So you've got an XRT data tape - now what ?
Print-off or display a copy of the XRT users guide, user_005. This is in AST_DOCS: (VMS) or $AST_DOCS (UNIX). This gives an overview of the programs needed to produce Asterix datafiles and process them.
The first thing you have to do with you data is to convert the files to a form that can be understood by asterix. This only has to be done once - see the help on XRTCONV.
The remainder of this help facility gives information on the particular difficulties of reducing XRT data; (e.g. the 'Time_series_analysis' section) and explains the functions of the various applications in the XRT suite. It's not a bad idea to at least skim through the help entry for a given program before running it for the first time.
Occasionally, important bugs found in the XRT routines or new calibration information are entered into the "Latest news on XRT routines" topic on the XRAYSIG_NEWS conference. This should be regularly monitored. This facility will be replaced in the near future with a WWW (World Wide Web) service.