Version History System Requirements Hardware Software User Registration Downloading and Installing

Version History

A summary of the main TASS revisions and updates from 1963 to 1998 is listed below:

Year	Revisions & Updates
1963	Initiated the collection of growth data in stands of white spruce.
1964	Initiated the construction of TASS I on an IBM 1620 mainframe.
1966	Completed work on TASS I including calibration for white spruce
1967	Initiated model development of TASS II.
1968	Initiated data collection in stands of coastal Douglas-fir.
1975	Completed construction of TASS II for Douglas-fir.
1976	Initiated data collection in stands of interior lodgepole pine.
1980	Initiated intensive calibration and validation of TASS.
1986	TASS ported from mainframe to run on Intel 80x86 microcomputers running DOS.
1987	Added 2D graphics displaying crown map as stand grows.
1988	Added white spruce. Linked in ROTSIM to simulate phellinus root rot in Douglas-fir. Added fertilization for Douglas-fir.
1989	Added lodgepole pine. Added 3D graphics view of growing stand.
1990	TASS ported to Unix to allow larger runs.
1991	Added multiple crown level code, for later use with all-aged and mixed-species stands. Added Sitka spruce. Added interior Douglas-fir. Added coastal western redcedar.
1992	Linked SWAT for modelling spruce weevil attacks.
1995	TASS ported to extended-DOS to allow large runs on PCs. Added detailed branch growing algorithm. Added ability to read in and grow trees on arbitrary sloped surface. Added modelling of snag dynamics when trees die.
1996	Added code to implement simulated crown sway. Linked with TRAYCI light model. Added ability to grow stems non-vertically (for red alder). Added computation of coarse woody debris.
1997	TASS ported to Windows NT (command line). Added interior western hemlock
1998	Added ability to start a stand from any given age (and other variables). Added Internet Web access to TASS.

System Requirements

Hardware

TASS current minimum hardware requirements:

• 4 MB of available random access memory (RAM), 8 MB of RAM recommended
• Pentium or equivalent computer system
• 1 MB of free disk space on your hard drive

Software

TASS minimum software requirements are:

• Windows NT 3.5 or greater
• Version can be compiled for DOS, Unix and other operating systems.

User Registration

TASS does not have a formal registration process at the moment. However, all the information related to the custom runs provided to clients are kept in our files for a number of years for future reference.

Downloading and Installing

TASS is not available for general distribution. It is only available in the Research Branch of the Ministry of Forests because it has substantial training and hardware requirements. TASS growth and yield predictions can be generated in two ways:

• by running the program TIPSY to get custom versions of the yield tables generated by TASS for a specific regime; and
• by requesting special TASS runs for yield table options that are not available within TIPSY. Contacting Mario Di Lucca. TASS outputs can be printed to the default Windows printer. Use the Setup option in the Print dialog box to select the printer of your choice. When you print a table that's fairly wide, some columns may not appear in your output (i.e., aren't being printed). You should reduce the font size to accommodate these wider tables. Changing the Orientation to Landscape in the Print Setup dialog box may also help.

In the near future, clients will be able to electronically submit input parameters via TASSIE over the Internet. Research Branch staff will complete the runs and return the output.