inmidas(1)

💖 inmidas(1) — the MIDAS start-up procedure, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, welcome to inmidas(1), the General Commands Manual moment where we learn how to launch a whole MIDAS session. this is the manual page for inmidas, and she is literally your entry point into MIDAS. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

inmidas — the MIDAS start-up procedure, but for users. (yes, you. you're the user. hi. 👋)

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

inmidas [ unit ] [ -h midashome ] [ -r midvers ]
[ -d display ] [ -m mid_work ] [ -p/-P/-nop ] [ -noh ]
[ -j midas-command-line ] [ -help ]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

inmidas starts a new MIDAS session. that's the whole vibe. new session, fresh start, main character energy 👑

If you run it with no arguments at all, inmidas initiates a MIDAS session using the default definitions. and okay, some of those definitions? you can absolutely change them — either with arguments on the inmidas command line, or by setting environment variables. 💅

🚨 IMPORTANT, no cap: arguments on the command line get taken with preference over environment variables. so if you set both, the command line wins. periodt.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

so here's the tea: inmidas has been configured by the operator at installation time to start a release of MIDAS located in $MIDASHOME0/$MIDVERS0 — and those two are defined internally in the script, so don't go looking for them in your shell, bestie. 🙈

BUT. alternative releases can be specified using the following:

• -h midashome — the home directory for MIDAS. it's an absolute pathname that contains, at the very least, one release of MIDAS. it may also contain subdirectories for demo and calibration data. 📁
• -r midvers — which release of MIDAS to execute. it has to be a subdirectory under midashome. like, it must live inside there. no exceptions. 💀
• -d display — specifies another X server for the display and for graphical MIDAS windows. ⚠️ NOTE: be aware of allowed access to a remote X server using the xhost(1) command. (yes, that's a real caveat, go read it.)
• -p/-P/-nop — okay this trio is doing a whole thing. -p and -P set the MIDAS environment variable MIDOPTION to PARALLEL, while -nop sets it to NOPARALLEL (default: NOPARALLEL). in NOPARALLEL mode, all intermediate MIDAS working files in the MIDAS startup directory are deleted when starting MIDAS via inmidas. in PARALLEL mode, no intermediate files are deleted, and honestly that's necessary if you wanna run several MIDAS sessions with the same startup directory. also: with the -P option and if no unit is given, the system will select automatically one free unit for you 🎁. with the -p option and no unit, the user will be requested to enter one. (that's you. you're being asked. 🙋)
• unit — the unit to be associated to the MIDAS session (default: 00 only if MIDAS is working in NOPARALLEL mode). valid values for this option are in the range (00, 01, ..., 99, xa, ..., zz) — where the numerical values indicate that the user is working on an X11 environment (so the DISPLAY environment variable or the -d argument should be given), and the rest indicate ASCII or graphical terminals that are not X11.
• -m mid_work — specifies the MIDAS startup directory (default: $HOME/midwork). MIDAS will create this directory if it does not exist, and writes temporary files in there that MIDAS uses — e.g. FORGRnn.LOG, which logs the MIDAS session. 📝 it's also the directory for automatic start procedures like the "login.prg" file, and for the "devices.sh" file containing particular MIDAS device-names defined by users. and at the end of the MIDAS session, inmidas will save the MIDAS session in a hidden file located in this directory. that file then gets used later by the gomidas command to resume this MIDAS session where it exited. iconic continuity behavior, honestly. ✨
• -noh — starts MIDAS without clearing the terminal and without any welcome message. no fanfare. no confetti. just MIDAS. 😐
• -j midas command line — midas-command-line will be executed in MIDAS as if it were the first command line typed in the MIDAS monitor. this option also sets the -noh option. ⚠️ NOTE: midas-command-line should be typed between single quotes so it's interpreted by inmidas as a single argument and passed to the MIDAS monitor as it is. quote it, bestie. fr fr. 🙏
• -help — displays a brief description of all options and exits quietly. she said "here's the info, bye" 💅

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

inmidas can also use the following definitions in the environment, with the same performance as the previously described arguments. 👯

⚠️ NOTE: Arguments in the inmidas command line are taken with preference to environment variables. (saying it again because it matters, ok?)

• MIDASHOME — home directory for MIDAS.
• MIDVERS — release of MIDAS.
• DISPLAY — X server for the display and graphical MIDAS windows.
• MIDOPTION — set to PARALLEL or NOPARALLEL.
• MID_WORK — startup directory for MIDAS.

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

gomidas(1) — because that's the one that picks up your saved session and resumes it. the sequel. the part two. the gomidas cinematic universe. 🍓

okay that's the whole page, bestie, you're officially oriented 💖 this was the inmidas(1) page from the MIDAS manual, dated 11 November 1994 — yes, she's vintage, and yes, she still slays 👑✨