Mosaic control computers - upgrade

On November 24, 2004 the Mosaic control computers were rearranged and a new, faster Linux computer (Emerald) was installed to take the place of Driftwood. The operation of Mosaic is the same, only the computer layout has changed. For complete instructions on the Mosaic software see the Mosaic-1 manual, section 4

Rust remains the data acquisition computer, while the data handling and analysis are done on Emerald. The computer Emerald is a fast Linux box with a 3.4 GHz (Pentium 4) CPU and 2 Gbytes of memory. It has 3 monitors labeled emerald:0.0 (center monitor), emerald:0.1 (left monitor), and emerald:0.2 (right monitor).

Starting the software

When you arrive at the telescope most likely all of the Mosaic software is already up and running. If not you will need to follow these steps to begin your observing session.

1. Log on to Emerald (login and password are on the white board).
2. Once you have logged in you will need to bring up all of the associated control windows. On the central console (emerald:0.0) right click on the background to bring up the menu of options. The top option is "Start Interfaces for MOSAIC CCD". Select this option. This will open the VNC[1] client in or emerald:0.1 in which the windows from rust will be displayed. It will also start the DCA (Data Capture Agent) and associated GUI of the data handling system in the center monitor (emerald:0.0) as well as the Ximtool-alt display in emerald:0.2, displayed on the right monitor. The right monitor is only an 8-bit display (to accommodate the current version of X-imtool; a new version with 24-bit color is under development) and should only be used for the display window or there will be problems with the allocation of colors to the display window. We are still working out some undesirable features in this display. If you would rather use DS9 as an option for the image display, kill the Ximtool window, right click on the background of emerald:0.2 to bring up the menu, and select DS9. DS9 should work fine as your display device. If you want to switch back to Ximtool, you will have to log out of emerald and then log back in and restart as described above. This will not affect the operation of rust, but should not be done when you are reading out an exposure or you will lose that exposure.
3. If the Arcon software within the Rust VNC window is not running, you'll need to start that as well. In the Rust VNC viewer window on Emerald, click in the background of the display and select (Re)START ARCONS. This should bring up all of the MOSAIC GUI's controlled by rust. This process takes about 2 minutes and you must also answer one question. A small window labeled "ARCON Console" will appear near the left center of the screen in which various messages will scroll by. After a few seconds a larger window labeled "ARCON Acquisition" will open immediately below this; this is the window you will use for entering all data acquisition commands. A brief greeting message will appear in this window and, eventually, you should be asked

   Do you want to synchronize parameters? (yes)

   When you reply "yes" (or just hit [cr]), the detector parameters loaded into Arcon will match those stored in detpars and the positions of the motors recorded in instrpars will correspond to reality. We currently recommend saying yes at the start of an observing run, but "no" during subsequent restarts. This saves slightly on the start-up time. In either case the IRAF package menus will be printed and the cl> prompt will appear. Some further windows will also pop up at this point. The system is now ready for you to begin observing. Occasionally things will get hung up during the process of downloading and initializing the Arcon software. If this happens you may see the message (but probably not)

   ****************************************
   
   **
   
   *FAILURE DURING ARCON STARTUP !!!*
   
   **
   
   *Use re-start button to try again*
   
   **
   
   ****************************************
   

   In the majority of cases, simply performing the restart procedure will fix this problem, although it may be necessary to try this more than once. If after repeated attempts the system will not start, refer to the Frequently Encountered Problems section of the Mosaic-1 manual for further advice.

   Right click on the background of Emerald:0.0 and select (Re)start DCA. When you started ARCONS on rust, the start-up procedure will have killed the previously started DCA. You can restart the DCA right after you start the ARCONS on rust, you do not need to wait until the ARCON start-up has completed. The system is now ready for you to start observing.

Gotchas

Switching between DS9 and Ximtool

If you have been using DS9 for your image display and would like to switch back to using Ximtool or Ximtool-alt you will need to log out of Emerald and log back in again. This will not affect the data acquisition computer (Rust) but should not be done when reading out or you will lose your exposure.

To log out, from the "K" menu in the bottom left corner of the middle console, select Log Out. When the menu box appears, select Log in as different user. Login and password information is on the whiteboard.

Taping - setting the blocksize

When using the taping devices on Emerald you need to make sure you have the blocksize set correctly if using IRAF (mscwfits). Usually this is transparent and you don't need to specifically set the blocksize. However if you are having trouble taping or have used the tape on a Sun machine previously you should check (and correct if necessary) the blocksize.

To check the blocksize, at the cl> prompt type:
!mt -f /dev/nst* status [where * is the appropriate device name/number]

To set the blocksize to zero, at the cl> prompt type:
!mt -f /dev/nst* setblk 0

For devices available and the naming scheme, see below under "Other".

Restarting the Arcon session kills the DCA

As a prevention to having multiple DCAs running, when you restart the Arcon session, the DCA is intentionally killed. Once you have begun restarting the Arcon session you can restart the DCA. From the background menu on Emerald, select "(Re)Start DCA". A DCA console window should appear along with the DCA GUI. A couple messages should normally appear in the DCA console window. However, if you are seeing multiple error messages regarding 'libpvm' you will need to restart the DCA again. This will happen if the DCA is restarted too quickly after killing it. Close the DCA via the Quit button on the DCA GUI, wait 30 seconds, then select "(Re)Start DCA" from the background menu on Emerald.

DCA error messages

When the DCA is started a DCA console window will appear along with the DCA GUI. It's normal to have a few lines of text in the DCA console window, but sometimes you will see multiple error messages regarding a 'libpvm'. If you see these error messages you will need to quit and restart the DCA. Quit the DCA via the Quit button on the DCA GUI. Wait 30 seconds and select "(Re)Start DCA" from the background menu on Emerald.

Sometime when the DCA is started it sees processes running from a previous DCA, in which case you will see a message in the DCA console window regarding starting a new session. Answer yes and things should come up normally.

High CPU on Rust - reconnect PVM

Occassionally something associated with the connection between Rust and Emerald causes unusual activity on Rust. Rust's CPU will be high when nothing is happening - i.e. an image is not being readout. To clear this you'll need to make a new connection between the 2 computers. From the background menu on Rust select "Restart PVM connecting Rust to Emerald". You may need to quit and then restart the DCA after doing this.

Graphical light-path display still green when reading out

In rare cases the MCCD configuration GUI will show the shutter as Open (graphical display is green) even though the exposure over and the image is reading out. Most likely the shutter has actually closed, but the display has not refreshed. Click on the Shutter "Close" button. The shutter makes a distinct sound that can be heard over the intercom. You shouldn't hear the shutter close when clicking on the "Close" button.

Autodisplay doesn't

Bonuses

DVD and CD writing

Emerald also has a DVD writer (DVD-R only!) and a CD writer. Instructions for writing DVDs can be found here http://www-kpno.kpno.noao.edu/dvd-writing-instructions.html.

Bias sequences are now possible

With the installation of the new computer we are now able to run sequences of biases.

Other

Taping Devices

The DLT, DDS-4 dat, and one of the exabyte drives have been moved from Driftwood and installed on Emerald. The device names (in IRAF and unix) are as follows:

IRAF Name	Unix Name	Description
mta	/dev/nst1	Exabyte
mtb	/dev/nst2	DLT
mtc	/dev/nst0	DDS-4 Dat

PVM menus on Rust

Rebooting Rust

Since we are viewing Rust remotely (keyboard and mouse are gone) if you need to reboot Rust you will not be able to use the Stop+A keys to reboot. To reboot Rust, you will need to ssh into Rust from an xterm window on Emerald.

1. End the Arcon session on Rust and wait until the CPU has gone to zero before proceeding.
2. Bring up an xterm window from the background menu on Emerald.
3. In that xterm window type ssh rust and give the password. Once you are logged in, type "reboot-rust" (no quotes).
4. This will kill the VNC viewer window of Rust on Emerald. After a few minutes (after rust has rebooted) you will need to restart the VNC window. From the background window on Emerald select "VNC Rust". If nothing appears, most likely Rust has not finished booting yet. Try again in another minute. You will then need to restart Arcons.

[1] VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing, a software program that allows one to view and manipulate windows on another computer. We use VNC to remotely view the Arcon control computer (rust). For more information on VNC see http://www.realvnc.com.