MSC.Fatigue consists of many programs that can be accessed from the forms inside MSC.Patran or can be accessed by typing the proper symbol name at the system level. Some of these programs (such as PTIME and PFMAT) display their own graphics and require knowledge of the graphics terminal they are running on. This information is found by looking for an environment variable set in the user’s home directory (except for Windows NT). MSC.Fatigue checks the envi.hom file for this variable to determine if the Mask or Motif interface is to be used.

A program called MENM is provided which allows the user to create a terminal definition variable which indicates what mode of operation he/she wishes to run. Once a valid envi.hom file is created in the user’s home directory, it is not necessary to run MENM again unless the user wishes to switch to another graphics device or run MSC.Fatigue.

MSC.Patran automatically runs MENM whenever the user enters the MSC.Fatigue forms. The default graphics display on Unix is the MOTIF driver. As long as the user accesses these program from form picks in MSC.Patran, he never has to run MENM manually. The Windows NT platform does not require any terminal definition.

Therefore, the only time it is necessary to run MENM is when running a MSC.Fatigue module like PTIME in stand alone mode from the system prompt. If the user attempts to run a MSC.Fatigue program outside of MSC.Patran, and there is no envi.hom file in the home directory, the Motif driver will be used by default.

To run MENM, type the symbol menm at the system prompt.

When MENM appears, modify the Home Environment by adding or altering a keyword. Add the keyword

$trmtype

The value that this keyword can take is either

x

for the MASK (X) driver, or

motif

for the MOTIF driver. This keyword can only be defined in the user’s home directory. A file called envi.hom is created in the user’s home directory. If this file does not exist, it will be created, and the MOTIF driver will be the default.

The MOTIF and MASK modes of operation are discussed in detail in this appendix. The Windows NT version does not require this environment variable. MSC.Fatigue uses a native windows graphical interface common to most Windows NT programs. However many of the operations described in this appendix are applicable to the Windows NT graphical interface also and therefore it is suggested to at least familiarize yourself with the MOTIF operation. Actual operation of the MENM program is explained in Modifying the MSC.Fatigue Environment (MENM), 1433.