Z.2  at the NRAO AOC in Socorro

A small visitor facility for  users is available in both Charlottesville and Green Bank. However, most non-NRAO people wishing to reduce data at an NRAO facility with  should consider coming to Socorro. Not only is the green chili good, but the user facilities are quite substantial.

Public workstations at the AOC are Linux computers, many being two processor, 8 core machines with 24 Gbyte of RAM and a lot (4 Terabytes) of disk. A complete list of the public-use workstations can be found on the web at http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/computing/workstations.shtml.

Of the several printers available at the AOC, most  users will want to use the high-volume PostScript printer aoc213 and the Tektronix color printer aoc213c, both of which are located in Room 213.

You may also use the cluster computers and Lustre disk farm at the AOC remotely. Information about reserving such usage may be found at https://info.nrao.edu/computing/guide/cluster-processing. You may need to use your my.nrao login to submit a helpdesk ticket requesting this usage.

Z.2.1 Reserving public-use workstations at the AOC

If you are visiting the AOC for observing or to reduce data then you should fill out a visitor reservation form at least two weeks before you expect to arrive. These forms can be found on the web at http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/, select “Official Visitors”, then “regular reservation form”, log in with your my.nrao account, and follow instructions from there. If you check “OBSERVING AND/OR DATA REDUCTION” as your purpose of visit at the end of Section A of the reservation form, then you will automatically be assigned an observer login account and a workstation. If you have any special data reduction needs, you should make a note of them in the comments section of the form.

If you are unable to fill out this form using the web or if you have any questions about reservations, you should contact AOC reservations at 575–835–7357 or nmreserv nrao.edu. Note that reservations for VLBA projects will not be accepted unless the observer has been notified that correlation is complete and that the data have been scrutinized. If you have any special data reduction needs then you should make a note of them in the Section C of the form.

If you are an AOC staff member and wish to sign up for a public-use workstation then you should contact helpdesk@nrao.edu or visit real people in Room 262. You are expected to use your own login account on the public workstations. In general, visitor’s reservations take priority over reservations for AOC staff.

Z.2.2 Using Linux workstations at the AOC — introduction

In order to start you need to log in to your assigned workstation and open a terminal window. At the AOC, we generally use the windowing environments supplied by the operating system vendors (RedHat Linux) rather than imposing a lowest-common-denominator “standard” environment. This means that the procedures for logging on and manipulating windows depend on the current version of Linux, which will progress with time.

On sitting down at a workstation you will be presented with a log-in window that has a space for you to type your user name. Enter your assigned username and press return and then, when prompted, enter your password and press return again.

You will be presented with a rather vanilla X-Windows screen. Figure out how to start a terminal window of some sort, xterms are preferred.

Z.2.3 Starting

Once you have logged in to your workstation and have a terminal emulator window open, you may start İf you wish to run  on the machine at which you are sitting we recommend that you start  with the following command. aips pr=3

This will bypass the printer menu and select the high-volume PostScript printer aoc213/dup in Room 213 as the default  printer.

Note that  is configured to start a separate message window at the AOC. If you do not want the separate message window to appear, issue one of the following commands before starting . export AIPS_MSG_EMULATOR=none

If you are using the KornShell or bash or. setenv AIPS_MSG_EMULATOR none

if you are using csh or tcsh. You can move the cursor into the message window and hit CTRL-Z to cause it to disappear instead.

You may replace xterm with the name of another terminal emulator (e.g. dtterm) if you wish and you can also turn off the Tektronix emulator using one of the following commands. export AIPS_TEK_EMULATOR=none

If you are using the KornShell or bash, setenv AIPS_TEK_EMULATOR none

if you are using csh or tcsh. This emulator is easily ignored.

If the  TV is already running, you may use the following to avoid the messages that are produced as  figures out whether the TV is already running. aips tst pr=4 tvok

Z.2.3.1 Starting  on another machine

If you are going to run  on a remote machine and use your local workstation as a display, we recommend that you start  on your local workstation first and allow it to start the TV. You can then iconize the terminal that you are using to run  and open a new terminal window. You should then use the slogin command to log in to the remote machine. You should then start  using the following command. aips tst pr=4 tv=mydisplay tvok

You should replace mydisplay with the name of the workstation at which you are sitting.

Z.2.3.2 On-line FILLM

On-line FILLM applied to the old VLA and does not apply now.