\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{report} %%\usepackage[dvips]{graphics} %%\usepackage{epsf} \setlength{\textheight}{24cm} \setlength{\textwidth}{16cm} \setlength{\headheight}{0cm} \setlength{\headsep}{0cm} \setlength{\topmargin}{0cm} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{0cm} \setlength{\evensidemargin}{0cm} \setlength{\hoffset}{0cm} \setlength{\marginparwidth}{0cm} \begin{document} \begin{center} \begin{huge} DMC--User Manual \\ \end{huge} Version 0.1, 8.7.1997\\ Dr. Mark K\"onnecke \\ Labor f\"ur Neutronenstreuung\\ Paul Scherrer Institut\\ CH--5232 Villigen--PSI\\ Switzerland\\ \end{center} \clearpage % html: Beginning of file: `sicsinvoc.htm' \chapter{SICS Invocation} \label{f0} SICS is a client server system. This means there are at least two programs necessary to run the experiment. The first is the SICServer which does the actual instrument control work. A user rarely needs to bother about this server program as it is meant to run all the time. See instructions below if things go wrong. Then there are one to many client programs which interact with the instrument control server. These client programs implement the status displays and a command line application which allows to influence the course of the experiment. Graphical User Interfaces may be added at a later time. The user has only to deal with these SICS client programs. SICS Clients and the SICServer communicate with each other through TCP/IP sockets. Currently five SICS clients are available: \begin{itemize} \item A command line control client which allows to control the measurement. \item A status display for DMC. \item A status display for TOPSI. \item A status display for SANS. \item A status display for FOCUS. \item A SICS variable watcher. \end{itemize} \section{Steps necessary for logging in to SICS} The following actions have to be taken in order to interact with the SICS server through a client: \begin{itemize} \item Start the client application. \item Connect the client to a SICS server. \item In case of command line clients: authorize yourself as privileged SICS user. \end{itemize} \section{Starting SICS client applications } These programs can be started on a DigitalUnix system by issuing the following commands at the command prompt: \begin{description} \item[sics \&] for the control client. \item[powderstatus \&] for the DMC status display client. \item[topsistatus \&] for the TOPSI status display. \item[sansstatus \&] for the SANS status display. \item[focustatus] for the FOCUS status display. \item[varwatch \&] for the variable watcher. \end{description} On a PC you may find icons for starting the different programs on the desktop. Each of these clients has usage instructions online which can be displayed through the help/about menu entry. \section{Connecting} After startup any SICS client is not connected to a SICS server and thus not active. A connection is established through the connect menu of the client. \section{Authorization} SICS is a multi user instrument control system. In order to prevent malicious manipulations of the instrument SICS supports a hierarchy of user rights. In order to run an experiment you need at least user level privilege. In order to achieve this privilege you have to invoke the User Parameter/Set Rights dialog. There you have to enter the apropriate username and password kindly provided by your instrument scientist. \section{Restarting the Server} The SICS server should be running all the time. It is only down if something went wrong. You can check for the presence of the SICS server by loging in to the instrument computer and typing {\bf CheckSICS} at the command prompt. The output will tell you what is happening. If you need to restart the SICS server log in as the instrument user at the instrument computer and invoke the apropriate command to start the server. These are: \begin{description} \item[DMC] Computer = lnsa05,User = DMC \item[TOPSI] Computer = lnsa03,User = TOPSI \item[SANS] Computer = lnsa07,User = SANS \item[TRICS] Computer = lnsa12, User = TRICS \item[HRPT] Computer = lnsa11, User = HRPT \item[FOCUS] Computer = lnsa13, User = FOCUS \end{description} For starting the SICS server type {\bf startsics}. This is a shell script which will starts all necessary server programs. This script works only on the instrument computer and in the appropriate instrument account. If all this does not help look under trouble shooting SICS (cf.\ Section~\ref{f1}). % html: End of file: `sicsinvoc.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `general.htm' \chapter{General SICS commands} \label{f2} This section describes general SICS concepts and SICS commands available to all instruments. \section{Chapter Overview} \begin{itemize}\item This chapter starts with an overview over some basic (cf.\ Section~\ref{f3}) SICS concepts. \item Than there are system (cf.\ Section~\ref{f4}) commands for closing the server, requesting status information etc. \item The Token command (cf.\ Section~\ref{f5}) for managing control access to the SICS server. \item A few commands permit to change (cf.\ Section~\ref{f6}) user rights, set output files and the like. \item SICS has a built in macro (cf.\ Section~\ref{f7}) facility which is accessible through a few commands. \item Than there is the famous (cf.\ Section~\ref{f8}) LNS-R\"unbuffer system. \item Motors and parameters need to be drive (cf.\ Section~\ref{f9})n. \item Logging of client output to a file can be performed with the LogBook (cf.\ Section~\ref{f10}) command and the commandlog (cf.\ Section~\ref{f11}). \item SICS has a facility to optimise (cf.\ Section~\ref{f12}) a peak with respect to several parameters. \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `general.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `basic.htm' \section{Basic SICS concepts} \label{f3} \subsection{General structure} SICS is a client server system. The application the user sees is usually some form of client. A client has two tasks: the first is to collect user input and send it to the SICS server who will execute the command. The clients second task is to listen to the the server messages and display them in a readable format. This aoproach has two advantages: clients can reside on machines across the whole network thus enabling remote control from everywhere in the world. The second advantage is that new clients (such as graphical user interface clients) can be written in any feasible language without changes to the server. \subsection{SICS Command Syntax } SICS is an object oriented system. This is reflected in the command syntax. SICS objects can be devices such as motors or counters, variables such as wavelength or Title and measurement procedures. Communication with these objects happens by sending messages to the target object. This is very simply done by typing something like: object message par1 par2 .. parn. For example, if we have a motor called A1:\begin{verbatim} A1 list \end{verbatim} will print a parameter listing for the motor A1. In this example no parameters were needed. There exist a number of one-word commands as well. For compatability reasons some commands have a form which resembles a function call such as:\begin{verbatim} drive a1 26.54 \end{verbatim} This will drive motor a1 to 26.54. All commands are ASCII-strings and usually in english. SICS is in general CASE INSENSITIVE. However, this does not hold for parameters you have to specify. On a unix system for instance file names are case sensitive and that had to be preserved. Commands defined in the scripting language are lower case by convention. \subsection{Authorisation} A client server system is potentially open to unauthorised hackers which might mess up the instrument and your valuable measurements. A known problem in instrument control is that less knowledgeable user accidentally change instrument adjustments which should better be left fixed. In order to solve these two problems SICS supports authorisation on a very fine level. As a user you have to specify a username and password in order to able to access SICS. Some clients already do this for you automatically. SICS support four levels of access to an instrument: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf Spy } may look at everything, request any value, but may not actually change anything. No damage potential here. \item {\bf User } is privileged to perform a certain amount of operations necessary to run the instrument. \item {\bf Manager } has the permission to mess with almost everything. A very dangerous person. \item {\bf Internal } is not accessible to the outside world and is used to circumvent protection for internal uses. However some parameters are considered to be so critical that they cannot be changed during the runtime of the SICS-server, not even by Managers. \end{itemize} All this is stated here in order to explain the common error message: You are not authorised to do that and that or something along these lines. \subsection{SICS variables} Most of the parameters SICS uses are hidden in the objects to which they belong. But some are separate objects of their own right and are accessible at top level. For instance things like Title or wavelength. They share a common syntax for changing and requesting their values. This is very simple: The command {\em objectname } will return the value, the command {\em objectname newvalue } will change the variable. But only if the authorisation codes match. \subsection{The SICS Command Line Client} The most common client for controlling SICS is the {\bf SICS command line client}. This application can be started by typing the command: \begin{verbatim} sics & \end{verbatim} at the Unix prompt. Before this program is ready to collaborate with you you have to connect it to an instrument using the options in the connect pulldown menu. The screen is roughly divided in three areas: The top area shows all input to and output from the server. The middle area shows the command history. At the lower end is a text entry field which allows to type commands to the SICS server. For more information about this client consult the online help of this application. % html: End of file: `basic.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `system.htm' \section{System Commands} \label{f4} {\bf Sics\_Exitus }. A single word commands which shuts the server down. Only Managers may use this command. {\bf wait time } waits time seconds before the next command is executed. This does not stop other clients from issuing commands. {\bf ResetServer } resets the server after an interrupt. {\bf Dir } a single word command which lists all objects available in the SICS system in its current configuration. {\bf status } A single word command which makes SICS print its current status. Possible return values can be: Eager to execute commands, Scanning, Counting, Running, Halted. Note that if a command is executing which takes some time to complete the server will return an ERROR: Busy message when further commands are issued. {\bf status interest} initiates automatic printing of any status change in the server. This command is primarily of interest for status display client implementors. {\bf backup file} saves the current values of SICS variables and selected motor and device parameters to the disk file specified as parameter. The path to this files is relative to the SICS server directory. The format of the file is a list of SICS commands to set all these parameters again. {\bf restore file} reads a file produced by the backup command described above and restores SICS to the state it was in when the status was saved with backup. % html: End of file: `system.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `config.htm' \section{Configuration Commands} \label{f6} SICS allows to change the user rights of the current client server connection, control the amount of output a client receives and to specify additional logfiles where output will be placed. All this is accessed through the following commands: The SICS server logs all its activities to a logfile, regardless of what the user requested. This logfile is mainly intended to help in server debugging. However, clients may register an interest in certain server events and can have them displayed. This facility is accessed via the {\bf GetLog } command. It needs to be stressed that this log receives messages from {\bf all } active clients. GetLog understands the following messages: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf GetLog All } achieves that all output to the server logfile is also written to the client which issued this command. \item {\bf GetLog Kill } stops all logging output to the client. \item {\bf GetLog OutCode } request that only certain events will be logged to the client issuing this command. Enables only the level specified. Multiple calls are possible. \end{itemize} Possible values for OutCode in the last option are: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf Internal } internal errors such as memory errors etc. \item {\bf Command } all commands issued from any client to the server. \item {\bf HWError } all errors generated by instrument hardware. The SICS server tries hard to fix HW errors in order to achieve stable operations and may not generate an error message if it was able to fix the problem. This option may be very helpful when tracking dodgy devices. \item {\bf InError } All input errors found on any clients input. \item {\bf Error } All error messages generated by all clients. \item {\bf Status } some commands send status messages to the client invoking the command in order to monitor the state of a scan. \item {\bf Value } Some commands return requested values to a user. These messages have an output code of Value. \end{itemize} {\bf config } allows to configure various aspects of the current client server connection. Basically three things can be manipulated: The connections output class, the user rights associated with it, and output files. \begin{itemize} \item The command {\bf config OutCode val } sets the output code for the connection. By default all output is sent to the client. But a graphical user interface client might want to restrict message to only those delivering requested values and error messages and suppressing anything else. In order to achieve this, this command is provided. Possible values Values for val are Internal,Command, HWError,InError,Status, Error, Value. This list is hierarchical. For example specifying InError for val lets the client receive all messages tagged InError, Status, Error and Value, but not HWError, Command and Internal messages. \item Each connection between a client and the SICS server has user rights assocociated with it. These user rights can be configured at runtime with the command {\bf config Rights Username Password }. If a matching entry can be found in the servers password database new rights will be set. \item Scientists are not content with having output on the screen. In order to check results a log of all output may be required. The command {\bf config File name } makes all output to the client to be written to the file specified by name as well. The file must be a file accessible to the server, i.e. reside on the same machine as the server. Up to 10 logfiles can be specified. Note, that a directly connected line printer is only a special filename in unix. \item {\bf config close num} closes the log file denoted by num again. \item {\bf config list} lists the currently active values for outcode and user rights. \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `config.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `macro.htm' \section{Macro Commands} \label{f7} SICS has a built in macro facility. This macro facility is aimed at instrument managers and users alike. Instrument managers may provide customised measurement procedures in this language, users may write batch files in this language. The macro language is John Ousterhout's Tool Command Language (TCL). Tcl has control constructs, variables of its own, loop constructs, associative arrays and procedures. Tcl is well documented by several books and online tutorials, therefore no details on Tcl will be given here. All SICS commands are available in the macro language. Some potentially harmful Tcl commands have been deleted from the standard Tcl interpreter. These are: exec, source, puts, vwait, exit,gets and socket. The following commands allow access to the macro facility: {\bf FileEval name } tries to open the file name and executes the script in this file. Please note that the server is configured via such a file. {\bf ClientPut sometext1 ... } writes everything after ClientPut to the client which started the script. Useful for output to a client from macro scripts. {\bf SICSType object } allows to query the type of the object specified by object. Possible return values are \begin{itemize} \item {\bf DRIV } if the object is a SICS drivable object such as a motor \item {\bf COUNT } if the object is some form of a counter. \item {\bf COM } if the object is a SICS command. \item {\bf NUM } if the object is a number. \item {\bf TEXT } if object is something meaningless to SICS. \end{itemize} {\bf SICSbounds var newval } checks if the new value newval lies within the limits for varaible var. Returns an error or OK depending on the result of the test. {\bf SICSStatus var } SICS devices such as counters or motor may be started and left running while the program is free to do something else. This command allows to enquire the status of such a running device. Return values are internal SICS integer codes. This command is only of use for SICS programmers. {\bf SetStatus newval } allows to set the SICS status to one of: Eager, UserWait, Count, NoBeam, Driving, Running, Scanning, Batch Hatl or Dead. This command is only available in macros. {\bf SetInt newval, GetInt } allow for the manipulation of interrupts from macro scripts. Not recommended! Possible return values or new values are: continue, abortop, abortscan, abortbatch, halt, free, end. This command is only permitted in macros. Should only be used by SICS programmers. % html: End of file: `macro.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `buffer.htm' \section{R\"unbuffer Commands} \label{f8} LNS scientists have got used to using R\"unbuffers for instrument control. A R\"unbuffer is an array of SICS commands which typically represent a measurement. This R\"unbuffer can be edited at run time. This is very similar to a macro. In contrast to a macro only SICS commands are allowed in R\"unbuffers. When done with editing the R\"unbuffer it can be entered in a R\"unlist. This is a stack of R\"unbuffers which get executed one by one. While this is happening it is possible (from another client) to modify the R\"unlist and edit and add additional R\"unbuffer on top of the stack. This allows for almost infinite measurement and gives more control than a static batch file. In order to cater for this scheme three commands have been defined: The {\bf Buf } object is responsible for creating and deleting R\"unbuffers. The syntax is: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf Buf new name } creates a new empty R\"unbuffer with the name name. name will be installed as a SICS object afterwards. \item {\bf Buf copy name1 name2 } copies R\"unbuffer name1 to buffer name2. \item {\bf Buf del name } deletes the R\"unbuffer name. \end{itemize} After creation, the R\"unbuffer is accessible by his name. It than understands the commands: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf NAME append what shall we do with a drunken sailor } will add all text after append as a new line at the end of the R\"unbuffer. \item {\bf NAME print } will list the contents of the R\"unbuffer. \item {\bf NAME del iLine } will delete line number iLine from the R\"unbuffer. \item {\bf NAME ins iLine BimBamBim } inserts a new line {\bf after } line iLine into the R\"unbuffer. The line will consist of everything given after the iLine. \item {\bf NAME subst pattern newval } replaces all occurences of pattern in the R\"unbuffer by the text specified as newval. Currently this feature allows only exact match but may be expanded to Unix style regexp or shell like globbing. \item {\bf NAME save filename } saves the contents of the R\"unbuffer into file filename. \item {\bf NAME load filename } loads the R\"unbuffer with the data in file filename. \item {\bf NAME run } executes the R\"unbuffer. \end{itemize} The R\"unlist is accessible as object {\bf stack }. Only one R\"unlist per server is permitted. The syntax: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf stack add name } adds R\"unbuffer name to the top of the stack. \item {\bf stack list } lists the current R\"unlist. \item {\bf stack del iLine } deletes the R\"unbuffer iLine from the R\"unlist. \item {\bf stack ins iLine name } inserts R\"unbuffer name after R\"unbuffer number iLine into the R\"unlist. \item {\bf stack run } executes the R\"unlist and returns when all R\"unbuffers are done. \item {\bf stack batch } executes the R\"unlist but does not return when done but waits for further R\"unbuffers to be added to the list. This feature allows a sort of background process in the server. \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `buffer.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `drive.htm' \section{Drive commands} \label{f9} Many objects in SICS are {\bf drivable }. This means they can run to a new value. Obvious examples are motors. Less obvious examples include composite adjustments such as setting a wavelength or an energy. This class of objects can be operated by the {\bf drive, run, Success } family of commands. These commands cater for blocking and non-blocking modes of operation. {\bf run var newval var newval ... } can be called with one to n pairs of object new value pairs. This command will set the variables in motion and return to the command prompt without waiting for the requested operations to finish. This feature allows to do things to the instrument while perhaps a slow device is running into position. {\bf Success } waits and blocks the command connection until all pending operations have finished (or an interrupt occured). {\bf drive var newval var newval ... } can be called with one to n pairs of object new value pairs. This command will set the variables in motion and wait until the driving has finished. A drive can be seen as a sequence of a run command as stated above immediatetly followed by a Success command. % html: End of file: `drive.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `logbook.htm' \section{LogBook command} \label{f10} Some users wish like to have all the input typed to SICS and all responses collected in a file for further review. This is implemented via the LogBook command. LogBook understands the following syntax: \begin{description} \item[ LogBook] alone prints the name of the current logfile and the status of event logging. \item[ LogBook file filename] This command sets the filename to which output will be printed. Please note that this new filename will only be in effect after restarting logging. \item[ LogBook on] This command turns loggin on. All commands and all answers will be written to the file defined with the command described above. Please note, that this command will overwrite an existing file with the same name. \item[ LogBook off] This command closes the logfile and ends logging. \end{description} % html: End of file: `logbook.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `commandlog.htm' \section{The Commandlog} \label{f11} The commandlog is a file where all communication with clients having user or manager privilege is logged. This log allows to retrace each step of an experiment. This log is usually switched off and must be configured by the instrument manager. There exists a special command, commandlog, which allows to control this log file. \begin{description} \item[commandlog new filename] starts a new commandlog writing to filename. Any prior files will be closed. The log file can be found in the directory specified by the ServerOption LogFileDir. Usually this is the log directory. \item[commandlog] displays the status of the commandlog. \item[commandlog close] closes the commandlog file. \item[commandlog auto] Switches automatic log file creation on. This is normally switched on. Log files are written to the log directory of the instrument account. There are time stamps any hour in that file and there is a new file any 24 hours. \end{description} % html: End of file: `commandlog.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `optimise.htm' \chapter{The Peak Optimiser} \label{f12} In instrument control the need arises to optimise a peak with respect to several variables. Optimising means finding the maximum of the peak with respect to several variables. This is usefull during instrument calibration. Four circle diffractometers use this facility on a day to day basis for finding and verifying the exact position of reflections. In order to support both usages a more general module has been implemented. The way of operation is like this: \begin{verbatim} while errors gt precision and cycles lt maxcycles for all variables do a scan Try find the maximum, two halfwidth points and the peak center. if failure extend the scan. if success shift the variable, remember last shift. If shift lt precicison mark this variable as done end for end while \end{verbatim} Possible outcomes of this procedure are: success, the peak was lost or the maximum number of cycles was reached. This routine requires that the instrument is currently placed somewhere on the peak and not miles away. The Peak Optimiser is implemented as an object with the name opti. It understand the following commands: \begin{description} \item[opti clear] clears the optimiser. \item[opti addvar name step nStep precision] This command adds a variable to optimise to the optimiser. The user has to specify the name of the variable, the step width to use for scanning, the number of steps needed to cover the full peak when scanning and the precision which should be achieved when optimising the peak. The step width and number of steps parameters should cover the whole peak. However, the Optimiser will extend the scan is the specified range is not sufficient. \item[opti run] Starts the optimiser. It will then optimise the peak. This may take some time. \end{description} The behaviour of the optimiser can be configured by modifying some parameters. The synatx is easy: {\bf opti parameter} prints the value of the parameter, {\bf opti parameter newval} sets a new value for the parameter. The following parameters are supported: \begin{description} \item[maxcycles] The maximum number of cycles the optimiser will run when trying to optimise a peak. The default is 7. \item[threshold] When a peak cannot be identified after a scan on a variable, the optimiser will check if there is a peak at all. In order to do that it searches for a count rate higher then the threshold parameter. If such a rate cannot be found the optimiser will abort and complain that he lost the peak. \item[channel] The counter channel to use for scanning. The default is to use the counter. By modifying this parameter, the optimiser can optimise on a monitor instead. \item[countmode] The counting mode to use when scanning. Possible values are {\bf timer} or {\bf monitor}. \item[preset] The preset value to use for counting in the scan. Depending on the status of the countmode parameter this is either a preset time or a preset monitor. \end{description} % html: End of file: `optimise.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `token.htm' \section{The Token Command} \label{f5} In SICS any client can issue commands to the SICS server. This is a potential cause for trouble with users issuing conflicting commands without knowing. In order to deal with this problem a token mechanism has been developed. A connection can grab a token and then has full control over the SICS server. Any other connection will not be privileged to do anything useful, except looking at things. A token can be released manully with a special command or is automatically released when the connection dies. Another command exists which allows a SICS manager to force his way into the SICS server. The commands in more detail: \begin{description} \item[token grab] Reserves control over the instrument to the client isssuing this command. Any other client cannot control the instrument now. However, other clients are still able to inspect variables. \item[token release] Releases the control token. Now any other client can control the instrument again. Or grab the control token. \item[token force password] This command forces an existing grab on a token to be released. This command requires manager privilege. Furthermore a special password must be specified as third parameter in order to do this. This command does not grab control though. \end{description} % html: End of file: `token.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `dmchw.htm' \chapter{DMC Hardware Devices} \label{f13} DMC controls a couple of : \begin{itemize} \item motors (cf.\ Section~\ref{f14}). \item a histogram memory (cf.\ Section~\ref{f15}). \item a counter box (cf.\ Section~\ref{f16}) for reading monitors. \item and various environment.htm (cf.\ Section~\ref{f17}) control devices. \end{itemize} Each of these devices understands commands. The syntax understood by each of these devices will be discussed. % html: End of file: `dmchw.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `motor.htm' \section{SICS motor handling} \label{f14} In SICS each motor is an object with a name. Motors may take commands which basically come in the form {\em motorname command }. Most of these commands deal with the plethora of parameters which are associated with each motor. The syntax for manipulating variables is, again, simple. {\em Motorname parametername } will print the current value of the variable. {\em Motorname parametername newval } will set the parameter to the new value specified. A list of all parameters and their meanings is given below. The general principle behind this is that the actual (hardware) motor is kept as stupid as possible and all the intracacies of motor control are dealt with in software. Besides the parameter commands any motor understands these basic commands: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf Motorname list } gives a listing of all motor parameters. \item {\bf Motorname reset } resets the motor parameters to default values. This is software zero to 0.0 and software limits are reset to hardware limits. \item {\bf Motorname position} prints the current position of the motor. \item {\bf Motorname interest} initiates automatic printing of any position change of the motor. This command is mainly interesting for implementors of status display clients. \end{itemize} Please note that the actual driving of the motor is done via the drive (cf.\ Section~\ref{f9}) command. \subsection{The motor parameters} \begin{itemize} \item {\bf HardLowerLim } is the hardware lower limit. This is read from the motor controller and is identical to the limit switch welded to the instrument. Can usually not be changed. \item {\bf HardUpperLim } is the hardware upper limit. This is read from the motor controller and is identical to the limit switch welded to the instrument. Can usually not be changed. \item {\bf SoftLowerLim } is the software lower limit. This can be defined by the user in order to restrict instrument movement in special cases. \item {\bf SoftUpperLim } is the software upper limit. This can be defined by the user in order to restrict instrument movement in special cases. \item {\bf SoftZero } defines a software zero point for the motor. All further movements will be in respect to this zeropoint. \item {\bf Fixed } can be greater 0 for the motor being fixed and less or equal than zero for the motor being movable. \item {\bf InterruptMode } defines the interrupt to issue when the motor fails. Some motors are so critical for the operation of the instrument that all operations shall be stopped when there is a problem. Other are less critical. This criticallity is expressed in terms of interrupts, denoted by integers in the range 0 - 4 translating into the interrupts: continue, AbortOperation, AbortScan, AbortBatch and Halt. This parameter can usually only be set by managers. \item {\bf Precision } denotes the precision to expect from the motor in positioning. Can usually only be set by managers. \item {\bf AccessCode } specifies the level of user privilege necessary to operate the motor. Some motors are for adjustment only and can be harmful to move once the adjustment has been done. Others must be moved for the experiment. Values are 0 - 3 for internal, manager, user and spy. This parameter can only be changed by managers. \item {\bf Speed }, defunct. \item {\bf Sign } allows to reverse the operating sense of the motor. For cases where electricians and not physicists have defined the operating sense of the motor. Usually a parameter not to be changed by ordinary users. \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `motor.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `histogram.htm' \section{Histogram memory} \label{f15} Histogram memories are used in order to control large area sensitive detectors or single detectors with time binning information. Basically each detector maps to a defined memory location. The histogram memory wizard takes care of putting counts detected in the detector into the proper bin in memory. Some instruments resolve energy (neutron flight time) as well, than there is for each detector a row of memory locations mapping to the time bins. As usual in SICS the syntax is the name of the histogram memory followed by qualifiers and parameters. As a placeholder for the histogram memories name in your system, HM will be used in the following text. A word or two has to be lost about the SICS handling of preset values for histogram memories. Two modes of operation have to be distinguished: counting until a timer has passed, for example: count for 20 seconds. This mode is called timer mode. In the other mode, counting is continued until a control monitor has reached a certain preset value. This mode is called Monitor mode. The preset values in Monitor mode are usually very large. Therefore the counter has an exponent data variable. Values given as preset are effectively 10 to the power of this exponent. For instance if the preset is 25 and the exponent is 6, then counting will be continued until the monitor has reached 25 million. Note, that this scheme with the exponent is only in operation in Monitor mode. \subsection{ Configuration} A HM has a plethora of configuration options coming with it which define memory layout, modes of operation, handling of bin overflow and the like. Additionally there are HM model specific parameters which are needed internally in order to communicate with the HM. In most cases the HM will already have been configured at SICS server startup time. However, there are occasion where these configuartion option need to enquired or modified at run time. The command to enquire the current value of a configuration option is: {\bf HM configure option}, the command to set it is: {\bf HM configure option newvalue}. A list of common configuration options and their meaning is given below: \begin{description} \item[ HistMode] HistMode describes the modes of operation of the histogram memory. Possible values are: \begin{itemize} \item Transparent, Counter data will be written as is to memory. For debugging purposes only. \item Normal, neutrons detected at a given detector will be added to the apropriate memory bin. \item TOF, time of flight mode, neutrons found in a given detector will be put added to a memory location determined by the detector and the time stamp. \item Stroboscopic mode. This mode serves to analyse changes in a sample due to an varying external force, such as a magnetic field, mechanical stress or the like. Neutrons will be stored in memory according to detector position and phase of the external force. \end{itemize} \item[ OverFlowMode] This parameter determines how bin overflow is handled. This happend when more neutrons get detected for a particular memory location then are allowed for the number type of the histogram memory bin. Possible values are: \begin{itemize} \item Ignore. Overflow will be ignored, the memory location will wrap around and start at 0 again. \item Ceil. The memory location will be kept at the highest posssible value for its number type. \item Count. As Ceil, but a list of overflowed bins will be maintained. \end{itemize} \item[ Rank] Rank defines the number of histograms in memory. \item[ Length ] gives the length of an individual histogram. \item[ BinWidth] determines the size of a single bin in histogram memory in bytes. \item[dim0, dim1, dim2, ... dimn] define the logical dimensions of the histogram. Must be set if the the sum command (see below) is to be used. This is a clutch necessary to cope with the different notions of dimensions in the SINQ histogram memory and physics. \end{description} For time of flight mode the time binnings can be retrieved and modified with the following commands. Note that these commands do not follow the configure syntax given above. Please note, that the usage of the commands for modifying time bins is restricted to instrument managers. \begin{description} \item[HM timebin] Prints the currently active time binning array. \item[HM genbin start step n] Generates a new equally spaced time binning array. Number n time bins will be generated starting from start with a stepwidth of step. \item[HM setbin inum value] Sometimes unequally spaced time binnings are needed. These can be configured with this command. The time bin iNum is set to the value value. \item[HM clearbin] Deletes the currently active time binning information. \end{description} \subsection{Histogram Memory Commands} Besides the configuration commands the HM understands the following commands: \begin{description} \item[HM preset] with a new value sets the preset time or monitor for counting. Without a value prints the current value. \item[HM exponent] with a new value sets the exponent to use for the preset time in Monitor mode. Without a value prints the current value. \item[CountMode ] with a new values sets the count mode. Possible values are Timer for a fixed counting time and Monitor for a fixed monitor count which has to be reached before counting finishes. Without a value print the currently active value. \item[HM init ] after giving configuration command sthis needs to be called in order to transfer the configuration from the host computer to the actual HM. \item[HM count] starts counting using the currently active values for CountMode and preset. This command does not block, i.e. in order to inhibit further commands from the console, you have to give Success afterwards. \item[HM InitVal val] initialises the whole histogram memory to the value val. Ususally 0 in order to clear the HM. \item[ HM get i iStart iEnd] retrieves the histogram number i. A value of -1 for i denotes retrieval of the whole HM. iStart and iEnd are optional amd allow to retrieve a subset of a histogram between iStart and iEnd. \item[HM sum d1min d1max d2min d2max .... dnmin dnmax] calculates the sum of an area on the detector. For each dimension a minimum and maximum boundary for summing must be given. \end{description} % html: End of file: `histogram.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `counter.htm' \section{SICS counter handling} \label{f16} This section deals with the SICS interface to single counters. Where the SICS counter concept may include several monitors per counter. A counter is, again, a named object which takes commands. A word or two has to be lost about the SICS handling of preset values for counters. Two modes of operation have to be distinguished: counting until a timer has passed, for example: count for 20 seconds. This mode is called timer mode. In the other mode, counting is continued until a control monitor has reached a certain preset value. This mode is called Monitor mode. The preset values in Monitor mode are usually very large. Therefore the counter has an exponent data variable. Values given as preset are effectively 10 to the power of this exponent. For instance if the preset is 25 and the exponent is 6, then counting will be continued until the monitor has reached 25 million. Note, that this scheme with the exponent is only in operation in Monitor mode. The commands understood are: \begin{itemize} \item {\bf countername SetPreset val } sets the counting preset to val. \item {\bf countername GetPreset } prints the current preset value. \item {\bf countername SetExponent val } sets the exponent for the counting preset in monitor mode to val. \item {\bf countername GetExponent } prints the current exponent used in monitor mode. \item {\bf countername SetMode val } sets the counting mode to val. Possible values are Timer for timer mode operation and Monitor for waiting for a monitor to reach a certain value. \item {\bf countername GetMode } prints the current mode. \item {\bf countername GetCounts } prints the counts gathered in the last run. \item {\bf countername GetMonitor n } prints the counts gathered in the monitor number n in the last run. \item {\bf countername Count preset } starts counting in the current mode and the the preset preset. \item {\bf countername status } prints a message containing the preset and the current monitor or time value. Can be used to monitor the progress of the counting operation. \item {\bf countername gettime } Retrieves the actual time the counter counted for. This excludes time where there was no beam or counting was paused. \item {\bf countername getthreshold m} retrieves the value of the threshold set for the monitor number m. \item {\bf countername setthreshold m val} sets the threshold for monitor m to val. WARNING: this also makes monitor m the active monitor for evaluating the threshold. Though the EL7373 counterbox does not allow to select the monitor to use as control monitor in monitor mode, it allows to choose the monitor used for pausing the count when the count rate is below the threshold (Who on earth designed this?) \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `counter.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `samenv.htm' \chapter{ Sample Environment Devices} \label{f17} \section{SICS Concepts for Sample Environment Devices} \label{f17:concept} SICS can support any type of sample environment control device if there is a driver for it. This includes temperature controllers, magnetic field controllers etc. The SICS server is meant to be left running continously. Therefore there exists a facility for dynamically configuring and deconfiguring environment devices into the system. This is done via the {\bf EVFactory} command. It is expected that instrument scientists will provide command procedures or specialised R\"unbuffers for configuring environment devices and setting reasonable default parameters. In the SICS model a sample environment device has in principle two modes of operation. The first is the drive modus. The device is monitored in this modus when a new value for it has been requested. The second modus is the monitor modus. This modus is entered when the device has reached its target value. After that, the device must be continously monitored throughout any measurement. This is done through the environment monitor or {\bf emon}. The emon understands a few commands of its own. Within SICS all sample environement devices share some common behaviour concerning parameters and abilities. Thus any given environment device accepts all of a set of general commands plus some additional commands special to the device. In the next section the EVFactory, emon and the general commands understood by any sample environment device will be discussed. This reading is mandatory for understanding SICS environment device handling. Then there will be another section discussing the special devices known to the system. \section{SampleEnvironment Error Handling} A \label{f17:error}sample environment device may fail to stay at its preset value during a measurement. This condition will usually be detected by the emon. The question is how to deal with this problem. The requirements for this kind of error handling are quite differntiated. The SICS model therefore implements several strategies for handling sample environment device failure handling. The strategy to use is selected via variable which can be set by the user for any sample environment device separatetly. Additional error handling strategies can be added with a modest amount of programming. The error handling strategies currently implemented are: \begin{description} \item[Lazy] Just print a warning and continue. \item[Pause] Pauses the measurement until the problem has been resolved. \item[Interrupt] Issues a SICS interrupt to the system. \item[Safe] Tries to run the environment device to a value considered safe by the user. \end{description} \section{General Sample Environment Commands} \label{f17:general} \subsection{EVFactory} EVFactory is responsible for configuring and deconfiguring sample environment devices into SICS. The syntax is simple: \begin{description} \item[EVFactory new name type par par ...] Creates a new sample environment device. It will be known to SICS by the name specified as second parameter. The type parameter decides which driver to use for this device. The type will be followed by additional parameters which will be evaluated by the driver requested. \item[EVFactory del name] Deletes the environment device name from the system. \end{description} \subsection{emon} The environment monitor emon takes for the monitoring of an environment device during measurements. It also initiates error handling when appropriate. The emon understands a couple of commands. \begin{description} \item[emon list] This command lists all environment devices currently registered in the system. \item[emon register name] This is a specialist command which registers the environment device name with the environment monitor. Usually this will automatically be taken care of by EVFactory. \item[emon unregister name] This is a specialist command which unregisters the environment device name with the environment monitor. Usually this will automatically be taken care of by EVFactory Following this call the device will no longer be monitored and out of tolerance errors on that device no longer be handled. \end{description} \subsection{General Commands UnderStood by All Sample Environment Devices} \label{f17:all} Please note that each command discussed below MUST be prepended with the name of the environment device as configured in EVFavtory! The general commands understood by any environment controller can be subdivided further into parameter commands and real commands. The parameter commands just print the name of the parameter if given without an extra parameter or set if a parameter is specified. For example: \begin{quotation} Temperature Tolerance\end{quotation} prints the value of the variable Tolerance for the environment controller Temperature. \begin{quotation} Temperature Tolerance 2.0\end{quotation} sets the parameter Tolerance for Temperature to 2.0. Parameters known to ANY envrironment controller are: \begin{description} \item[Tolerance] Is the deviation from the preset value which can be tolerated before an error is issued. \item[ Access] Determines who may change parameters for this controller. Possible values are: \begin{itemize} \item 0 only internal \item 1 only Managers \item 2 Managers and Users. \item 3 Everybody, including Spy. \end{itemize} \item[LowerLimit] The lower limit for the controller. \item[UpperLimit] The upper limit for the controller. \item[ErrHandler.] The error handler to use for this controller. Possible values: \begin{itemize} \item 0 is Lazy. \item 1 for Pause. \item 2 for Interrupt \item 3 for Safe. \end{itemize} For an explanantion of these values see the section about error (cf.\ Section~\ref{f17:error}) handling above. \item[ Interrupt] The interrupt to issue when an error is detected and Interrupt error handling is set. Valid values are: \begin{itemize} \item 0 for Continue. \item 1 for abort operation. \item 2 for abort scan. \item 3 for abort batch processing. \item 4 halt system. \item 5 exit server. \end{itemize} \item[SafeValue] The value to drive the controller to when an error has been detected and Safe error handling is set. \end{description} Additionally the following commands are understood: \begin{description} \item[send par par ...] Sends everything after send directly to the controller and return its response. This is a general purpose command which allows to manipulate controllers and controller parameters directly. The protocoll for these commands is documented in the documentation for each controller. Ordinary users should not tamper with this. This facility is meant for setting up the device with calibrartion tables etc. \item[ list] lists all the parameters for this controller. \item[ no command, only name.] When only the name of the device is typed it will return its current value. \item[ name val ] will drive the device to the new value val. Please note that the same can be achieved by using the drive command. \item[ name log on] Switches logging on. If logging is on, at each cycle in the emon the current value of the environment variable will be recorded together with a time stamp. Be careful about this, for each log point a bit of memory is allocated. At some time the memory is exhausted! Log clear frees it again and log frequency (both below) allows to set the logging time intervall. \item[ name log off] Switches logging off. \item[name log clear] Clears all recorded time stamps and values. \item[name log gettime] This command retrieves a list of all recorded time stamps. \item[name log getval] This command retrieves all recorded values. \item[name log getmean] Calculates the mean value and the standard deviation for all logged values and prints it. \item[name log frequency val] With a parameter sets, without a parameter requests the logging intervall for the log created. This parameter specifies the time intervall in seconds between log records. The default is 5 minutes. A value of 0 means a record any cycle of the SICServer. \end{description} \section{Special Environment Control Devices} This section lists the parameters needed for configuring a special environment device into the system and special parameters and commands only understood by that special device. All of the general commands listed above work as well! \subsection{ITC-4 and ITC-503 Temperature Controllers} \label{f17:itc4} These temperature controller are fairly popular at SINQ. It is manufactured by Oxford Instruments. At the back side of this controller there is a RS-232 socket which must be connected to a Macintosh computer running the SINQ terminal server program via a serial cable. Please make sure with a different Macintosh or a PC that the serial line is OK and the ITC-4 responding before plugging it in. \subsubsection{ITC-4 Initialisation} An ITC-4 can be configured into the system by: \begin{quotation} EVFactory new Temp ITC4 computer port channel\end{quotation} This creates an ITC-4 controller object named Temp within the system. The ITC-4 is expected to be connected to the serial port channel at the Macintosh computer computer running the SINQ terminal server program listening at port port. For example: \begin{quotation} EVFactory new Temp ITC4 lnsp22.psi.ch 4000 6\end{quotation} connects Temp to the Macintosh named lnsp22, serial port 5 (6 above is no typo!), listening at port 4000. \subsubsection{ITC-4 Additional Parameters} The ITC-4 has a few more parameter commands: \begin{description} \item[timeout] Is the timeout for the Macintosh terminal server program waiting for responses from the ITC-4. Increase this parameter if error messages containg ?TMO creeping up. \item[ sensor] Sets the sensor number to be used for reading temperature. \item[ control] Sets the control sensor for the ITC-4. This sensor will be used internally for regulating the ITC-4. \item[divisor] The ITC4 does not understand floating point numbers, the ITC-503 does. In order to make ITC4's read and write temperatures correctly floating point values must be multiplied or divided with a magnitude of 10. This parameter determines the appropriate value for the sensor. Is usually 10 for a sensor with one value behind the comma or 100 for a sensor with two values after the comma. \item[multiplicator] The same meaning as the divisor above, but for the control sensor. \end{description} \subsubsection{Installing an ITC4 step by step} \begin{enumerate}\item Connect the ITC temperature controller to port 6 on the Macintosh serial port extension box. Port 6 is specially configured for dealing with the ideosyncracies of that device. No null modem is needed. \item Install the ITC4 into SICS with the command: \newline evfactory new name Macintoshname 4000 7\newline Thereby replace name with the name you want to address the ITC4 in SICS. A good choice for a name is temperature, as such a value will be written to data files. Please note, that SICS won't let you use that name if it already exists. For instance if you already had a controller in there. Then the command:\newline evfactory del name \newline will help. Macintoshname is the name of the instrument Macintosh PC. \item Configure the upper and lowerlimits for your controller appropriatetly. \item Figure out which sensor you are going to use for reading temperatures. Configure the sensor and the divisor parameter accordingly. \item Figure out, which sensor will be used for controlling the ITC4. Set the parameters control and multiplicator accordingly. Can be the same as the sensor. \item Think up an agreeable temperature tolerance for your measurement. This tolerance value will be used 1) to figure out when the ITC4 has reached its target position. 2) when the ITC4 will throw an error if the ITC4 fails to keep within that tolerance. Set the tolerance parameter according to the results of your thinking. \item Select one of the numerous error handling strategies the control software is able to perform. Configure the device accordingly. \item Test your setting by trying to read the current temperature. \item If this goes well try to drive to a temperature not to far from the current one. \end{enumerate} \subsubsection{ITC-4 Trouble Shooting} If the ITC-4 {\bf does not respond at all}, make sure the serial connection to the Macintosh is working. Use standard RS-232 debugging procedures for doing this. The not responding may also come up as a failure to connect to the ITC-4 during startup. If error messages containing the string {\bf ?TMO} keep creeping up followed by all signs of command not understood, then increase the timeout. The standard timeout of 10 microseconds is to short at times. You keep on reading {\bf wrong values} from the ITC4. Mostly off by a factor 10. Then set the divisor correctly. Or you may need to choose a decent sensor for that readout. Error messages when {\bf trying to drive the ITC4}. These are usually the result of a badly set multiplicator parameter for the control sensor. The ITC4 {\bf never stops driving}. There are at least four possible causes for this problem: \begin{enumerate} \item The multiplicator for the control sensor was wrong and the ITC4 has now a set value which is different from your wishes. You should have got error messages then as you tried to start the ITC4. \item The software is reading back wrong temperature because the sensor and divisor parameters are badly configured. Try to read the temperature and if it does have nothing to do with reality, set parameters accordingly. \item The tolerance parameter is configured so low, that the ITC4 never manages to stay in that range. Can also be caused by inappropriate PID parameters in the ITC4. \item You are reading on one sensor (may be 3) and controlling on another one (may be 2). Then it may happen that the ITC 4 happily thinks that he has reached the temperature because its control sensor shows the value you entered as set value. But read sensor 3 still thinks he is far off. The solution is to drive to a set value which is low enough to make the read sensor think it is within the tolerance. That is the temperature value you wanted after all. \end{enumerate} \subsection{Haake Waterbath Thermostat} \label{f17:haake} This is sort of a buck full of water equipped with a temperature control system. The RS-232 interface of this device can only be operated at 4800 baud max. This is why it has to be connected to the serial printer port of the Macintosh serial port server computer. This makes the channel number to use for initialisation a 1 always. The driver for this device has been realised in the Tcl extension language of the SICS server. A prerequisite for the usage of this device is that the file hakle.tcl is sourced in the SICS initialisation file and the command inihaakearray has been published. Installing the Haake into SICS requires two steps: first create an array with initialisation parameters, second install the device with evfactory. A command procedure is supplied for the first step. Thus the initialisation sequence becomes: \begin{quotation} inihaakearray name-o-array macintosh-computer name port channel\newline evfactory new temperature tcl name-of-array\end{quotation} An example for the SANS: \begin{quotation} inihaakearray eimer lnsp25.psi.ch 4000 1 \newline evfactory new temperature tcl eimer\end{quotation} Following this, the thermostat can be controlled with the other environment control commands. The Haake Thermostat understands a single special subcommand: {\bf sensor}. The thermostat may be equipped with an external sensor for controlling and reading. The subcommand sensor allows to switch between the two. The exact syntax is: \begin{quotation} temperature sensor val\end{quotation} val can be either intern or extern. \subsection{Dilution Cryostat} \label{f17:dilu} This is a large ancient device for reaching very low temperatures. This cryostat can be configured into SICS with the command: \begin{verbatim} EVFactory new Temp dillu computer port channel table.file \end{verbatim} Temp is the name of the dilution controller command in SICS, dillu is the keyword which selects the dilution driver, computer, port and channel are the parameters of the Macintosh-PC running the serial port server program. table.file is the fully qualified name of a file containing a translation table for this cryostat. The readout from the dilution controller is a resistance. This table allows to interpolate the temperature from the resistance measurements and back. Example: \begin{verbatim} evfactory new temperature dillu lnsp19.psi.ch 4000 1 dilu.tem \end{verbatim} installs a new dilution controller into SICS. This controller is connected to port 1 at the Macintos-PC with the newtwork adress lnsp19.psi.ch. On this macintosh-PC runs a serial port server program listening at TCP/IP port 4000. The name of the translation table file is dilu.tem. The dilution controller has no special commands, but two caveats: As of current (October 1998) setting temperatures does not work due to problems with the electronics. Second the dilution controller MUST be connected to port 1 as only this port supports the 4800 maximum baud rate this device digests. \subsection{Bruker Magnet Controller B-EC-1} \label{f17:bruker} This is the Controller for the large magnet at SANS. The controller is a box the size of a chest of drawers. This controller can be operated in one out of two modes: in {\bf field} mode the current for the magnet is controlled via an external hall sensor at the magnet. In {\bf current} mode, the output current of the device is controlled. This magnet can be configured into SICS with a command syntax like this: \begin{quotation} evfactory new name bruker Mac-PC Mac-port Mac-channel\end{quotation} name is a placeholder for the name of the device within SICS. A good suggestion (which will be used throughout the rest of the text) is magnet. bruker is the keyword for selecting the bruker driver. Mac-PC is the name of the Macintosh PC to which the controller has been connected, Mac-Port is the port number at which the Macintosh-PC's serial port server listens. Mac-channel is the RS-232 channel to which the controller has been connected. For example (at SANS): \begin{verbatim} evfactory new magnet bruker lnsp25.psi.ch 4000 9 \end{verbatim} creates a new command magnet for a Bruker magnet Controller connected to serial port 9 at lnsp25. In addition to the standard environment controller commands this magnet controller understands the following special commands: \begin{description} \item[magnet polarity] Prints the current polarity setting of the controller. Possible answers are plus, minus and busy. The latter indicates that the controller is in the process of switching polarity after a command had been given to switch it. \item[magnet polarity val] sets a new polarity for the controller. Possible values for val are {\bf minus} or {\bf plus}. The meaning is self explaining. \item[magnet mode] Prints the current control mode of the controller. Possible answers are {\bf field} for control via hall sensor or {\bf current} for current control. \item[magnet mode val] sets a new control mode for the controller. Possible values for val are {\bf field} or {\bf current}. The meaning is explained above. \item[magnet field] reads the magnets hall sensor independent of the control mode. \item[magnet current] reads the magnets output current independent of the control mode. \end{description} Warning: There is a gotcha with this. If you type only magnet a value will be returned. The meaning of this value is dependent on the selected control mode. In current mode it is a current, in field mode it is a magnetic field. This is so in order to support SICS control logic. You can read values at all times explicitly using magnet current or magnet field. \subsection{The CryoFurnace.} \label{f17:ltc11} The CryoFurnace at PSI is equipped with a Neocera LTC-11 temperature controller. This controller can control either an heater or an analag output channel. Futhermore a choice of sensors can be selected for controlling the device. The LTC-11 behaves like a normal SICS environment control device plus a few additional commands. An LTC-11 can be configured into SICS with the following command: \begin{quotation} evfactory new name ltc11 Mac-PC Mac-port Mac-channel\end{quotation} name is a placeholder for the name of the device within SICS. A good suggestion is temperature. ltc11 is the keyword for selecting the LTC-11 driver. Mac-PC is the name of the Macintosh PC to which the controller has been connected, Mac-Port is the port number at which the Macintosh-PC's serial port server listens. Mac-channel is the RS-232 channel to which the controller has been connected. For example (at DMC): \begin{verbatim} evfactory new temperature ltc11 lnsp18.psi.ch 4000 6 \end{verbatim} creates a new command magnet for a LTC-11 temperature Controller connected to serial port 6 at lnsp18. The additional commands understood by the LTC-11 controller are: \begin{description} \item[temperature sensor ] allows to query the current sensor used for temperature readout. \item[temperature sensor val ] allows to select the sensor val for temperature readout. \item[temperature controlanalog ] allows to query the sensor used for controlling the analog channel. \item[temperature controlanalog val ] allows to select the sensor val for controlling the analog channel. \item[temperature controlheat ] allows to query the sensor used for controlling the heater channel. \item[temperature controlheat val ] allows to select the sensor val for controlling the heater channel. \item[temperature mode] Allows to query if the LTC-11 controls the analog or heater channel. \end{description} Further notes: As the CryoFurnace is very slow and the display at the controller becomes unusable when the temperature is read out to often, the LTC-11 driver buffers the last temperature read for 5 seconds. Setting the mode of the LTC-11 is possible by computer, but not yet fully understood and therefore unusable. \subsection{The Eurotherm Temperature Controller} \label{f17:euro} At SANS there is a Eurotherm temperature controller for the sample heater. This and probably other Eurotherm controllers can be configured into SICS with the following command. The eurotherm needs to be connected with a nullmodem adapter. \begin{quotation} evfactory new name euro Mac-PC Mac-port Mac-channel\end{quotation} name is a placeholder for the name of the device within SICS. A good suggestion is temperature. euro is the keyword for selecting the Eurotherm driver. Mac-PC is the name of the Macintosh PC to which the controller has been connected, Mac-Port is the port number at which the Macintosh-PC's serial port server listens. Mac-channel is the RS-232 channel to which the controller has been connected. {\bf WARNING:} The eurotherm needs a RS-232 port with an unusual configuration: 7bits, even parity, 1 stop bit. Currently only the SANS Macintosh port 13 (the last in the upper serial port connection box) is configured like this! Thus, an example for SANS and the name temperature looks like: \begin{verbatim} evfactory new temperature euro lnsp25.psi.ch 4000 13 \end{verbatim} There are two further gotchas with this thing: \begin{itemize} \item The eurotherm needs to operate in the EI-bisynch protocoll mode. This has to be configured manually. For details see the manual coming with the machine. \item The weird protocoll spoken by the Eurotherm requires very special control characters. Therefore the send functionality usually supported by a SICS environment controller could not be implemented. \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `samenv.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `dmcdev.htm' \chapter{DMC-specific command and device list} \label{f18} \section{DMC specific commands} \begin{description}\item[StoreData] Does what it says. Writes the current state of the instrument including counts to a NeXus data file. \item[count mode preset] Does a count operation in mode with a preset of preset. The parameters are optional. If they are not given the count will be started with the current setting in the histogram memory object. After the count, StoreData will be automatically called. \item[ Repeat num mode preset.] Calls count num times. num is a required parameter. The other two are optional and are handled as described above for count. \item[ scan motor start step n mode preset] This command allows for scanning a motor against monitors 0 and 1. This command may only be used by managers. Its only purpose is to facilitate the adjustment of the instrument. In order to obtain a copy of the scan results, a user must take great care to enable command logging. The parameters are: a motor to be scanned, a start value for the scan, a step width for the scan, the number of scan points, optionally a count mode and a preset value for counting. Both these parameters have meanings as described above for the count command. \end{description} \section{DMC motor list} \begin{description}\item[OmegaM, A1] Omega monochromator. \item[TwoThetaM, A2] Two Theta monochromator \item[MonoX] X-translation table of the monochromator. \item[MonoY] Y-translation table for the monochromator. \item[CurveM] Monochromator curvature. \item[MonoPhi] Phi angle of the monochromator. \item[MonoChi] Chi angle for the monochromator. \item[Table, A3] Sample rotation. \item[TwoThetaD, A4] Two Theta detector. \end{description} \section{Other DMC devices} \begin{description}\item[banana] Histogram memory. \item[counter] EL737 counter box. \end{description} \section{DMC Variables} \begin{description}\item[Instrument] Instrument name. \item[Title] Experiment title. \item[comment1, comment2, comment3] comment lines to be stored with the data. \item[Collimation] Text line describing collimators in use. \item[User] User name. \item[Adress] User adress \item[phone] User phone number. \item[fax] User fax number \item[email] User email adress. \item[Sample] Sample name \item[sample\_mur] Absorption coefficient of sample. \end{description} % html: End of file: `dmcdev.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `trouble.htm' \chapter{SICS Trouble Shooting } \label{f1} There is no such thing as bug free software. There are always bugs, nasty behaviour etc. This document shall help to solve these problems. The usual symptom will be that a client cannot connect to the server or the server is not responding. An essential prerequisite of SICS is that the server is up and running. The system is configured to restart the SICServer whenever it fails. Only after a reboot or when the keepalive processes were killed (see below) the SICServer must be restarted. This is done for all instruments by typing: \begin{verbatim} startsics \end{verbatim} at the command prompt. startsics actually starts two programs: one is the replicator application which is responsible for the automatic copying of data files to the laboratory server. The other is the SICS server. Both programs are started by means of a shell script called {\bf keepalive}. keepalive is basically an endless loop which calls the program again and agaian and thus ensures that the program will never stop running. When the SICS server hangs, or you want to enforce an reinitiliazation of everything the server process must be killed. The first thing to do is to find the process. \section{Finding the SICS server} Log in as Instrument user on the instrument computer (for instance DMC on lnsa05). Type the command: \begin{verbatim} /home/DMC> ps -A \end{verbatim} Note the capital A given as parameter. The reward will be listing like this: \begin{verbatim} PID TTY S TIME CMD 0 ?? R 01:56:28 [kernel idle] 1 ?? I 1:24.44 /sbin/init -a 3 ?? IW 0:00.20 /sbin/kloadsrv 24 ?? S 40:39.58 /sbin/update 97 ?? S 0:04.87 /usr/sbin/syslogd 99 ?? IW 0:00.03 /usr/sbin/binlogd 159 ?? S 1:43.70 /usr/sbin/routed -q 285 ?? S 1:00.45 /usr/sbin/portmap 293 ?? S 6:03.45 /usr/sbin/ypserv 299 ?? I 0:00.37 /usr/sbin/ypbind -s -S psunix,lnsa05.psi.ch 307 ?? I 0:00.52 /usr/sbin/mountd -i 309 ?? I 0:00.07 /usr/sbin/nfsd -t8 -u8 311 ?? I 0:00.09 /usr/sbin/nfsiod 7 317 ?? S 5:51.54 /usr/sbin/automount -f /etc/auto.master -M /psi 370 ?? I 0:28.58 -accepting connections (sendmail) 389 ?? S 1:41.15 /usr/sbin/xntpd -g -c /etc/ntp.conf 419 ?? S 6:00.16 /usr/sbin/snmpd 422 ?? S 1:00.91 /usr/sbin/os_mibs 438 ?? S 34:29.67 /usr/sbin/advfsd 449 ?? I 3:16.29 /usr/sbin/inetd 482 ?? IW 0:11.53 /usr/sbin/cron 510 ?? IW 0:00.02 /usr/lbin/lpd 525 ?? I 5:31.67 /usr/opt/psw/psw_agent -x/dev/null -f/usr/opt/psw/psw_agent.conf 532 ?? I 0:00.74 /usr/opt/psw/psw_sensor_syswd 1 -x/dev/null 555 ?? I 0:00.58 /usr/bin/nsrexecd 571 ?? I 0:20.27 /usr/dt/bin/dtlogin -daemon 583 ?? S 1:38.27 lpsbootd -F /etc/lpsodb -l 0 -x 1 585 ?? IW 0:00.04 /usr/sbin/getty /dev/lat/620 console vt100 586 ?? IW 0:00.03 /usr/sbin/getty /dev/lat/621 console vt100 587 ?? I 35:59.85 /usr/bin/X11/X :0 -auth /var/dt/authdir/authfiles/A:0-aaarBa 657 ?? I 0:01.46 rpc.ttdbserverd 4705 ?? IW 0:00.05 dtlogin -daemon 9127 ?? I 0:00.37 /usr/bin/X11/dxconsole -geometry 480x150-0-0 -daemon -nobuttons -verbose -notify -exitOnFail -nostdin -bg gray 9317 ?? IW 0:00.73 dtgreet -display :0 14412 ?? S 0:39.71 netscape 15524 ?? I 0:00.57 rpc.cmsd 21678 ?? S 0:00.11 telnetd 31912 ?? S 0:10.65 /home/DMC/bin/SICServer /home/DMC/bin/dmc.tcl 584 console IW + 0:00.21 /usr/sbin/getty console console vt100 21978 ttyp1 S 0:00.63 -tcsh (tcsh) 22269 ttyp1 R + 0:00.10 ps -A \end{verbatim} This is a listing of all running processes on the machine where this command has been typed. Note, in this case, at the bottom in the line starting with {\tt 31912 ?? } an entry for the SICS server. In this example the server is running. If the server is down, no such entry would be present. \section{ Killing a hanging SICS server } Suppose, the situation is that the SICS server does not respond anymore. It needs to be forcefully exited. Please note, that it is always better to close the server via the {\tt Sics\_Exitus} command typed with manager privilege in one of the command clients. In order to kill the server it is needed to find him first using the scheme given above. The information needed is the number given as first item in the same line where the server is listed. In this case: {\tt 31912}. Please note, that this number will always be different. The command to force the server to stop is: \begin{verbatim} /home/DMC> kill -9 31912 \end{verbatim} Note, the second parameter is the number found with {\tt ps -A}. The SICServer will be restarted automatically by the system. Occasionally, it may happen, that you cannot connect to the SICS server after such an operation. This is due to some network buffering problems. Doing the killing again usually solves the problem. \section{ Shutting the SICS server down completely} In order to completely shutdown the SICS server two process must be killed: the actual SICS server and the process which automatically restarts the SICServer. The latter must be killed first. It can be found in the ps -A listing as a line reading {\bf keepalive SICServer }. Kill that one as described above, then kill the SICServer. For restarting SICS after this, use the startsics command. \section{Restart Everything} If nothing seems to work any more, no connections can be obtained etc, then the next guess is to restart everything. This is especially necessary if mechanics or electronics people were closer to the instrument then 400 meters. \begin{enumerate} \item Reboot the Macintosh PC by switching it off at the silver button on the left. Press deep and a few seconds to achieve an effect. The LED right to the button should be off, before you press again to boot the Macintosh. \item Reboot the histogram memory. It has a tiny button labelled RST. That' s the one. Can be operated with a hairpin, a ball point pen or the like. \item Wait 5 minutes. The Macintosh may take that time to come up again. \item Restart the SICServer. Watch for any messages about things not being connected or configured. \item Restart and reconnect the client programs. \end{enumerate} If this fails (even after a second) time there may be a network problem which can not be resolved by simple means. \section{ HELP debugging!!!!} The SICS server hanging or crashing should not happen. In order to sort such problems out it is very helpful if any available debugging information is saved and presented to the programmers. Information available are the log files as written continously by the SICS server and posssible core files lying around. They have just this name: core. In order to save them create a new directory (for example dump2077) and copy the stuff in there. This looks like: \begin{verbatim} /home/DMC> mkdir dump2077 /home/DMC> cp log/*.log dump2077 /home/DMC> cp core dump2077 \end{verbatim} The {\tt /home/DMC> } is just the command prompt. Please note, that core files are only available after crashes of the server. These few commands will help to analyse the cause of the problem and to eventually resolve it. % html: End of file: `trouble.htm' % html: Beginning of file: `dmco.htm' \chapter{DMC Command Summary} \label{f19} \section{Most Used Commands} \begin{description} \item[drive a4 value] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f9}) Drives the detector to a new 2 Theta value. Be careful and watch out for rubbish trying to block the detectore pass through the experiment hall. \item[drive lambda value.] Drives the wavelength to a new value. The whole instrument is going to move. Add 10 extra levels of care to the above when doing this. \item[ count mode preset] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f18}) Counts in mode with a preset value of preset. Stores data automatically. \item[ Repeat num mode preset] Calls count num times. \item[FileEval filename] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f7}) Runs a batch file with the specified filename. \end{description} \section{Driving} \begin{description}\item[drive mot1 NewVal mot2 NewVal ....] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f9}) Drives motors. Followed by pairs of motor names and new values. \item[run mot1 NewVal mot2 NewVal ....] Runs motors. \end{description} Known motors are: OmegaA, A1, TwoThetaM, A2, MonoX, MonoY, MonoChi, MonoPhi, CurveM, Table, A3, TwoThetaD, A4. \section{ Counting } \begin{description}\item[banana CountMode \hbox{$[$}NewVal\hbox{$]$}] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f15}) Without a parameter displays the current counting mode. With parameter sets the count mode. Possible values are Timer for waiting for time or Monitor for waiting for a monitor. \item[banana preset \hbox{$[$}NewVal\hbox{$]$}] Without a parameter displays the current preset for either time or monitor. With a parameter sets the preset. \item[banana count] Starts counting. \item[StoreData] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f18}) Writes the current state of DMC to a NeXus file. \item[ count mode preset] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f18}) Counts in mode with a preset of preset. Stores data automatically. \item[ Repeat num mode preset] Calls count num times. \end{description} \section{R\"unbuffer} \begin{description}\item[ Buf new name] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f8}) New buffer name \item[Buf copy name1 name2] copies buffers. \item[Buf del name] deletes buffer. \end{description} Buffers created with Buf new name are installed as command name and understand: \begin{description} \item[NAME append bla bla .......] Append text to buffer \item[NAME del iLine] Deletes line. \item[ NAME ins iLine bla bla ....] Inserts text after line. \item[NAME print] prints contents of buffer to screen. \item[NAME save file] Saves buffer to file. \item[NAME read file] Read buffer contents from file. \item[NAME run] Executes contents of buffer. \end{description} There can be a stack of R\"unbuffers. \begin{description} \item[RuLi add buffer] Adds an buffer to the stack. \item[RuLi list] Lists the stack. \item[RuLi del line] Deletetes buffer from stack. RuLi ins iLine name Inserts name after iLine. \item[ RuLi run] Executes Stack. \item[ RuLi batch] Executes stack permanently. New buffers may be added. \end{description} \section{ General commands } \begin{description}\item[Success] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f9}) wait for the last operation to finish. \item[wait time] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f4}) wait for time to pass.... \item[Dir ] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f4}) lists all objects in the system. \item[config Rights username password] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f6}) changes authorisation to that of the user identified by username, password. \item[FileEval filename] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f7}) executes batch file filename. \end{description} \section{ Log Files} \begin{description}\item[LogBook file name] (cf.\ Section~\ref{f10}) sets log file name \item[ LogBook on] switches logging on \item[LogBook off] closes LogBook \item[LogBook] lists current logging status \end{description} \section{ Variables} Each variable (cf.\ Section~\ref{f18}) can be inquired by just typing its name. It can be set by typing the name followed by the new value. Currently available variables are: \begin{itemize} \item Title \item User \item comment1 \item comment2 \item comment3 \item User \item adress \item phone \item email \item Sample \item sample\_mur \end{itemize} % html: End of file: `dmco.htm' \end{document}