How do I set up SeaDAS VA to have an interactive SeaDAS prompt?

To gain access to an interactive SeaDAS prompt (which is actually an IDL prompt):

1) Purchase and install the Linux version of IDL in your virtual Linux environment. If you are a student make sure to get the cheaper academic price. (If you already have a floating IDL license purchased for your network you can just set up the virtual Linux environment to share this license at no extra cost.)

2) After IDL is installed make sure you can start an IDL session by simply typing "idl" in a terminal window. (See the second point in this post if you are having trouble.)

3) Disable the seadas alias that comes pre-configured with SeaDAS VA by editing ~/.bashrc (e.g. "nedit ~/.bashrc") and deleting the line:  alias seadas='seadas -em $*'

4) Open a new terminal window, type "seadas", and you should now get an interactive "SeaDAS>" prompt.