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

• 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/
• several fixes have been made to the Makefiles to solve compilation and installation problems on various platforms.
• 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.
• 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.
• A bug which prevented the useclock command from properly working with graphs has been fixed.
• tabchannels and readcell now obtain script variable values as doubles rather than float to maintain double precision.
• 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.
• The help command now prints information on using help when no help topic is given.
• 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.
• The getmsg command now has a "-slot msg# slot#" option to obtain slot data.
• 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.
• readcell now allows up to 30 channels on a compartment definition line and allows channel names up to 100 chars in length.
• Performance of commands which interpret an element path as a wildcard is improved for paths which reference an explicit element.
• 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.
• 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.
• Problems with pan and zoom operations in a draw widget under Linux have been fixed.
• 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