TELSHELL USERS GUIDE

Telshell is an enhanced version of the unix tcsh shell, which runs in all the xterm windows at FLWO. Telshell behaves as tcsh, with the addition of built-in instrument and telescope commands. It is used for:

• Instrument Control (e.g., take exposures)
• Telescope Control (e.g., slew the telescope)
• Device Control (e.g., focus movement)

Telshell capabilities include:

• Fully functional aliases, with arguments
• Excellent history mechanism, with command line recall editing
• Scripts

Of special interest to this discussion are the commands "total, go, bias, flat, dark, and comp". These commands all instruct the instrument to expose for a given time. They are designed to work from the Telshell window, and to return control of the window back to the observer after starting the exposure. This is NOT what is needed in a script. For this reason a special instrument command was created only for use in script files. This command is "gowait".

The gowait command for the ccds takes the following form:

ccd gowait [exptime|repcount] [file type[suffix]]

where:

exptime is the length of exposure

repcount is the number of exposures (only for BIAS)

file type is the type of exposure (BIAS, FLAT, DARK, COMP)

suffix is single-letter filter suffix on file name (only FLAT)

The complete list of possible commands is

• ccd gowait 30
  expose for 30 seconds, no file type
• ccd gowait 20 FLAT
  take a 20 second flat, named seqnum.FLAT
• ccd gowait 20 FLATV
  take a 20 second flat, named seqnum.FLATV (Keplercam)
• ccd gowait BIAS
  take a 0 second bias, named seqnum.BIAS
• ccd gowait 10 COMP
  take a 10 second comp, named seqnum.COMP (FAST,TRES)
• ccd gowait 10 DARK
  take a 10 second DARK, named seqnum.DARK (FAST,TRES)
• repeat n XX m
  repeat n times CCD command XX, which may only be one of: total, dark or flat. Argument m is the desired exposure time for XX. There is no feedback on the repetitions in the Telshell window, although Ntcs will show information about each exposure as usual.

BEWARE OF "ccd gowait" with NO exptime! This starts a runaway infinite exposure, which stops only with a complete restart of the CCD system!

Telescope Control Commands

The telescope control commands all start with the "tele" prefix. Not all commands work on both telescopes.

Commands Common to 1.2m and 1.5m

• tele coords newcat astro100
  load catalog /Realtime/lib/catalogs/astro100.mct
• tele coords {10
  load object coords of line 10 in loaded cat
• tele coords }SN2010Y
  load object SN2010Y coords from loaded cat

tele grab

• tele offset 120 -30
  offset telescope in arcsec; no "tele enable" command is needed following tele offset commands
• tele filter 3
  move to filter in slot 3
• tele hfocus -0.01
  move secondary to change telescope focus; units are mm; the sign is required
• tele focus -100
  move secondary to change telescope focus using ancient units; deprecated, use hfocus
• kfindfwhm
  Run script to measure seeing FWHM with Keplercam and set telescope focus from that
• tele gfocus -100
  Move guider focus relative to current; the sign is required
• tele ref
  Set telescope and coordinates to zenith from sensors
• tele ampcen Namp
  Set view to CCD center if 0 or amp center, Namp=1-4
• tele elaz EL AZ
  Move to EL AZ deg; e.g., 30 180 = flat screen
• tele seg Nseg
  Move pickoff mirror to segment Nseg (motion takes 45 sec between the extremes, segs 1 and 69)
• tele stow
  Stow telescope and dome
• tele trackon (trackoff)
  Turn telescope tracking on (off)
• tele domeon (domeoff)
  Turn telescope dome tracking on (off)
• tele domeinit
  Set dome position at stow pos and stow dome
• tele incandon (incandoff)
  Turn ON (OFF) the dome flat lamps

NEW 1.2m commands

ONLY Telshell

• openall (shutall)
  Stow telescope, open (close) dome slit then mirror covers (covers then slit), print status
• opencovers (closecovers)
  Open (close) the mirror covers
• FLIPcovers
  Flip the status of the mirror covers; use when you know the status is out of synch with the covers
• Ldomes [file]
  Take biases and dome flats using keyword BIAS and filters listed in [file], where file is as in this example; if no argument, use the standard file in the example. For a set other than the standard, use the example as a model and edit your own file. Ldomes checks bias and flat counts and stops if these are too high (overexposure) or too low (CCD problem)
• Qdomes [file]
  A simpler Ldomes; it assumes the telescope is already pointed at the screen; turns on lamps; when done, the telescope is left as it was found and lamps are left on. Qdomes checks bias and flat counts and stops if these are too high (overexposure) or too low (CCD problem)
• Rskyflats [filter]
  Take 11 sky flats with filter, if none given the default is u; open the dome slit if closed, stow tel and open the covers if closed, turn track and dome on, take test exposure, adjust exposures to get about 15000 counts, wait until we get that (see ftime command below), when done do NOT stow the tel, track remains on
• VIEWguide
  Grab a guider frame and display it with DS9
• FIXpoint
  Take a 15-sec exposure near zenith, calculate astrometry, apply any offsets, set the telescope position

EITHER Telshell or any xterm

• domeac_on/domeac_off/domeac_status
  dome A/C: turn ON/OFF/report status, respectively.
  Normally, the A/C operates automatically, but these commands may be useful, e.g., in case of a problem with the A/C.
• openslit (closeslit)
  Open (close) the dome slit, aliased to opensesame (closesesame).
  
• openstatus
  Print open/closed status for covers and dome slit.
• ftime
  Print date & times to start dome and sky flats.
• stime (dtime)
  Print latest time to start sky (dome) flats.
• lightdome
  Turn on a light in the dome to check camera view, automatically shuts off after 5 minutes.
• darkdome
  Turn the dome light off.
• Rstatus
  Display the status of the RTS2-F robot servers.
• Rstart
  Start all the RTS2-F robot servers.
• Rstop
  Stop all the RTS2-F robot servers.
• KILLweather
  Stop the weather server for the robot (use with caution) if the Vaisala is malfunctioning: the 1.5m observer is then your sensor! Rstop also stops the server.
• GOweather
  Start the weather server for the robot. The Vaisala must be functional. Rstart also starts the server.
• GSCguide hh:mm:ss.ss dd:mm:ss.s [amp]
  Show guide star segment for a given pointing, including amp center (default: 0).
• find_gstars hh:mm:ss.ss dd:mm:ss.s [amp] [maglim]
  Look for guide stars brighter than maglim (default: 11.8 mag) for the given pointing and amp center (default: 0). If no appropriate guide stars are available, look around the field for one. Offer offsets that would yield such a star, if found.

1.5m ONLY Commands

• tele stowall
  stow telescope and dome
• tele stow
  stow telescope ONLY (useful e.g., to change gratings)
• tele comp [IN|OUT]
  Move FAST comparison mirror IN/OUT
• tele lamp [HEAR|INCAND] [on|off]
  switch FAST lamps
• tele lamp [THAR|INC] [on|off]
  switch TRES lamps
• tele ffoc value
  Move FAST|TRES spectrograph focus
• tele adc_on
  Turn ADC correction system ON
• tele adc_off
  Turn ADC correction system OFF

TRES ONLY Commands

NEW CALIBRATION SYSTEM:

• tele parm [Pout|Pin|SmaO|Smas|MedO|MedS|LarO|LarS]
  select projector arm position
• tele calb [Inc|Thar|Laser|Emp]
  select calibration lamp source
• tele calb [shuton|shutoff]
  calibration shutter control

OTHER COMMANDS

• setcom inst keyword val
  Set keyword to val for instrument "inst"

Warning - Scripts are intended for experienced users who are intimately familiar with the operations of FLWO telescopes and instruments. Please feel free to ask Ted about the practicability of specific scripts. Also note the comments below regarding termination of scripts.

Scripts are sourced in Telshell for the following functions:

1. Instrument Control
2. Telescope Movements
3. Unix Commands

How to run scripts

The correct way to run a script, for example a script named my.script, is "source my.script" Adding arguments to invocation will be discussed below. If the scripts resides in your home/scripts directory, use "source ~/scripts/my.script" There is an alias defined to ease this, it is called script. It will automatically fill in the /home/observer directory and source the script, for example "script my.script" does the same thing as the earlier example.

Writing Scripts

Script Commands

All instrument control and telescope movement commands are built into the telshell. Some other commands were already built into tcsh, like "pwd". This document will only attempt to cover the commands that were added as built-ins to the tcsh shell. Please consult man pages for tcsh(1) and csh(1) for more information about built in commands. Tcsh is a superset of csh, telshell is a superset of tcsh. All other "system" commands are beyond the scope of this document as well.

Putting scripts Together

Most people learn best from example, so here are a few:

1.2m Focus Script (old style)

1.2m Focus Script (NEW style)

1.2m Standard Star Script

1.2m Dome Flat Script

1.2m u Sky Flat Script

KILLING A SCRIPT