The WHIRCAM instrument control and data acquisition system is currently run from a Starlink supported menu system called SMS, in the IRCAM3 Instrument Control screen. This menu system makes extensive use of the keyboard keypad (to the right of the main section of the keyboard) and particularly the PF (Programmable Function) keys.
The main features to be aware of are:
You DO NOT use the mouse at all under the SMS menu system!! (apart from
defining which window is currently active)
Use the Enter key to go down into the menus.
Use the PF1 key (top left of the keypad) to Exit menus and execute
options.
Use the arrow keys (left, right, up, down) to move between menu items.
Hit the dot key the keypad and you can then use the prev screen or next
screen buttons to scroll the message display.
The optimum usage of the PF keys is always noted on the bottom line of
the SMS menu screen.
Use the Select key (usually above the arrow keys) to run an ICL command. This tends to be most useful in running DCL commands, for which you must prefix each command with DCL. For example, if your user ID is XYZ, and you'd like to list the contents of your personal EXEC directory, hit the Select key, which will produce a `Command:' prompt at the bottom of the screen, at which you type:
DCL DIR DISK$USERSPACE:[XYZ.IRCAMEXEC]
To refresh the screen, use cntrl R.
Alternatively, you can create a new DECterm session using the same screen by typing SPAWN at the command prompt. When you have finished your DCL session, simply LOGOUT and the Instrument Control screen will reappear.