To get started plotting data with SM, read the file 'getting_started' in this directory. For information about bug reports, copying the software, or contributing to it, read on. If you find bugs, have suggestions for improvement, wish to contribute some of your own SM functions to the contrib directory, or wish to improve the SM program itself, send mail to bug-sipb@athena.mit.edu, or call us at x3-7788. In particular, we are looking for any improvements to either the axis labelling or the user interface. Everything below this directory is under an MIT-wide source license. If you would like to copy this software to another MIT site (only), just grab the tar.Z file in this directory, or contact the SIPB for help. In essence, the license says you may read and use the files below this directory, and may even modify the code and incorporate it in your own programs, but only if you are a member of the MIT community (i.e. student, alumni, staff, faculty, etc.). You may not distribute the code, documentation, or anything else outside of MIT. This means that, if you have a program that uses SM code, you can't send the SM-derived parts out of MIT. If you wish to do so, contact Patricia Monger 5323 Salem Road Burlington, Ont L7L 3X2 Canada MONGER%McMaster.CA@mitvma.mit.edu She controls the rights to this software. Please note that this is not a nasty license. Patricia Monger and Robert Lupton wrote this software from scratch while they were working on other projects at Space Telescope Science Institute. Now elsewhere, they charge a one-time license fee to pay for the time they continue to put into the program to make it better. Unlike most software vendors, they distribute both their source code and the source to their documentation. They are generally quite amenable to arranging SM rights at reasonable rates. The one-time fee SIPB paid ($600) covers source, documentation, support, and all future releases for all of MIT. --jh-- Joe Harrington Student Information Processing Board