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       [_][_][_][_][_][_]                  THE GENESIS USER'S GROUP
       [_][_][_][_][_][_]          
       [_][_][_][_][_][_]                       NEWSLETTER #7
     [][][][][][][][][][][]   
     [][][][][][][][][][][]                   NOVEMBER 6, 1996
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GENESIS 2.0.2
=============

We now have GENESIS version 2.0.2 available on babel.  This is an upgrade to
version 2.0.1, with the following changes, bug fixes, and new features:

o GENESIS 2.0.2 now installs and runs on DEC Alphas, the CRAY T3D/E and the
  Intel Paragon.  For further information about running GENESIS on paralllel
  supercomputers, see http://www.psc.edu/general/software/packages/genesis/

o several fixes have been made to the Makefiles to solve compilation and
  installation problems on various platforms.

o There have been numerous additions and improvements to the GENESIS Reference
  Manual, the Doc/*.doc files, and a new hypertext (HTML) version of the
  GENESIS Reference Manual.  The latter has been slightly updated from the
  preview version which was placed on babel in October 1996.

o Scripts/examples/hebb gives an example of the use of the hebbsynchan object
  for implementing Hebbian synapses with GENESIS.  Documentation is now
  provided for the hebbsynchan object.

o A bug which prevented the useclock command from properly working with graphs
  has been fixed.

o tabchannels and readcell now obtain script variable values as doubles rather
  than float to maintain double precision.

o The getmsg command has also been extended to allow script code to get
  message values.  This allows extended objects with a PROCESS action to be
  written.

o The help command now prints information on using help when no help topic is
  given.

o There is now a reclaim command which explicitly recovers memory from deleted
  elements; this should only be needed in simulations which do multiple
  simulation runs deleting and recreating the element heirarchy for each run.

o The getmsg command now has a "-slot msg# slot#" option to obtain slot data.

o The setfieldprot command now supports a -debug option to turn on a debug
  mode in which all hidden fields are treated as if they were readonly; in
  addition, the user will be allowed to downgrade the protection for any field
  to readwrite.

o readcell now allows up to 30 channels on a compartment definition line and
  allows channel names up to 100 chars in length.

o Performance of commands which interpret an element path as a wildcard is
  improved for paths which reference an explicit element.

o An element path hash table has been implemented which improves element
  lookup performance, especially for models with many elements at the same
  level in the hierarchy.

o SAVE2/RESTORE2 actions have been added for the hh_channel, vdep_gate and
  vdep_channel objects, allowing the save and restore commands to be used for
  saving the state of simulations which use these objects.

o Problems with pan and zoom operations in a draw widget under Linux have been
  fixed.

o Other changes are described in src/CHANGES.

The full 2.0.2 distribution is contained in the file genesis.tar.Z (a link to
archives/genesis2.0.2.tar.Z).  There is also a gzip'ed version in
archives/genesis2.0.2.tar.gz, and a version split up for ease of transfer to
MSDOS format floppies (gendisk1.tgz and gendisk2.tgz).

Accessing babel:

You can access the babel directories by ftp to babel.bbb.caltech.edu
(131.215.15.236), username "babel" and password "babelon".  As before, we
have no objections if this ftp account is used by other GENESIS users with
whom you work.  However, we ask you not to give out this access information
indiscriminately.

The top directory ("/") is the main BABEL directory.  You can use "ls" or
"dir" to see what else is there, and "cd" to navigate through the
directories.   The README file describes the organization of the BABEL
directories, and each subdirectory has its own README file.

Dave Beeman - GENESIS Users Group
(dbeeman@dogstar.colorado.edu)
GENESIS WWW site - http://www.bbb.caltech.edu/GENESIS
Postings to babelnews: babelnews@bbb.caltech.edu
To communicate with babel: babel@bbb.caltech.edu