Starting IRAF

Go to the directory from which you plan to run ICE or IRAF. If you plan to do data reduction simultaneously with your observations, make one unique directory for each. All new accounts come with default ICE and IRAF directories, but you are welcome to make your own. Running ICE and IRAF for doing both image taking and data reduction from the same directory can cause the parameter files to become hopelessly mixed up. Also, these directories should be in your home directory and not on a data disk. Files on data disks are often wiped. All data, however, should be saved on one of the data disks and NEVER in your home directory. Saving data in your home directory may cause IRAF and/or the machine itself to crash, possibly causing loss of data and certainly causing loss of observing time. The data directories on each machine are in /data1/machinename (and /data2/machinename, etc., if there are more than one). Type "df -k" in a non-IRAF window to see the available space on the machine.

In your chosen directory, type "mkiraf". Answer the questions (if you have no other preference, set terminal type to "xterms"). Now you need to edit the login.cl file which was created. If you wish to use "oldgterm", see the edited example below. You cannot make the gterm version work properly just using mkiraf. The advantage to "oldgterm" is some enhanced abilities in ximtool. The top of the login.cl file looks like this (note: this example is for the machine oberon; your actual login.cl whill show the machine you are on after it has been created by mkiraf):

Change the line

#set imdir = "/data/oberon/yourusername/"

to

set imdir = "./" (that is "dot slash)

You may choose to use a fixed directory. Doing it the way shown above means that your data will be stored in whatever directory you have cd'd to once you have started IRAF. It doesn't have to be changed for each individual data disk you wish to use as you would with a fixed location here. The default directory given by mkiraf does not exist, so you MUST change this to some valid directory! If you use it the way demonstrated above, always remember to cd to your data directory before starting integrations. The data directories on each machine are in /data1/machinename (and /data2/machinename, etc., if there are more than one). Type "df -k" in a non-IRAF window to see the available disks and disk space on the machine. If you wish to make certain that you don't save data in your home directory by accident, add a line like "cd /data1/oberon//yourusername" to the end of your login.cl file. If you do this, you will need to make sure that the directory exists before you start IRAF.

Uncomment (ie, remove the #) the lines

#set printer = lp

and

#set stdplot = laser

and set the printer to the one used in your dome if you wish to print from IRAF. Please note that miranda (82") is not able to print anything but gibberish from IRAF. Choose your printer from this list.

Uncomment and edit the line

#set stdimage = imt512

to the image size for your CCD--see list.

IRAF should be good to go now. Leave the rest of the file alone for basic use. Exit the editor.

Here are 2 edited examples of login.cl (the first shows the xterms settings and the 2nd is for oldgterm):

Both of these edited examples of login.cl are for the 107", machine oberon, TK3 chip, username "joe"

This example is set to use "xterms"

This example uses "oldgterm"

# LOGIN.CL -- User login file for the IRAF command language. 

# Identify login.cl version (checked in images.cl). 
if (defpar ("logver")) 
    logver = "IRAF V2.11 May 1997"

set home = "/home/oberon/joe/IRAF/" 
set imdir = "/data/oberon/joe/" 
set uparm = "home$uparm/" 
set userid = "joe" 

# Set the terminal type. 
if (envget("TERM") == "sun") { 
    if (!access (".hushiraf")) 
         print "setting terminal type to gterm..." 
    stty gterm 
} else if (envget("TERM") == "xterm") { 
    if (!access (".hushiraf")) 
        print "setting terminal type to xterm..." 
    stty xterm nl=44 
} else if (envget("TERM") == "xterms") {
   if (!access (".hushiraf")) 
       print "setting terminal type to xterms..." 
   stty xterms 
} else { 
   if (!access (".hushiraf")) 
       print "setting terminal type to xterms..." 
   stty xterms } 

# Uncomment and edit to change the defaults. 
#set editor = vi 
set printer = laser107 
set stdimage = imt35 
#set stdimcur = stdimage 
set stdplot = laser107 
#set clobber = no 
#set filewait = yes 
#set cmbuflen = 512000 
#set min_lenuserarea = 64000 
...
cd /data1/oberon/joe      (add this line to the
end of the login.cl file if you want to avoid saving
data in your home directory by accident. Make certain
this directory exists, however, before starting IRAF
or it won't take you anywhere.)

The rest of the file remains unchanged for basic use.

See the IRAF and ICE manuals for more advanced options.

# LOGIN.CL -- User login file for the IRAF command language. 

# Identify login.cl version (checked in images.cl). 
if (defpar ("logver")) 
    logver = "IRAF V2.11 May 1997"
 
set home = "/home/oberon/joe/IRAF/" 
set imdir = "/data/oberon/joe/" 
set uparm = "home$uparm/" 
set userid = "joe" 

# Set the terminal type.

stty oldgterm  

# Uncomment and edit to change the defaults. 
#set editor = vi 
set printer = laser107 
set stdimage = imt35 
#set stdimcur = stdimage 
set stdplot = laser107 
#set clobber = no 
#set filewait = yes 
#set cmbuflen = 512000 
#set min_lenuserarea = 64000 
...

cd /data1/oberon/joe     (add this line to the end 
of the login.cl file if you want to avoid saving 
data in your home directory by accident. Make certain
this directory exists, however, before starting IRAF
or it won't take you anywhere.) 

The rest of the file remains unchanged for basic use.

See the IRAF and ICE manuals for more advanced options.


To use this version of login.cl, you MUST start IRAF
in a gterm window, not a regular xterm.

IRAF is started by typing "cl" in the command window (in the same directory your login.cl file is in). ICE is then started from the cl> prompt by typing "icex". You will need to set up the appropriate parameter files for your instrument/CCD, particularly obspars, telpars, detpars and instrpars. If you don't know how to do this, get help from another astronomer who has used your instrument or get help from someone in Observing Support. See below for the basic uparms needed by all observers at McDonald.

Two of the McDonald Observatory CCDs (TK3 and TK4) have been upgraded to V2 controllers. The V2 controller is powered on (once you have started icex) by typing "v2 V2p=1" in your ICE window. See here for more V2 controller information.

Start one of the image display programs before you start any integrations. Your choices are ximtool, saoimage ds9 or the older version of saoimage. All may be started from command line by typing "ximtool", "ds9" or "saoimage". You may wish to run those in the background by adding " &" (space ampersand) to the invoking command. Ximtool and saoimage may also be started from menu items found on the right Sun menu button.

Ximtool has online help, ds9 information can be found here.

Further information on using ICE may be found here.

The complete Beginner's Guide to Using IRAF is here.

(Note: many other uparms may be set by the observer, but the following ones are required to readout your CCD properly)

firstcol, lastcol, firstrow, lastrow, detpix and detname need to be filled in depending on which CCD chip you are using. These values can be found here. Your chip sizes here can be smaller than the actual chip size (if you want to speed up the readout), but they may not be larger. colbin and rowbin may also be set, but the default (1x1) will work. Note that the detname on the chart must be used exactly as shown (do not include the comments in parentheses).

"Instrument name" needs to be set or your CCD will not function. Check your user manual or with someone in Observing Support for the ICE name of your current configuration.

"Telescope name" needs to be "mcd107x", "mcd82x", or "0.8m", depending on which telescope you are using. If you are having problems with IRAF/ICE unable to get information from the telescope (only at the 107" and the 82"), set the telescope name to "test". Beware, however, that setting it this way will inhibit the telescope information to the IRAF headers.

Starting (or Restarting) IRAF for the first time at McDonald Observatory