Science On a Sphere 6.2 Release Notes

This document summarizes the changes and additions to the Science On a Sphere® (SOS) main software in the version 6.2.x releases.

For detailed information on SOS display features, please refer to the SOS Display Software Manual.

Version 6.2.0

November 26, 2025

• Wibu CodeMeter security USB dongle: Starting with SOS version 5.3, we increased our software security measures by requiring each site to have a licensed Wibu CodeMeter security USB dongle before you can do a software upgrade. If your site is running SOS version 5.2.x or below, you will need to request a WiBu dongle using the online SOS Version 5.3.0+ Upgrade Request form. Once SOS Support has received your request, a dongle will be mailed to your site. If you run into any problems using the request form, you can email sos.support@noaa.gov. Follow the version instructions to check your SOS version.

• Each SOS site has two computers (a primary and a backup) that run the main SOS application and other supporting applications. Each computer is installed with the Ubuntu operating system. This software requires version 22.04 of the Ubuntu operating system. Please see “How to get the SOS Latest Update” below to determine your upgrade path. If you are unsure of your SOS software version, please see our Operations and System Adminstration > Checking SOS Versions documentation.

• Added a new setting to the SOS Settings menu: Default Globe Orientation.

In this release, we have added a new setting to the SOS Utilities “Edit SOS Settings” menu on the desktop of your SOS machine:

• Default Globe Orientation

This setting allows you to choose where 0 degrees longitude (the prime meridian) appears when a dataset first loads on the sphere. This enables you to orient the sphere’s datasets and align them with your site’s room layout.

Please see the SOS Utilities menu section of our website for more information on how to access this feature, and we encourage you to take a look at our Zendesk Self-Help Knowledge Base if you enocunter any issues.

In version 6.0.2 of the SOS Software, we added functionality to the SOS Utilities menu on your SOS computer’s Desktop to “Check for Update”. If you are logged in as the “sos” user, you can update to the latest SOS 6.2 software through this utility. Please be sure to have your “sos” user’s password available.

Like the previous SOS versions beginning with 6.0, SOS 6.2 requires your SOS computers to be running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. If you are already running SOS 6.0 or later, you already have the operating system you need and you will only need to install SOS 6.2 on your SOS systems.

This can be accomplished by logging in as the “sos” user and using Ubuntu’s “Software Updater”. Simply follow these instructions to update using a GUI.

Alternatively, you can update via the terminal.

If you are unsure which version of Ubuntu your SOS computer is using, you can follow the instructions on Checking Your Ubuntu Version.

If you are running SOS 5.5.1 or earlier, your systems have Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, which is no longer being maintained or updated. You will need to install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS before you install SOS 6.2.

Please contact sos.support@noaa.gov for detailed instructions before you start upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04! We are happy to assist you in your SOS 6.2 installation.

• The iPad SOS Remote App (version 5.7.x) and the SOS Kiosk (version 5.5.0) do not need to be updated.