Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/sbig/archive/xmccd-4.1/APOGEE Дата изменения: Sun Mar 17 10:46:36 2013 Дата индексирования: Thu Feb 27 20:42:05 2014 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п п

Supported Cameras
=================

The driver should automatically recognize any Apogee Alta series
camera with a USB interface. It should also work, possibly with minor
modification, on their Aspen series cameras.

It has been tested with the U16M, U9000, and U6 models with external (IFW)
filter wheels. Check the documentation in libapogee for more information.

We have not tried other Apogee cameras, and the driver is not configured to use
the parallel interface or the ethernet interface versions of their hardware at
this time. However, the source code for the library provides the resources for
these options, and the framework we use here could be modified to handle any
hardware that is in the open source library.


Installation Instructions for XmCCD with the Apogee Library
===========================================================

This is a recipe for installing XmCCD and auxiliary software especially for
those who may not have experience with Linux system management. If you try
this and find I have left out something, please let me know and I will
include your suggestion here.


I. Required Resources
---------------------

First, you will need the software sources. It is best to compile xmccd from the
source to be sure that it will work with your system. XmCCD has been tested
most recently with OpenSuse 12.2.

Download the DVD version of Suse 12.2 or equivalent for the distribution of your
choice.

Install the default system, but include "development" versions of gcc. We
typically include almost everything! After installation is complete add
packages for

-- Motif development (for the user interface)
-- fxload (required to load firmware to the camera)

and you should be ready to install and run the software.


1. XmCCD
---------

Our website

http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software

provides:

xmccd-#.#.tar.gz

As root or superuser, copy this to /usr/local/src. Untar the archive with
the command

tar xvzf xmccd-#.#.tar.gz

where "#.#" here will be a version number.


2. Motif libraries
-------------------

XmCCD uses a Motif user interface. Your system will need a "development"
package for Motif (or LessTif) to provide libraries and header files needed to
compile xmccd. In OpenSuse the easiest way is to use the system software
management program to search Suse archives for Motif and install from their
package. Other distributions should have similar services, or may already have
Motif installed.

If you are unsure whether your system has Motif, look for library files such as
libXm.a, libXm.la, and libXm.so in /usr/lib for Suse 12.2, or perhaps
/usr/X11R6/lib for other distributions. The makefiles for xmccd and xmccd1
require links to these libraries, and expect them in /usr/lib. You may need
to edit the makefiles for distributions other than OpenSuse if the libraries
are not in /usr/lib.

You might also simply try to compile xmccd (see below) before you proceed to
install Motif, and if there is an error message that a library is missing,
that is a good indication that you need to install Motif, or make changes
described below.


3. FITS libraries
-----------------

Astronomical images are stored as Flexible Image Transport (FITS) files and we
use the cfitsio libraries in building xmccd. We recommend installing the
libraries system-wide as root user. Note that if your system already has
libcfitsio installed this step is not necessary.

cd libcfitsio
./install_cfitsio



4. FITS utilities
-----------------

A set of fits utilites is available in our ALSVID package. See our website
for details.


5. ds9
------

This is the powerful image display software from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics . XmCCD uses it to display the images and to provide image
analysis and file handling.

A copy of the most recent binary at the time this version of XmCCD was built is
included in ds9-#.# (where #.#is the version number).

cd ds9-linux-#.#
./install_ds9_64bit

A 32-bit version is available there too if you prefer, but the 64-bit version
is stable.

It is simple to install the binary for ds9 by downloading it from
the developer's website if you want the most recent version, or a version
for another operating system

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/RD/ds9/

and copy it to /usr/local/bin/

It may also be compiled from source although the complexities of the software
make compiling likely to fail on "cutting edge" versions of Linux. We
recommend using the binary.

SAO_ds9 stores your preferences in a .ds9 file in the your home directory.
You may want to read the manual to understand all the features, but one of them
is that it communicates with other software through an "XPA" protocol. We use
this to inform ds9 each time there is a new image, and to obtain region
coordinates so that subframes can be read quickly if desired. XPA is built into
xmccd1 and ccd, and it may also be used externally if you have scripts that are
interacting with the images and the telescope control system.


6. XPA
------

SAO_ds9 uses the XPA communication library and utilities. A recent version
of the source is included in XmCCD and must be compiled and installed:

cd xpa-#.#
make clean
./configure
make
make install
ldconfig

The ldconfig command will assure that the new fits and xpa libraries are
recognized by the system.

The XPA website has more information and updates:

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/RD/xpa/index.html


7. Apogee Library
-----------------

There is a version of the driver library in the libapogee subdirectory of the
XmCCD package. The libapogee directory in the XmCCD distribution also includes
a script for installing the library and include files.

cd libapogee
./install_apogee_usb

The library has been compiled from the source code included in the libapogee/src
directory. These are Open Source programs from Dave Mills, The Random Factory.
There are some small additions and modifications necessary to link the driver
code, which is written in C++ and tcl, to the C programs used for XmCCD. If you
need to rebuild the library or extend the source, see libapogee/README for
documentation.

It should not be necessary to recompile the library if you are using 64-bit
Suse 12.2, or another distribution of the same vintage, with a USB camera model
in production in 2012 or before. If you prefer the 32-bit version you will have
to recompile the library. This is a simple task and instructions are in
libapogee.

The install_apogee_usb script copies a rules file to /etc/udev/rules.d/ that
should set read and write permission for the camera device and allow you to run
the camera with normal user priviledges.


II. Compile and install the INDI components
--------------------------------------------

Set your current working directory to the xmccd-#.# release directory.

Compile the code in each of these directories as root user:

cd liblilxml
make

cd indiserver
make
make install

cd indiutil
make
make install

cd indiccd
./setup_apogee
make
make install


The last "make install" will place a copy of the indi driver "ccd" in
/usr/local/bin/. If you also have an Apogee camera, you should rename the drivers
to be unique, for example, ccd_sbig and ccd_apogee, and rename xmccd1 to
xmccd1_sbig and xmccd1_apogee. The indiserver and xmccd programs are not
specific to the choice of camera.



III. Compile and install the user interfaces
--------------------------------------------

cd xmccd
make
make install

cd xmccd1
./setup_apogee
make
make install

The protocol files used for xmccd1 are the same as the ones used for indiccd.
Do not edit the protocol.h file here once you have edited it for indiccd.

The binary xmccd does not depend on the camera type, but xmccd1 does. If you
also have an Apogee camera, or use different camera and filter combinations,
create unique executables for each one and rename them.


IV. Test that the USB system recognizes the camera and uploads firmware
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

With the camera power off, plug the camera's usb cable into a usb port on your
computer. Apply power and after a brief delay the camera lights should respond.


For a diagnostic you could try

lsusb

and look for an identifcation for your camera. Apogee cameras do not load
firmware (unlike SBIG cameras). The only issue you may have with the
USB bus is the permission assigned to the device, since it should offer
rw access to a normal user. The rules file that is installed will do this on
recent Linux systems. If it does not work, a temporary fix as root would be

chmod a+rw /dev/bus/usb/###/###

where ### are the bus id's you see in lsusb.

Older distributions of Linux also may not have an up-to-date usb id file. A
copy of a recent one is in docs/usb . The README in that directory describes
how to install this file. With a recent usb.ids file, the lsusb list will show
"Apogee" in the device attributes.



V. Install a configuration file for the user software
------------------------------------------------------

Copy a configuration file in xmccd-#.#/prefs/ to
/usr/local/observatory/prefs/prefs.ccd and edit it to suit your camera.
The prefs file is used to name the filters in your camera filterwheel and
record tracking defaults for autoguiding on your telescope. If the file
is not found, the compiled-in defaults will be used.

Also create a subdirectory

/usr/local/observatory/status

As root user --

cd /usr/local
mkdir observatory
mkdir observatory/prefs
mkdir observatory/status
chown -R observer.users observatory

where the last command would give ownership to the user who is
running the camera. Alternatively (although less secure) allow any user
to read and write to the tree.

The programs xmccd1 and ccd read prefs files and write status files in this
tree, as do the companion programs xmtel1 and tel. Some of our specialized
scripts which are offered as examples here also use files under "observatory"
to control flow.


VI. Start the INDI server
-------------------------

Once the camera is connected and has uploaded its firmware, start the INDI
server with the command


cd data
indiserver ccd

where "data" is the directory into which you will store your image files.
On a given night, start with an empty directory to be sure you do not
overwrite older images with new ones.

This operation should be done as a conventional user. It should not be
necessary and is not desirable to do this as root. When the server starts
the ccd driver, the driver will read a configuration file that is by default
in /usr/local/observatory/prefs . Images acquired will be saved in the
directory in which the indiserver is started. The server is compatible with
XmTel, our telescope control software. To start them simultaneously, put
the drivers on the command line when calling the server

cd data
indiserver ccd tel

In this case you may have "queue" files for data acquisition ready for xmtel
in the data directory. Both xmccd and xmtel will access scripts that are
conveniently kept in /usr/local/bin, or in your own $HOME/bin directories.


VII. Start the user interface
-----------------------------

Once the server is running with the camera driver you may control the camera
using the xmccd INDI user interface. The camera fan and the "on" light will
indicate that it has loaded firmware. To use the INDI interface cd to a
local directory where you will save images and issue the command

xmccd

The program will spawn ds9 for image display and open a window to control the
camera.

The user interface and the server do not have to be on the same computer. See
the REMOTE file for instructions on how to set this up to work over the
network. The protocol makes very low demands on network resources.
Alternatively, xmccd works very well under a VNC server with TightVNC as a
client for an "on-site" experience at remote observing.


VIII. Run the camera from the command line
-------------------------------------------

Use the command line with setINDI to run the camera without a user interface.


IX. Run the camera from XEphem
-------------------------------

With the indiserver running as described above, start xephem as usual. Follow
the menus --

View -> Sky View
Telescope -> INDI panel
Connect
ccd

This opens a display with options to control all camera parameters.


X. Alternative direct camera control interface without INDI
------------------------------------------------------------

The command

xmccd1

will run the camera without an indiserver. You should not start the indiserver
with the ccd driver if you want to use xmccd1. The indiserver requires xmccd.


XI. Filter wheels
-----------------

Apogee cameras do not have an internal filter wheel. XmCCD allows you to use
an external filter wheel and incorporate its control as an executable called
by xmccd. Suport for the IFW-3 filter wheel is included here, and can be
modified for others.



XII. Scripts
------------

There are several scripts given in the the xmccd distribution as examples.
Two of them --

transfer_image
set_camera_filter

should be edited installed in your computer's /usr/local/bin/. The first one
is called by ccd to initiate an image transfer to ds9. The script provided
does this by running setxpa locally. If your instance of ds9 is on another
computer, you may need to use this to copy files or handle other tasks following
the acquisition of an image. The second one is used to run an external filter
wheel. A dummy version should probably be installed even if you are using an
internal filter wheel to help the software start up smoothly before it knows
your system configuration.

There is also a program "ccd_monitor.sh" which may be started as a daemon
and allowed to run during the entire data acquisition if you want to process
images with a script after they are stored. It looks for a short timestamp
file ccdnewimage in /usr/local/observatory/status as a flag that there is
new data to work on. The file ccdnewimage is written by another script
ccd_process.sh that runs (when the option is selected) every time the camera
stores an image. The purpose of the two scripts is to separate the work done
post-processing from the actual exposures and to avoide threading conflicts
in Python.

One very useful result is that the ccd_process.py script that is called by
ccd_monitor.sh can make guiding corrections based on stars selected in ds9.
Instructions on how to do this will be in the documentation on the XmCCD
wiki. With this feature, if the telescope can take images without guiding
that are of high quality in a cadence of, for example, 100 seconds, you can
effectively run on a single target unattended for hours with feedback from
the images you acquire to keep the telescope on target. We use this for
real-time photometry with AstroImageJ.


XII. Send your comments
------------------------

Please let me know how this is working for you and what features you would like
to see added. There is a short TODO list in the main directory.


John Kielkopf (kielkopf@louisville.edu)
March 17, 2013