McIDAS-X User's Guide
Version 2023.1

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Installing McIDAS-X on Unix or macOS Workstations

If you are installing McIDAS-X on a workstation running the Windows 10 operating system, go to Installing McIDAS-X on Windows 10 Workstations.

The system administrator or person who installs McIDAS-X will use these installation instructions. The instructions follow the table below, which lists the Unix and macOS software versions compatible with McIDAS-X 2023.1.

McIDAS-X 2023.1 was tested - and is fully supported - on these versions only. In most cases, you should be able to install and run McIDAS-X 2023.1 on workstations running later editions in the same version series (e.g., if McIDAS-X is tested and supported on version 1.2.1, then versions 1.2.2, 1.2.3, etc. are also likely to work correctly). However, please keep in mind that McIDAS User Services is very limited in its ability to acquire and test versions other than those below and thus is limited in its ability to assist in troubleshooting problems that occur with other versions.

Vendor Operating System
     (Processor)
Fortran Compiler C Compiler X Server /
X Window System
Apple® macOS®
     12.3 (Apple)
gfortran 12.2 gcc 12.2 XQuartz 2.8.5
macOS®
     12.2 (Intel)
gfortran 11.2 gcc 11.2 XQuartz 2.8.1
macOS Notes:
  1. On macOS systems, the compilers and system utilities must be installed in a specific order.
  2. On macOS systems, the installation instructions are different for machines with Intel processors than machines with Apple silicon processors.

  3. See Installing the Required Packages for macOS workstation instructions.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux®
     8.5 (Intel)
gfortran 8.5 gcc 8.5 packaged with
Enterprise Linux 8.5
Enterprise Linux
     9.2 (Intel)
gfortran 11.4.1 gcc 11.4.1 packaged with
Enterprise Linux 9.2
Linux Notes:
  1. We have encountered problems with the GUI when using the GNOME 3 desktop environment, which is the default on RHEL systems. We recommend installing and using KDE on RHEL 7, and Xfce on RHEL 8 & 9. Using a different desktop environment on either system may result in the McIDAS-X GUI windows not displaying correctly or at all.  Contact the McIDAS Help Desk for other suggestions if these recommended desktop environments do not work as expected.
  2. Enterprise Linux does not install the compress utility by default. You must install compress if you will be configuring your Enterprise Linux workstation as an ADDE remote server.

The McIDAS-X installation consists of seven tasks:

If you have questions about the installation, call the McIDAS Help Desk at (608) 262-2455, or send email to McIDAS User Services.


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