How to write fits tapes at the JKT
Last updated Oct 99
At the end of the night (or more often if you prefer) you --- the
observer --- will have to write your FITS data files (.fit) to
a DAT tape on lpss10 using fitsinit and
fitsout. In general you will write two tapes: one
(called the D-tape or Data-tape) is forwarded by the observatory to
the RGO data archive, and the other (called the C-tape or Copy-tape)
is for you to take away.
For each D-tape and C-tape you'll need to initialise the tape. This
process includes appending a tape number of the form JKTD
nnnn or
JKTC
nnnn and other tape initialisation information as the first tape
file. Here,
nnnn is the tape number assigned to your run by your
support astronomer or taken from the tape log book by the tapes in the
computer area. A typical tape number is JKTD3472.
Always use the same tape number for both C and D tapes; always put the same
data on the D-tape and its corresponding C-tape.
Please realize that the use of the fitsinit program on a
tape that already contains data will destroy that data. Use
fitsinit only once for every tape! Once you have
initialized the tape, you can append data to it with as many separate
sessions of the fitsout program as you like. Please
avoid the situation that the 2Gb tapes become full; use a new tape
when necessary.
The steps for writing data to tape are detailed below:
You open an xterm window on lpss10
You cd to the data directory from which you wish to
write data files from (eg. /obsdata/jkta/19991231).
If you want to write data to a new tape, you initialize the tape
using the command fitsinit. Answer the prompts as
follows:
device: /dev/rmt/0n |
you can use the default for the DAT on lpss10 |
block size: 2880 |
use the default |
tape initials: GFM |
use your own initals |
volume name: JKTD3266 |
for example |
After initializing, or when you want to append data to previously
written data, you can use the command fitsout to write
your files. First cd to the data directory, and answer
to fitsout as follows:
device: /dev/rmt/0n |
you can use the default for the DAT on lpss10 |
block size: 2880 |
use the default |
run number of first file |
23437 - for example |
run number of last file |
23489 - for example |