IMPORTANT OPENING COMMENTS: PIT was originally developed by the Information Science and Technology Branch (Code 935) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. It had not been thoroughly debugged when it was first released. Unfortunately, Code 935's mission changed and then the Branch was dissolved and its personnel, including contractor Jeff Love who wrote PIT, were dispersed to other programs. Without direct funding, problems discovered in PIT were not resolved (although Mr. Love has helped the writer to get the present PIT version in workable shape). The version bundled into your CD or from the Internet does have some features and routines that seem different from the one I first used - the illustrations employed in the Cookbook are not precisely the same as you will see when working with PIT (they probably were from an earlier version).
First, like most programs it can shut down erratically, when certain actions are taken. If that happens, you will need to start over. Second, it is sometimes difficult to switch from one operation to another. There are no Back or Undo buttons in the program itself. In some cases, simply hitting the minimize button (-) will get a current program off screen, permitting the user to access a previous screen or program (check the bottom of your desktop for buttons that show the removed program can still be re-activated. Sometimes, the Esc(ape) button on your keyboard will remove a window. Finally, just clicking in the desktop background can perform a desired action. Third, there are certain commands or action in the original write-up by Jeff Love that are not strictly correct. For example, "Enter" in his instructions for some operations needs clarification - this does not mean hitting your keyboard Enter. Instead, Open or Apply or Browse should be the choice. NMS has tried to change these as he reviewed and revised these Instructions, but one or more of this command may have been missed. If you, the user, find inconsistencies or confusing or downright incorrect instructions (for instance, flaws in a sequence) email NMS. So, there are likely several aggravating malfunctions that may occur - at least until you develop the skills to use PIT. For example: PIT doesn't let you retain or minimize images at certain stages unless you save them with a new file name, so they may occupy the screen to some extent (but can be dragged to the side). Hitting the minimize button can occasionally prove a mistake. Some operations have a Cancel button that would seem the way to just get out the immediate program; instead, they might toss the user completely out of PIT. There are other problems which the writer (NMS) will either warn you about in the "Cookbook" or will try to add to this paragraph. My recommendation is that, until you familiarize yourself with PIT and are comfortable in using it, you follow the instructions precisely. Another PITfall (couldn't resist that pun): After you load PIT and decide to minimize it, you may find two tabs at the bottom of your screen; one says PIT with a red symbol - that's the active program; the other says PIT and has a blue symbol c:/ on its left; if you click on that, a window with an error message appears. Minimize it; if you try to close by clicking on the X button, you are thrown out of PIT and must start over. Suggestion: just leave it be until you are ready to exit PIT (clicking on its X box is one way to terminate PIT). Also, be advised that the writer is now using Windows XP as the operating system. When before I used Windows 98, several things described below behaved differently. I do not know if the present program will work on any OS older than Windows NT (FEEDBACK, please). Hereafter, while working within the program
whenever the left button on the mouse is to be used, the word "click" alone
is cited, this will mean hitting the left button just once [if you should instead "double click", this will be spelled out {or if one click doesn't work, automatically try two clicks}; if the right button is to be applied, the words "right click" will be stated)
You will sometimes find it hard to switch back and forth between bands, or from one PIT window to another. We describe a path sequence for switching on page B-9. If you get too many windows on your screen at once (for example, this may happen on the page [B-10] in which you make histograms), you can simply remove any window not involved by hitting its minimize ( - ) button. Another problem is the SAVE function from which you choose to save an end result indefinitely. Jeff Love has suggested this sequence: With the image you plan to save on the screen, go the PIT --> Save window. Click on the "Absolute Directory" button. From that proceed to "C:\Program Files\RST\PIT. Then click "Parent Directory" until the Dir:field is "C". Click "Documents and Settings" and then click on your user name (this may not be possible; alternative, click on "Nick Short". Next, click in the File:field and type the name you want to give to the saved file, but without the .pit extension. This is involved and may crash; my suggestion is to ignore any save effort. I've had several instances when an image I've created was saved with a new image name without my doing anything. An example is the saving of Principle Components images I had made; when I logged off, these were permanently added to my base files. There is no Delete program while in PIT to remove this. I had to hunt until I found the directory pathway on the computer (Not in PIT) that had these unwanted files. I went "C:\Program Files\RST\PIT" and worked beyond that until the files came up and could be deleted from the keyboard. One more remark: It took the writer about an afternoon to run through the main PIT operations and feel comfortable in making things work. Several days later, I had to recheck the Cookbook to remind myself of what to do. So, repeated use is advised until you can operate from memory. I found that printing out pages B-9 through B-13, rather than switching back and forth between programs on the computer, was (for me) the best course of action in learning to run PIT smoothly.
Nicholas M. Short, Sr.