[Ifeffit] Ifeffit 1.2.8

[Matt Newville]

Hi Folks,

Ifeffit 1.2.8 is now available.  There are minor changes to the core
library and new versions of horae (055: athena 0.8.043, and artemis
0.8.002) in the Windows and Mac installers.  A few version notes are below,
and I will be putting more information at
http://cars9.uchicago.edu/iffwiki/ReleaseNotes128/

== Windows ==

For Windows, there is a new installer, but no update.  The new installer
has the latest versions of the programs and also has dramatic changes to
how the programs are organized and run.  The batch files and the old
automatic updater are gone, replaced by a single program 'runner' that
checks for updates and runs all of the applications.  There is also a
completely new layout of C:\Program Files\Ifeffit.  Bruce and I have been
working on this for a while, and we believe it will be a lot easier for us
to maintain.  We expect that the changes will be mostly invisible to users,
except when you install it.  A result of the new layout is that

***                                            ***
*** you must uninstall any previous version of ***
*** Ifeffit before installing the new version. ***  
***                                            ***

Really, we're not kidding.  There is a potential problem with this, as you
may have your own projects under C:\Program Files\Ifeffit, say in \horae\ or
in \examples\.  You probably don't want to delete these!!!

We recommend that you either move C:\Program Files\Ifeffit\horae and any
other folders you may have file in to somewhere safe *before* you remove
Ifeffit, or simply rename C:\Program Files\Ifeffit to Ifeffit_OLD and leave
it there for a few weeks.  And of course, we recommend that you save your
data somewhere outside of C:\Program Files and make regular backups
("Gee, thanks, Mom!").

Then use the Control Panel 'add/remove programs' to remove Ifeffit.  This
will try to delete everything that originally got installed (and so
*should* leave your data, but I wouldn't bet on it!!), including the
shortcuts in the Start Menu.  Once the C:\Program Files\Ifeffit folder is
gone or cleaned out, you can then safely install the new Windows installer.

The older Windows version (1.2.7) will see one more update, which will
simply remind you to install the new version of the full installer. All
further updates will be available only to the new version.

== Mac OS X ==

For Mac OS X (10.3), the binary installer includes the codes from
horae-055.  The previous attempt to support Aquaterm is now dropped --
plotting is done with the X Windows plotting terminal.  Since
Athena/Artemis require X, and since X11 now comes from Apple, the Aquaterm
support was more trouble than it was worth.

== Unix ==

For Linux/Unix users using the source kit, the 'where is termcap?' problems
should be gone.  In addition, building on 64-bit linux machines should be
much easier.  PGPLOT_install now has a '--with-64bit' option which is
needed for 64bit linux.  Ifeffit's normal './configure' should then work
fine.  It now warns if the termcap library cannot be found.

Let us know if there are any questions or troubles with these new versions.

--Matt