Previous: Command reference section
Up: No Title
Next: Some technical details
Previous Page: ZPLANE
Next Page: Some technical details

Differences between S0-9 and S0-8

This manual describes the DAS as revised at version S0-9 of the observing system. The differences when compared to S0-8 and S0-7 are significant.

In S0-9, most commands can be queued. In S0-8, issuing one command while another was active gave an error of the form `this channel is busy'.

In S0-9 the IPCS is supported to the same level as CCDs. In S0-8, the IPCS was controlled by interim software.

S0-9 allows some of the longer DAS commands to be abbreviated. See the reference section for details.

Setup is replaced by setup_ccd and setup_ipcs which set all features of the image format. Each time the format changes, the system records it on disk. You can recover the stored format using the new command reformat.

Abort can now be used at any point in an observation. Previously, Abort could hang the system if used while a CCD was clearing or reading out. Abort has been generalized to stop any command or queue of commands.

The command stop_channel is withdrawn. Abort, in its enhanced form, replaces stop_channel.

Interactive exposures are now supported. This replaces several ad hoc schemes used in S0-8.

Full support is provided for three dimensional data-sets.

The command diskspace is withdrawn. The available disk-space is now reported automatically at each change of image format and after each exposure if the space falls below 15 images.

New commands rat_inter and rat_auto are provided to allow interactive exposures.

Disable_windows and enable_windows have been shortened to disable_win and enable_win to avoid problems in ICL.

More care needs to be used when using the system with the IPCS because of the danger of damage to the intensifier.