NRAO Applications Users Group Meeting - DRAFT MINUTES

Date: 2007-02-28 (Wednesday) 
Time: 1300 MST (1500 EST)

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Minutes:

Send additions and corrections to smyers

1. NAUG News

   o general news (Steve)

     The NAUG should attend the special CASA Developer meeting
     this Friday (Mar 2) at 1430 MST.  We will cover preparations
     for next week's ALMA Test 5.

2. CASA Status Report

   Standard items:

   o CASA status (Joe)

     - see main event

   o release status (Joe)

     - stable status

     - CASA distribution and platform support

     - defect status

   o use and testing status (Steve, Mark, Joe)

     - user testing: see main event

     - CASA user interface coordination (Mark Claussen)

       See UIWG draft document
       http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/uiwg/uiwg_report.pdf

     - task status (Mark, Steve, Joe)

       Steve has put together some SD tasks.  See Main Event below
       and also in
       http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/tasks/

       Ed is working on a "listcal" task.

   o development targets (Joe)

     - See also project office page:
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu
       and on the CASA Wiki
       https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/CASA

3. ALMA

   Standard items:

   o ALMA Test status (Joe, Steve)

     - upcoming test ALMA2006.10-6 (+single dish analysis). See:
       https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/AlmaTest5
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu/ALMA2007.03/ALMA2007.03.html

   o NAASC issues (John, Crystal)

     - ANASAC hot-button items?

   o ALMA development targets (Joe, Steve)

     - mosaicing and simulator developments (Steve,Kumar)

       Al Wootten has asked that we perform some simulations for
       ALMA using a model image of a disk.  We will see whether
       it is possible to do this in late March.

     - see schedule at
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu
       and on the CASA Wiki
       https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/CASA

4. EVLA

   Standard items:

   o EVLA test results (Joe, Michael)

       Draft report from the EVLA test (Rupen)
       See:
       http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/reports/evlatest_06feb07_summary.txt

     - See:
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu/EVLA2006.12/EVLA2006.12.html

   o EVLA development plan & requirements

     - see schedule at
       http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu
       and on the CASA Wiki
       https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/CASA

5. Main Event - Presentations and Discussion Items

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   - ALMA Test 5 (Joe) : 

     This will be another installment in his weekly follow-up, with reports
     on further progress.  Focus is on preparations for the critical
     upcoming ALMA SD and regression Test, plus a NAUG discussion of
     the ms data selection scheme currently under development.

     See:
     https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/2007-Feb-28

     Some issues still lingering:

     o viewer - report any seg-faults to David
                still table-lock problems -> use clrstat() 
                working on improving hardcopies (e.g. eps)
                profile window issues, e.g. close before unregistering
                
     o makemask - still under construction

     o import/export - cfitsio issues, must leave CASA after doing one
                       to do the other
                       also performance issues

     o mosaic - still some issues like control of pri.beam
                also regression performance (minor/major cycles)

     o ASAP - filling from GBT is still problematic (spw issues)
              other known problems (restfreqs, multi-IF issues)
              (see below)

     o plotxy - some stability issues, needs more testing

     o plotcal - needs testing

   - Cookbook

     Mark and Gustaaf have made progress on the new cookbook.
     See:

     https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/Software/NewCookbook

     With Mark out ill, its clear we are way behind on the 
     Cookbook.   Debra and Gustaaf will try to patch it together
     using Mark's introduction plus the rest of the old cookbook.

   - SD Tasks (Steve,Joe)

     Steve has put together a set of SD tasks built upon the
     ASAP toolkit, to serve as prototypes to give the testers
     a feel for what we are heading for.

     You can find these in today's (Feb 28) daily at the AOC
     (soon in CV), or on the web at:
     http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/tasks/

     They are: sdcal sdfit sdstat sdplot sdlist

     See the README in that directory or the help for these tasks
     for more details.

     There are a number of known ASAP and SDtask issues.  See
     the README for details.

     Dana Balser and Bob Garwood have been doing some SD testing.
     Will try to get and post their testlogs.

   - Testing (various)

     Lots of testing going on.  Those doing the testing can report
     their experiences.  I have tried to keep the testlog archive
     up-to-date with what Ive received:

     http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/testlogs/

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   Future Topics

   o Final selection scheme (George,Sanjay)

   o Beta Release form and functionality checklist (Steve)

   o suggestions welcome

6. AIPS++ Developments - see latest targets and info at Project Office:
     http://projectoffice.aips2.nrao.edu/

7. Upcoming meetings and deadlines:
   o 2007 Feb 12      ALMA pre-testing starts 
   o 2007 Mar 5-9     ALMA external test (Socorro)
   o 2007 June 18-21  NRAO 50th Anniversary Symposium (CV)
   o 2007 June 22-24  Meeting "Transformational Science with ALMA: 
                      Through Disks to Stars and Planets" (CV)

   The agendas for past NAUG meetings are archived at:
   http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/agenda/

   The minutes for past NAUG meetings are archived at:
   http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~smyers/naug/minutes/