Table of contents

Setup Procedure

Contents

Subaru remote access (VPN)

If not observing from the summit, a VPN is required to access the Subaru internal network (including VAMPIRES). You'll need a VPN username and password - the SCExAO team and/or Barnaby can help you arrange this. There are two methods to connect:

  • Pulse Secure software - Simple and straightforward. Go to https://summitssl.naoj.hawaii.edu and log in with your VPN username and password, and download the Pulse client application. This will be preconfigured - just hit connect. The downside is that this seems to route all your internet traffic through the Subaru VPN, which can make other internet on your computer slow.
  • VPNC - This is an open source Cisco-compatabile VPN client available for Mac and Linux. It allows you to configure the VPN tunnel at a low level, so you can choose to route only certain addresses, etc. over the VPN. But it is rather geeky to set up and (at this stage) beyond the scope of this guide. VPNC can be installed from your favourite package manager.

There is a problem that the VPN times out after a certain amount of time, even if being used. This is a policy of Subaru and they cannot change it. Though the timeout is much longer when using Pulse. If the connection suddenly drops out, you just need to disconnect and reconnect the VPN.

Setting up VAMPIRES computer session

VNC session

All operation should be conducted via VNC (not SSH) to ensure stable operation even if the remote connection drops out. The main VNC screen (5901) should already be running, so simply use yoru favourite VNC client (I use RealVNC Viewer) to connect to 133.40.162.196:5901

The password is

louislouis

If this doesn't work, it could be that the VNC server isn't running (e.g. due to a restart or careless user). You can start it via ssh:

ssh lestat@133.40.162.196 
vncserver --geometry 1920x1080

The SSH password is louis

Open vControl

Most operations can be performed through the vControl GUI, written in Matlab. Before launching it, is a good idea to do

ps aux | grep -i matlab

to see if any other unexpected Matlab processes are running (e.g. if a previous user left one open in another session). If so, you should terminate them in case they are trying to access the same hardware. You can do this with

kill -9 <pid>

Now you can open Matlab. Note: Matlab MUST be launched from within the vControl directory (due to a Matlab / Java permissions quirk). So from the shell do

cd ~/code/vControl
matlab &

then from within the Matlab Command Window simply type vControl . If all goes well you'll see a bunch of devices intialise in the command window, and then the GUI will open. If you get an error there are some troubleshooting steps here.

Set up other programs and windows

There are some other things you shoudl have open and visible in addition to vControl.

  • Firstly, make sure the Matlab Command Window is always open and visible, as this is where important warnings and errors will be displayed!
  • When using NRM masks, BramCam should be used to view the pupil and ensure mask alignment. Launch this by typing bramcam & at the shell. The pupil image can be zoomed/panned via the tools, and exposure/gain/stretch changed with keyboard commands, which can be obtained by pressing F1 in bramcam (the help and commands will appear in the terminal).
  • In addition to the local shell, a terminal window connected to scexao2 should be kept open (as various commands will be typed here. Just do ssh -Y scexao@133.40.162.192. No password is required.
  • TODO: add instructions for dm_displee & chuck, and garde

SCExAO and AO188 configuration

Halfwave plate

If using polarisation modes, it is critical to check that the halfwave plate in AO188 is in! This can be done via the instrument operator (e.g. Kudo-san or Julien) but it is easier to do it yourself. First connect to the WPU control computer - from a VAMPIRES shell, do

ssh ircs@garde.sum.naoj.org

and then on garde, do

telnet localhost 18902

If you get an error, it means that the waveplate software is not running - talk to Kudo-san etc. (TODO - add fix here). Otherwise, you will now be able to issue waveplate commands, such as these:

  • hwp status - check the status off the HWP rotation. Position is reported in degrees.
  • hwp move 45 - manually move HWP to 45 degrees
  • shw status - Show position of HWP insertion stage. If position is 56, HWP is in the beam. If position is 0, it’s NOT in the beam.
  • shw move 56 - Move the halfwave plate into the correct position.

SCExAO filters, etc.

There are a few things in SCExAO that can block the light to VAMPIRES. Before moving anything, coordinate with the SCExAO team to make sure they're not doing something!

Try the following (all commands to be issued on scexao2:

  • rhea_pickoff status - check if Mike is stealing the light. If it's IN, then you can remove it with rhea_pickoff out.
  • first_pickoff status - or are the dastardly French stealing the light? It should be in the Open position. If it's in anything else, do first_pickoff 1. Do this even if you see some light on VAMPIRES, as it may be a dichroic!
  • pywfs_pickoff status - check the Pyramid WFS pickoff. It should be in position 7, 800 nm SP. If it's in another position you can move it to the right one with pywfs_pickoff 7 but make sure you check with Olivier / Julien first!