The imaging system software has two components: camera control and image processing. The camera is controlled via a series of UNIX programs collectively known as WHIP. Image display and processing is done via the programming language PV-WAVE. In order to use these software packages, you need to have several commands in your UNIX startup files (.cshrc and .login). If you do not know if your setup is correct, talk to Larry or Eric. The necessary commands are in the file /users/wavelib/imsys_startup_stuff.
Some imaging programs require that the SGI computer is interfaced to the HP9845B by the GPIB. This allows automatic control of various ion probe parameters (magnetic field setting, stage position, beam on/off, etc.) In order for this to work, there must be a GPIB cable connected between the VME bus (big white box to the left of SGI) and the back of the Thinkjet printer. In addition, a program must be running on the HP9845B which can talk to the SGI. The programs which currently fit this description are LMAIN and FILE05 on the "LARRY2" floppy disk.
A program called gpsend is used on the SGI to send commands to the HP9845B (assuming that it is setup according to the previous paragraph). To test that the interface is set up correctly, one should type gpsend b on . This should turn on the beam on the ion probe. For a list of options, type gpsend h. In general, this program is called by other programs (e.g., mapping programs use it to move the stage, change masses, etc.).
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