FTOOLS 4.0 now available

[William Pence]

                     FTOOLS Version 4.0 Release

     A new release of the FTOOLS software package is now publicly
available.  FTOOLS is a package of more than 200 data analysis programs
and Perl and Tcl scripts that operate on FITS format data files.  Some
of these tasks are very general and may be used on any FITS format file
while others are specific to various high-energy astrophysics misssions
supported by the HEASARC.

    Of special note in this release are some new or improved Tcl/Tk
tasks that have a graphical user interface (GUI), namely:

FLAUNCH - This powerful yet easy to learn customizable graphical interface 
          to all of the FTOOLS is new with this release.  It enables the
          user to call any FTOOL or task, edit its parameter files, and
          examine the output. FLAUNCH provides extensive on-line help on
          its own capabilities, as well as providing context sensitive
          help on any task being examined.

FV2.0  -  This is a major upgrade over fv1.0 (released with FTOOLS3.6).
          Fv now has full edit capabilities allowing the user to
          insert, delete, or modify any FITS header or data value.
          The plotting and image display capabilites are much improved
          and the overall speed of the program has been increased.
          Fv is also available as a separate stand-alone tool for those that
          are not interested in installing the entire FTOOLS package.

     The FTOOLS software is supported on most current workstations
(including the linux operating system on a PC) and can be built either
as a set of stand-alone programs or as a package under IRAF (currently
only tested on SUN Solaris systems).  This software is freely available from
the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC)
on the FTOOLS Web home page at:

          http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools

More extensive documentation about FTOOLS is available from the same
location.  Any questions about FTOOLS should be directed to
ftoolshelp at athena.gsfc.nasa.gov.