2 Documentation

The RAL/ICL GKS implementation is described in the RAL GKS Guide and the RAL GKS Reference Manual (obtainable from your Starlink site manager or Starlink user support at RAL). Appendix A of this note contains workstation specific information for devices for which Starlink has written device handlers. Where this note and the RAL GKS guide differ this note is correct.

Writers of applications programs may prefer to do low level graphics by means of the SGS package rather than by using GKS directly. SGS is described in SUN/85 (SGS Users Manual). Even where a program is pure GKS (perhaps because it has been imported from another system) you are recommended to take advantage of the workstation name scheme provided by GNS (SUN/57).

The high level graphics package recommended by Starlink is PGPLOT. Programs that only use PGPLOT for graphics can be linked with either the “Caltech” version which is widely available throughout the world or with a the Starlink version (SUN/15) which uses GKS for driving graphics devices. If the Starlink version is used, other Starlink graphics packages can also be used from the same program.