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/jobserve-announce

The directions are fairly simple; fill out the fields and you will be mailed a confirmation.

Send questions and comments to