Text and Graphics System reaches end of life . . .

by Sally Haerer Contents Search Index Home Subscribe ConsultWeb SCD

SCD has been faced with a tough situation: Due to factors beyond our control, we have to phase out the Text and Graphics System (TAGS) and the dicomed film recording devices by the end of FY'97 (September 30). Facts and figures TAGS is a highly-customized expert system for handling the translation and output of text, graphics, and images. It has been able to accommodate our home-grown formats and a variety of industry formats. However: Less than 3% of our user community uses TAGS, and statistics show that this is steadily on the decline. TAGS software runs on an old computer system under Sun OS (Operating System). Since Sun is dropping vendor support for this system, an upgrade is critical for hardware and software. This would require that TAGS be converted to Solaris OS. The conversion of TAGS to Solaris would be nontrivial and require six to eight months involving several staff. (This estimate is based on color film production only; fiche production would take more study and more effort.) The current low usage of TAGS by the user community does not justify such a large investment of staff time. The Dicomed film recorders are "end of life" systems (obsolete hardware). They are expected to break without possibility for repair at any time. We currently maintain them by using SCD experts and a dwindling supply of spare parts. Even if we were able to overcome the above problems, SCD would have to increase current charging by 600% to recover the real costs of this system. The problems of conversion to another system for handling the translation and output of text, graphics, and images are nontrivial in many cases. We have studied options and can offer some suggestions, but we recognize that with the elimination of TAGS and the dicomeds, users will lose some functionality and ease of use. Replacement stragegies Here are various alternatives to TAGS and dicomed functionality. Fiche: For shipping and sharing images, CD-ROM would be an appropriate substitute. Most PCs and workstations now have CD-ROM readers. CD-ROM writers are not expensive, but mass production would still need to be outsourced. Currently, the NCAR Imaging and Design Center (IDC) at the Mesa Lab has a CD-ROM writer for low-volume jobs. Storage: For storage and easy look-up, NCAR's Mass Storage System (MSS) will work. There will certainly be more latency and resource involvement, but it can provide a workable substitute. Web: The Web may be an even better avenue of sharing information. This technology is expanding everyday. 35mm slides: For presentations, laptop and workstation software is rapidly evolving to offer more than is available with slides produced by TAGS. Powerpoint on PCs and Macs and Showcase on SGI systems are appropriate software that is now available. Even Web presentations are growing quite popular. Projection systems have not been the highest quality in the recent past, but these too are quickly improving. Transparencies: Printing onto transparencies (although not always trivial due to standardized formatting requirements) may be another option for high-resolution presentations. NCAR's IDC has a high-resolution digital color printer available for this purpose, and users can FTP files to the IDC for printing onto transparencies. In the future, other options may be possible through the IDC. If the quality of the above options for slides and transparencies is unacceptable, outsourcing may be the only alternative. Video: For production-quality video at NCAR, the interactive Visualization Labs at both Mesa Lab and Foothills Lab may be the best solution. For low quality check-out drafts, MPEG movie technology on workstations is a possible choice. NCAR Graphics IDT also offers draft viewing before moving to production-quality video. MSS legacy frames: This may be a hard issue due to the magnitude of raw data stored in the MSS. The bottom line, however, is that raw data will always be accessible; it will just have to be converted to a common format that can be output on the desired media. Format-conversion tools are available for this; and although conversion may not be simple and several iterations may be needed before the appropriate format is obtained, but it is at least an option. Outsourcing: For outsourcing raw files targeted for various media, some companies in the Boulder area may be part of your solution. For example, SCD has worked with Amaranth of Boulder for 35mm silde production; other establishments are also available.

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