Changes
/* SpUpNIC User Manual */
= SpUpNIC User Manual =
<span style="color:red">'''NOTE:''' If slewing the telescope from the TCS, please watch from the dome floor! Care must be taken to ensure that SpUpNIC does not run into the piersnorth pier.</span>
*'' If you find this webpage already loaded in the browser, please refresh the page to ensure that it is current!''
== Introduction ==
This is the current user manual for SpUpNIC (Spectrograph Upgrade - Newly Improved Cassegrain), the recently upgraded spectrograph at the 1.9-m telescope's Cassegrain focus. We plan to produce instructional video clips and a more comprehensively illustrated wiki once the software has stopped evolving and the remaining modifications have been made to the system. See the [https://topswiki.saao.ac.za/images_topswiki.saao.ac.za/3/3e/SpUpNIC_2016.pdf SpUpNIC paper] presented at the 2016 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference in Edinburgh for more informationabout the instrument. We plan to produce a more comprehensively illustrated wiki once the software has stopped evolving and the remaining modifications have been made to the system.
[[File:annotated.jpg|thumbnail]]
The instrument has two sub-systems, the PLC sub-system (controlling everything that moves) and the detector sub-system (controlling the data acquisition process). The drivers for these sub-systems run as stand-alone processes, and the user interface runs as a separate process on top of these. Typically, users will connect to the graphical user interface (GUI), although certain diagnostic functions may be accessed using the command line interfaces.
We hope that you'll enjoy using SpUpNIC and that you'll be willing to will provide the instrument team with feedback and suggestions by emailing lisa_at_saao.ac.za.
== Change Log ==
* '''5 August 2016:''' The cryostat lost vacuum and warmed up. We're not sure what caused this, but suspect that the cryostat valve had not been closed tightly enough and so the vacuum gradually degraded. Leak-testing revealed nothing so we pumped the cryostat over night and the observers were back on-sky a night later.
* '''30 July 2016:''' A new version of the Quick-Look GUI has been installed and seems to be working wellreliably, please report any issues to Lisa Crause (lisa_at_saao.ac.za) and David Gilbank (gilbank_at_saao.ac.za).
* '''28 July 2016:''' The SpUpNIC optics fogged up due to a massive condensation event in the 1.9-m dome. A temporary dry nitrogen purge was introduced into the instrument to drive out the moisture - fortunately no real harm was done.
* '''1 June 2016:''' Disabled the input field and ''Go'' button for changing the grating angle in the instrument control GUI (to accompany the hardware changes described below). Please contact the standby electronics technician if you wish to change either the grating angle or the grating.
