Andor Guider Software Documentation

News

v0.224 (2022-07-11)

Added the "aeg" command to the guider loop.

Horizontal/Vertical layout selectable via the '-v' switch.

Download andor-0224.tar.gz

v0.223 (2021-05-24)

Moved the position of the guider box at startup to the upper left corner.

The mechanical alignment had been modified and the center now sits on the 0.5 arcsec slit. This might give the impression that, after a restart of the GUI, the guide box is on the desired slit.

The 'andorgui2' link now points to this version.

v0.222 (2020-10-17)

Installed a temporary version with modified geometry to better fit the KVM screen for remote observing.

I added 'andorgui2' as a link to the new version (~/Andor/src-0222/andorgui).

We added a dedicated computer (nuc01) to run the MIKE slitviwer camera (Andor). The new keyboard and monitor are located between the telesecope operator and observer, near the telephone.
The NUC in the control room is connected to the NUC at MIKE (NASE) via a point-to-point fiber optics cable:
nuc01(contol room) -- switch -- mediaConverter -- fiber -- mediaConverter -- nuc02(NASE) -- Andor

The andorgui should be run from the NUC in the control room (nuc01):

The advantages of the new layout are:

The old way (from the telescope operator console) is still available:

2018-09-26 'nuc01'

Re-Installed 'CentOS' per Instructions (G.Prieto)

Installed the Andor driver (SDK 3-13.30034)

Installed the "hybrid" AndorGUI/Server (v0.221)

The table below (v0.220, 2018-08-27) is now obsolete, nuc01 and nuc02 have an identical setup, except that

the "legacy" version (0.06x) was not installed on 'nuc01'.

	nuc01	nuc02
Account	andor	andor
Andor Driver/SDK	3.13.30034	3.13.30034
andorgui (default)	andorgui2	andorgui2
andorgui1	n/a	~/Andor/src-0069/andorgui
andorgui2	~/Andor/src-0221/andorgui	~/Andor/src-0221/andorgui
andorserver	~/Andor/src-0221/andorserver	~/Andor/src-0221/andorserver

v0.221 (2018-09-11)

Increased the timeout for the "no data" warning by 0.5 seconds.

This avoids false warnings when the data arrives just a bit later than the exposure time.

Allow to connect multiple local andorserver to the andorgui in "hybrid" mode.

v0.220 (2018-08-27)

Testing the "hybrid" client/server design as the MIKE slitviewer (andorgui and andorserver both run on the NUC).

Starting up the "old" (legacy) GUI:

./andorgui1 -mh -t2

Starting up the "new" (hybrid) GUI:

./andorgui2 -mh -t2 -h localhost

User account, driver and location of executables on 'nuc01' and 'nuc02':

	nuc01	nuc02
Account	ccdlab	andor
Andor Driver/SDK	3.11.30039	3.13.30034
andorgui (default)	andorgui1	andorgui2
andorgui1	~/Andor/andorgui-067	~/Andor/src-0069/andorgui
andorgui2	~/Andor/src-0221/andorgui	~/Andor/src-0221/andorgui
andorserver	~/Andor/src-0221/andorserver	~/Andor/src-0221/andorserver

v0.219 (2018-08-06)

First run with the client/server design as the MIKE slitviewer

v0.218 (2018-07-24)

1,300,000 exposures and running (about 7 days at 2 Hz)

v0.200 (2018-05-09)

Separated the Andor software into 2 programs:

AndorServer: runs on a MinnowBoard single board computer.

It communicates via USB3 with the Andor camera and delivers images to the AndorGUI via TCP/IP.

AndorGUI: runs on the "NUC" and presents the user interface to the telescope operator/observer.

It receives the images from the andorserver (MinnowBoard) and allows the TO to send corrections to the TCSIS.

v0.067 (2018-04-02)

Remove the lock-file (/tmp/andorgui.lock) when the andorgui terminates with an error at startup.

mm-2 moves the guider probes and the telescope.

2018-03-27: VNC viewer installed by Gabriel Prieto.

MIKE Slit Viewer documentation.

v0.066 (2018-02-23)

The GUI uses "automatic 'pa' calculation" by default at startup.

Added a lockfile (/tmp/andorgui.lock) to prevent multiple instances of the GUI.

Added the "SendHost" menu entry (GuiderX)

Added the '-g' switch that sets the guider number (default=3, SlitViewer).

Added a display update throttle that may be changed using the dt command (default=5 Hz).

This should keep the GUI more responsive with short exposure times for bright stars.

v0.067 (2018-04-02)

Remove the lock-file on error at startup.

"mm-2" moves the guider probes and the telescope.

v0.065 (2018-02-10)

Determined orientations for the green (R.A./Dec) and red (Az/El) compass.

v0.064 (2018-02-09)

Determined 'pa' (position angle) used for "mm3" and "mm-2"

v0.062 (2018-02-03)

Tests during eng. time at Clay

v0.061 (2018-01-23)

implement mouse modes and telescope offsets (TCSIS commands)

v0.059 (2017-09-08)

"sm" command: spacial smoothing of the display data

v0.054 (2017-09-07)

Implemented the "px" command to change the pixel scale

Default magnification changed to 2 (was 4)

Removed green square marking the center pixel on the magnifier.

Implemented the "tec" command to turn off/on the thermoelectric cooler

The green/yellow box on the image view represents the magnifier (not the guider-box)

v0.053 (2017-02-13)

ready for testing

v0.051 (2017-02-10)

implemented keyboard commands of the current guider system

v0.044 (2017-01-26)

variable number of message lines to properly fill the 1920x1200 screen

v0.042 (2017-01-25)

"send" command for SH-guider

v0.040 (2017-01-20)

proper binning and geometry for "legacy" mode

v0.030 (2016-12-07)

common background window catches all keyboard events

v0.022 (2016-11-21)

vertical GUI layout

v0.018 (2016-11-14)

guider "class" allows multiple cameras on one window

v0.000 (2016-10-24)

started prototyping

Screen Shots and Software Documenation

Starting the GUI

Login to the "Nuc":

ssh -X andor@nuc01

Startup the slit-viewer GUI:

./andorgui -mh -t2 -h localhost

"-m" mode:

-mh: high resolution (1200x1200, no binning)

-ml: legacy (500x500, 4x4 binned)

-mf: full (2048x2048, no binning) [default]

"-h host":

hostname (IP number) of the zwoserver computer (NUC)

"-t": telescope:

-t2: Clay (host=mag2tcs, port=5801)

-t1: Baade (host=mag1tcs, port=5801)

-t0: no telescope [default]

"-v": vertical layout

GUI Elements

tf: exposure time, current time, frame number

FpS: frames per second (acquisition, display, guiding)

The maximum display frame rate may be throttled for better keyboard response time via the 'dt' command (default=5 Hz)

Temp: CCD temperature

Commands

F1

stop guiding/calculating

F2

start calculating the guide corrections

F3 (not yet implemented)

start guiding (send corrections to TCS)

F4

move the guide-box to the centeroid and then start calculating

F5 (not yet implemented)

move the guide-box to the centeroid and the start guiding

tf #

set the exposure time to '#' seconds {0.01..30}

dt #

Throttle the display update frame rate to '#' Hz (default=5)

apa [#]

toggle auto-get position angle ('pa') from the TCSIS

'#' is the optional update period in seconds (default=30)

pa

set the position angle manually

mm #

set mouse mode {1,2,-2,3}

left click: move 1/10 of the distance (requires "Control" key)

left click while holding down the right mouse button: move the full distance (requires "Control" key)

1: move guider box to the mouse position

2: move guider probe to the mouse position (not available for SV)

-2: move the SH- and PR-probes and the telescope to the mouse position

3: move the telescope to the mouse position

xys c x y

set cursor 'c' to coordinate 'x,y'

xyr c x y

move cursor 'c' by 'x,y' pixels

send [#]

send the guider images to the 'SendHost' (Menu: GuiderX--SendHost) via TCP/IP every '#' seconds; '0' means 'off'.

Without parameter the GUI will send one file.

write [#]

writes the next '#' images to disk as FITS files (default=1)

tec {0,1}

Turn the temperature control on (1) or off (0).