You need an account either on the NICE cluster or on the EXPG cluster.
When working on the NICE cluster, make sure that your machine has got
the IDL 5.0 version installed. RODGUI doesn't work with older version
of IDL. The GOLD machines run IDL 5.0, so you might choose them.
When working on the EXPG cluster, choose a machine that supports the
IDL 5.0 version. You can select expgi or expgh for example.
Set the DISPLAY variable to the screen that you are using!
Then, start the RODGUI by typing
/users/wilms/rod/rodgui [&] (NICE cluster)
or
/users/a/wilms/rod/rodgui [&] (EXPG cluster).
Please note that when you start the RODGUI, you have to be in a directory
where you have write permission. RODGUI uses the current directory for temporary
files and for saving the 'rod_init.mac' file. That's why RODGUI won't work if
you are in '/usr/bin' or something like that.
After some moments, the graphical user interface will appear on the
screen. It looks like this:
Apart from the menubar at the top of the window, you see two areas:
the 'output window' and the 'command line' where you can manually
enter commands. The output window is responsible for every kind of
output.
Note:
You can still work with ROD the way experienced users of the old
version are used to. Just type your commands into the command line
field and press ENTER. The output will be presented in the 'output
window'.