This is the first attempt at a monthly news letter, if you don't like the format or there is something missing then please email me with suggestions (edgrif@sanger.ac.uk).
This issue includes information about who the acedb developers are and how to contact us, where to pick up acedb releases and whats new in acedb.
Developers:
mail to: acedb@sanger.ac.uk (is forwarded to all the above)
web site: http://www.acedb.org/ (you can log problems/suggestions from here)
news group: bionet.software.acedb
user group mailing list: acedbg
Anyone can be added to the "acedbg" users circulation list by sending an email request to the acedb address. Notification of the monthly users group/gripe meeting is currently circulated by this method as are these newsletters.
If you need to pick up new/existing versions of acedb code/binaries then this is just a reminder about where to find them internally within the Sanger Centre:
Acedb source/binaries can be found under "/nfs/disk100/acedb".
All source/binaries directories begin with "RELEASE.", those ending
with ".BUILD" include source as well as binaries.
The ones you should look at are:
RELEASE.SUPPORTED
RELEASE.DEVELOPMENT
RELEASE.EXPERIMENTAL
This months development build of Acedb is 4_8c which includes a number of new features.
To try out the new interface you need to use Acedb 4_8 code, please send comments to "acedb".
As alluded to in the previous item, we now have acedb running on Windows platforms. Currently its possible to use xace, tace and the socket-based version of the server (see below item for more on the server). In addition there is a smart/trendy install package for the windows version which should make setting acedb up on a machine much easier. You should contact Simon Kelley for more information about this version of acedb.
It's now possible to install acedb and a version of the C. elegans database on to a Window system from a CD. This can be done in the same way that most other Windows programs are installed via a neat install program. Once again, see Simon Kelley for information about this.
Previously acedb used a protocol called RPC for its client/server communication, this had a number of drawbacks, portability being a major one. The server has now been recoded to use sockets with the following advantages:
Documents for the server can be found at:
The former is the administrators guide to setting up the server/database, the latter is for programmers who want to interface directly to the server via TCP sockets.
Once we are sure the code is stable Ed (edgrif@sanger.ac.uk) will organise a short (1/2 day) course on how to set up and use the new server.
Sylvia Martinelli (sylvia@sanger.ac.uk) is running a 3 day internal (Sanger centre only) introductory course on acedb on 22nd-24th March. If haven't used acedb much before and you need to know about it, then this is the course for you. Contact Sylvia direct if you are interested, there may still be a few places left.