INTRODUCTION AND NORMAL START UP

The PE 3210 is a more powerful version of the PE 3220. A complete guide to the PE 3220 machines and their peripherals is given in the document 'A guide to the La Palma Perkin-Elmer 3220 series computers' by L R Jones which is in the same binder as the ADAM manual. This should be consulted for any further details. There is also the PE Documentation in the control room but this is not entirely complete and some manuals refer to an earlier implementation of the Operating System to that now in use.

The normal practice at the JKT is to leave the PE 3210 computer (the instrument computer) closed down with its Eagle disc powered off when not in use. There are up to three terminals connected to the system at present, all of which are in the telescope control room. The computer itself is in an enclosure at the end of the control room. The disc drive does not like dust whether it has travelled all the way from the Sahara or not - so keep the door to the computer enclosure FIRMLY SHUT whenever possible.

ON NO ACCOUNT SHOULD THE DOOR AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS BE USED FOR OTHER THAN EMERGENCY ACCESS TO THE COMPUTER ROOM. It must never be locked as it is a fire escape.

Two of the PE3210 terminals are the system terminal (to the right of the telescope control computer VDU) and the user terminal which is located opposite the telescope control console.

The normal procedure to begin using this machine is as follows:-

1. Go to the EAGLE disc drive and locate the two toggle switches on its front panel. Set the start switch 'On' and the protect switch 'Off'. Wait for the disc to reach running speed when there will be three red LEDs shining next to the switches
2. At the system terminal type MA EGLE:,ON,,CD=ALL
3. After about a minute and one line of output, type

   STARTUP

   which will give you about a screen full of messages, followed by 'End of Environment Configuration'

4. Check that the PE3210 is alive by pressing the RETURN key on the user terminal. An asterisk response indicates all is well in which case proceed to step (4). If there is no response, divert to Section 5.2.
5. Sign on to the computer by using the user terminal.

   In general, the form of the sign on command is :

   SI[GNON] ABC,n,n <cr>

   where ABC are the initials of the current user. n is the account number (1-8) and the second 'n' is the password which is the same as the account number.

   If your sign-on is accepted, a number of system messages will be generated and you will be ready to run the instrument control software for whichever instrument is mounted but that is another story altogether........