OMEGA Prime GUI

Omega Prime GUI
CAMERA CONTROL INTERFACE

On all GUI modules, windows which will take user input (such as specifying an integration time or a macro name on the GUI module shown on this page) will have a green border when the window is active. To change, simply type a new value, you do not need to backspace over the old entry. The window will turn red, indicating an entry in progress. To complete entry of the new value, you must enter a carriage return or the new value will not be accepted by the GUI!

File Menu:

Init wheels sends all of the filter wheels back to their zero positions.
System setup will bring up the initialization window.
Quit system will quit the GUI.
The other options are less useful.

Modules Menu: The modules menu is used to start the different modules, each of which has its own description page -- see the GUI Description section of the manual.

Display
Telescope
Satcheck
Stripchart
Temperature control

Options Menu:

Sound calls up a sound menu, where a specific sound file can be associated with a variety of different functions (such as telescope moves, completion of a read...).
Savepath, Macropath, and Objectpath tell the GUI where to save data and where to look for macro and object files.
Logfile specifies where the log file is kept. Note that the logfile path needs to be re-entered each time the GUI is restarted and the other path parameters should be checked!

Filter Control: Omega-Prime has 3 separate filter wheels. While the control panel allows for addressing each wheel separately, all requests for filters should be made from the Wheel-Macro menu, where all normal observing configurations are available. The three individual filter wheels should say moving as the wheels are being repositioned, then display the actual position (filter name, open, or blank) when there.

Read Mode: The different read modes available in Omega-Prime are described in detail in the manual. For standard broadband observing with Omega-Prime, this should normally be left at double correlated read (dcr).

IT(s): is the integration time in seconds. Note that the minimum exposure time with Omega-Prime is 0.8 seconds! Keep this in mind when doing broadband observations under high background conditions or when observing bright objects - the array can easily saturate during this 0.8 seconds of "dead time" while the array is resetting.

Repeat: is the number of images with the specified exposure time which will be taken each time a read is executed. The total exposure time will then be N repeats times T seconds.

File Name: The next file to be saved is given the name which appears in the window just below repeats. The name will automatically increment by one each time a save is executed.

Read The read button executes a read using the current exposure time and number of repeats. On completion of a read, the images are not saved unless autosave is selected under the save option.

Save: The save button saves the most recent image(s) obtained using the currently defined save options.

Save-Options: Calls up a save configuration panel which defines the default way in which to save images. The main choices are whether to save individual exposures as separate disk files, or to integrate them (sum) and save only a single disk file. Note that, as with MAGIC, the first image typically has problems. If saving integrated images, it is highly recommended that the first exposure of a series is not included in the sum! Also, note that the save options are overridden by any options specified in observing macros. For example "save -f 2 -i" in a macro will integrate from image 2 to the end of the series, and save only a single file, even if the save options specify saving images separately. Turning on auto-save will execute a save after every read, without clicking on the save button.

Endless turns on a continuous read. The images are read out with the current integration time and dumped to the display, but are not saved. This is useful for positioning the telescope before starting a macro.

Object: is the object name which is written into the fits header under the keyword "OBJECT" for the current image. It will be updated automatically if object selection is done through object files (recommended), or can be changed by hand.

Sky: Clicking on the sky button writes a sky flag into the fits header, but otherwise has no effect.

Macro: Here, you specify a macro to read into the macro buffer. The filename, without the .mac extension, is all that is necessary (all macros must have the .mac extension). The macro file must be in the MACROS directory specified under the macro path on the options menu (see above).

Execute, Pause, and Abort: control the execution of observing macros. Note that if a pause is issued, the macro will continue executing until all current commands are completed! Check in the command window to be sure that the pause is in effect. Clicking on continue will continue executing the macro after the pause. This is useful when changing the dome slit segments.

Disk: The green portion of the bar indicates the fraction of the selected disk space which is still available. If you are taking lots of data, keep an eye on this. The GUI also issues an audible warning when the disk is getting close to full (assuming you have not turned off the sounds!).

Peter Bizenberger	Dave Thompson
biz@mpia-hd.mpg.de	djt@mpia-hd.mpg.de
Phone: +49 (6221) 528-311	Phone: +49 (6221) 528-224