Common Questions and Procedures

How do I set the instrument up for standard, 8 CCD Mosaic mode?

To prepare the instrument, you need to run 'SetFiles' to configure all of the Arcon setup files. The Standard SetFiles page shows a sample run of SetFiles for the standard 8 CCD mode of MosaicII.

How do I set the instrument up for single box/single CCD mode?

Occasionally the user would prefer to use a single CCD instead of the whole Mosaic. This requires the support person to 'SetFiles' with slightly different answers. The Single controller SetFiles page shows a sample run of SetFiles for this mode of MosaicII.

How do I switch between 8 "a", 8 "b", and 16 channels?

Do "epar engpars" and change parameter "amplifiers" to either "a1a2" (for a amplifiers), or "b1b2" (for b amplifiers), or "all" for all 16 amplifiers. As one of the a-amplifiers is not working, it is best to use "b1b2" for 8 channel mode. Then you must do "setdet f+", just go in and out of this, it will then recompile the waveforms suitably. Note that we are using the 16 channels or 8 "b" amplifiers as default.

NOTE: If you started up in 8 channel mode and are changing to 16 channel, you should do a "all video cal in" to recalibrate the electronics (specifically the 8 channels that weren't recalibrated when you started up in 8 channel mode. This should be typed in the Arcon console (arcon_user) box.

How do I make OTF flats for new or visitor filters?

Check out Frank's email explaining the process.

How do I change the data acquisition from one machine to another?

For example, how does one move the data acquisition from ctioa0 to ctioa1? This detailed instruction list will guide you through the process. It should only take about 15 minutes if both machines have Alta boards.

How do I recover an image which is in /tmp?

Using ~/scripts/pimfeed. First, on the data acquisition machine, in the blue IRAF (Data Acquisition) window, cd to where you want the images to go and take 1 exposure (for example, a test exposure). This sets the directory for the recovered files to go to. Then open a UNIX window (an xterm, for example), cd to the directory you chose above, and then do a ls -l /rawdat. Note the ID number of the files you want to recover (the number behind the "xpim", without the underscore. For example, if the ls resulted in something like...

mosaic@ctioa1>/rawdat% ls -al
total 102754
drwxrwxr-x 2 mosaic 512 Dec 13 06:31 .
drwxr-xr-x 8 root 512 Dec 9 10:06 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mosaic 3024 Dec 13 05:00 fits18422.141
-rw-rw-r-- 1 mosaic 1707 Dec 13 05:01 hdr18422.141
-rw-rw-rw- 1 mosaic 32 Dec 13 05:01 xpim18422.141_0
-rw-rw-rw- 1 mosaic 35032680 Dec 13 05:04 xpim18422.141_1
-rw-rw-rw- 1 mosaic 35032680 Dec 13 05:04 xpim18422.141_2
-rw-rw-rw- 1 mosaic 35032680 Dec 13 05:04 xpim18422.141_3

... then you want to use the ID number 18422.141. So in the UNIX window, type~/scripts/pimfeed 18422.141. This should start the transfer of the image to ctio4m. Watch the DCA on ctio4m to see if things are working correctly.

How do start or restart Mosaic GUI without doing a complete Arcon restart?

If the Arcon windows ARE running, then in the IRAF Acquisition window, type

• gwcclose
• gwcopen

If the Arcon windows are NOT running, try...

• cd /m2xp/sources/sun/arInt
• start-arInt