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Getting started

This chapter describes the basics of logging into a computer account starting up UniPOPS and arriving in the program with the set-up of your choice. It also details how to exit the program, and log out of the computer.

Your computer account

The way computer accounts are created and managed differs from site to site. The following attempts to describe both the Green Bank and Tucson policies concerning the creation of accounts. Since these policies may change, you should always consult the local staff for the most up to date information. These policies also differ from site to site. For example, in Tucson observers share a common account (the ``obs'' account) and are given different subdirectories for their use during an observing run. In Green Bank, users are given their own accounts for using while observing and reducing data.

When your observations appear on the schedule for the Green-Bank 140-foot telescope, the System Administrator will ensure that you have a computer account. If you, or one of your collaborators, already have an account on the Green-Bank Suns, you will probably use that account during your stay. Otherwise, a new account will be set up in the name of the principle investigator on the observing proposal. If, on arrival at Green Bank, you should be confused by the computer system, or believe that you have slipped through the ``net'' and have no computer account, ask the System Administrator, or the Friend-of-the-Telescope, about your account and they will set up a new account.

Shortly before your observations are to begin at the 12-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. A subdirectory in the ``obs'' account will be created and initialized for your use during your stay at the 12-meter. Your initials are typically used as the name of this subdirectory. The telescope operators can create this subdirectory if none exists for you when you arrive at the site.

At both sites, UniPOPS can be used to process data on any of the observatory's Sun workstations. There is a minor difference between the Sun at the 140-foot telescope, and all other Green-Bank Suns, in that the disk on the machine at the telescope holds the master on-line data file (see Section 2.2).

Logging in and starting-up uniPOPS

You are recommended to run UniPOPS directly from a Sun workstation, although you can run the program from either a dumb terminal, (albeit without graphics and many other useful features), or a Tektronix 4014 terminal or emulator.

Logging In

When you first sit before the terminal, you should get the computer's attention by striking a <CR> (i.e. a carriage return). When prompted, you should enter the account username plus a <CR>, followed by the correct password (if yet set), and a further <CR>. For users at the 12-meter, you should obtain the current password for the ``obs'' account from the telescope operator. Each time you log in to the ``obs'' account, you will be asked for your 3 initials (the same initials used to create your subdirectory). It is vital that you enter these initials correctly or you will not be able to access your on-line data. You should always verify that you are in the correct subdirectory before continuing. If you suspect that you are not in the correct subdirectory, you should log out of the account and start over. If you continue to have problems while logging in, report them to the telescope operator or another member of the 12-meter staff.

When you log in for the first time at either site, the computer will ask a series of questions. At present, the series consists of just one request, namely, ``Which of a range of editors do you wish to make your default editor ?'' If you are operating from a Sun workstation, we recommend that you choose the Sun screen editor, (textedit), unless you are more familiar with an alternative (e.g. vi, edt, emacs). Select an editor from the list that you have just been shown. At this point, you should see ``preparing directory - be patient ...''. Your directory is being prepared so that you can use UniPOPS. Specifically, you are getting empty data files for LINE and CONDAR (LDATA, LKEEP, LSAVE, etc), copies of the UniPOPS memory files (LMEMORY, CMEMORY), a default setup file (12-m only) and a .unipops file that contains the settings of various variables that control the behavior of UniPOPS. The default values found in the .unipops file should be adequate for new users while experienced users may wish to change it's contents (see Appendix M).

All other things being equal, it is preferable that you operate from the ``windows'' environment of a workstation for UniPOPS to work most affectively. However, if you are working from a dumb terminal or a Tektronics 4014 terminal, there is no ``windows'' facility available, and after logging in you will be left at the normal UNIX command line. When using a dumb terminal, you can continue to log in to UniPOPS and work with your data, but you will not be able to display your data until a workstation or a Tektronics 4014 is available. Graphical display is possible with the Tektronics 4014, although both text and graphics share the one screen. Slight differences on starting-up UniPOPS from the different terminals will be highlighted below.

If you are sitting before a Sun workstation and have successfully logged into the computer, it will start to bring up its windowing environment. A short description of possible window environments is given in Appendix C, ``Window Systems'', of this Cookbook and we urge all first time users to read that Appendix before proceeding further. For the rest of this Cookbook we assume that you are using either the X-Window or SunView window system. At one point early in this login sequence for Green Bank users, the computer will pause and give you five seconds to hit a <Ctrl-C> should you not wish to enter the ``windows'' environment. The ``windows'' environment that appears probably will then consist of open CmdTool windows (one being the Console window), plus icons representing a clock, a MailTool and further CmdTools.

(For the benefit of users who are not familiar with UNIX, but wish either to perform normal computing outside UniPOPS, or to send commands to the system from inside the program using the UniPOPS command SYSTEM -- see Section 12.1 -- we give a summary of the most-used UNIX commands in Appendix B, at the end of this Cookbook.)

Setting a Password

New accounts in Green Bank are created with no password or a default password supplied by the System Administrator. We STRONGLY RECOMMEND that observers set a password for themselves the very first time that they log in. User at the 12-meter MUST NOT change the password of the ''obs'' account for obvious reasons. To change the password of an account place the cursor in a CmdTool window (preferably not the Console window, as this is where the system will sometimes print messages) and type either the command

       yppasswd

or

       passwd

[Ask the system administrator which you should use]. On pressing <CR>, the computer will prompt you for the password of your choice. Note that at some sites you should NOT use the UNIX ``passwd'' command, as this will set your password only on the Sun that you are logged in to, and will not export it to the rest of the LAN !

Starting-Up UniPOPS

If you are sitting at a Sun workstation, we suggest that you start-up UniPOPS from a CmdTool window that is NOT the Console window as that window will be used by the system to display messages. Start-up UniPOPS by typing one of the following commands at the UNIX % prompt:

 

	--------------------------------------------------------
| Program Name | Type of Data | Where |
|---------------|-----------------|--------------------|
| gbline | Spectral-Line | Green Bank |
| tucline | Spectral-Line | Tucson |
| cvline | Spectral-Line | Anywhere else |
| | | | | gbcondar | Continuum | Green Bank | | tuccondar | Continuum | Tucson | | cvcondar | Continuum | Anywhere else | --------------------------------------------------------

(NOTE that the gb, tuc, and cv versions of LINE and CONDAR are identical, except as to which on-line data files they access. CONDAR and LINE are themselves identical, except for a handful of specialized commands and the type of data. Throughout this Cookbook, a reference to CONDAR or LINE, implies the local -- i.e. gb, tuc, or cv -- version, while UniPOPS implies either LINE or CONDAR.)

During the UniPOPS start-up sequence, a LinePlot or ContPlot icon will appear on the screen, which represents the graphics window in which your plots will appear. The program will also request you to enter a few pieces of information,

If you are running UniPOPS from a Sun workstation, you should now open the LinePlot and, if required, reposition the resultant graphics-display screen. See the Appendix C for information on how to open, move, and resize windows.

The UniPOPS Prompt

Now that you are logged into UniPOPS, the program prompt should appear. The default prompt is,

	Line >

You can change this by setting the string that you desire to use as the prompt into the 8-character UniPOPS string adverb (see Sections 3.2.2 and 3.3) PROMPT. Trailing blanks in the adverb PROMPT will not appear in the screen prompt. For example to set the prompt to the string, "HI >", type,

	>PROMPT = 'HI >'

At the 12-meter, the prompt is used to indicate what the default on-line data file type is (for filter bank data, the prompt is ''LineF>'' while for hybrid spectrometer data, the prompt is ''LineH>'' and for Condar, the prompt is as stated above). This prompt is set by the two standard 12-meter procedures, FBDATA and HCDATA. At startup (in LSETUP.12meter, the default setup file), FBDATA is executed and the default prompt is therefore ``LineF>'' We recommend that you NOT change the prompt while observing at the 12-meter. See the documentation on FBDATA and HCDATA for more information.

NOTE : In this Cookbook, the examples given will assume that the prompt is ">",

Possible Snags during Start-up

On start-up the most usual snags are,

NOTE : If the recover file is out of date, you will be told so by the program which will continue. You will not be allowed to recover from that file. There is usually no way to recover the information in an out of data recover file except to hope that you can use an older version of the program that can read the recover file.

Logging Out

Before exiting UniPOPS, think if you need to STORE a copy of the program memory (see Section 13.10). When you are content that you are really ready to exit the program, do this by typing at the UniPOPS ">" prompt,

	>EXIT

Before returning you to the operating system, EXIT will first ask whether it should update the "recovery file". Answer either Y or N for "Yes" or "No" respectively, as there is no default. If you choose to update the file, then next time you use UniPOPS you can tell the program to read in the recovery file that has just been saved. This will recreate the exact environment of the present analysis session apart from the two- and three-dimensional facilities described in Chapter 16.

After exiting from UniPOPS, you should exit the windowing system (if you are using one).

You can now log-out by typing, at the UNIX % prompt,

	logout

If this doesn't work, try,

	exit

or

	bye

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