UP: Getting Started page

AstroGrid @ JETSET: 5th Training School

Specific instructions for attendees

Starting Up

Please refer to the main help pages:

• These GettingStarted pages describe how to download and install VODesktop.
• Documentation for the VODesktop 2008.1 'Beta' release is at VODesktop2008beta-doc
• Examples of usage of VODesktop are found at VODesktop2008beta-doc/VOdesktopUsage

In terms of getting started - you will be issued with a paper slip giving your login name and password. Please use this for the workshop. All software is installed on the machines that you will be using. Login to the windows network then run up the NX clent to give a linux working environment.

You'll find the client software in the /tmp/VirObs directory or you can download the different packages using the links provided at the bottom of this page. To run these clients (voexplorer, topcat, splat and aladin) open a command line terminal (use the computer icon bottom left/ gnome terminal) window.

You will then be able to run up the clients as follows:

• java -Xmx512M -jar /tmp/VirObs/voexplorer-2007.4.beta1-app.jar &

The desktop helper clients can be launched as follows:

• java -jar -Xmx512M /tmp/VirObs/topcat-full.jar &
• java -jar /tmp/VirObs/Aladin.jar &

• for splat - java -jar /tmp/VirObs/splat-vo.jar & which then runs the installer (one time installation). You will then be able to run splat with ~/splat-vo/bin/splat/splat &

And to make sure that the python scripting can work:

export PYTHONPATH=/tmp/VirObs/astrogrid-0.9-py2.4.egg 
python -c 'import astrogrid'

and add your Astrogrid credentials for the Leicester community to the $HOME/.python_acr file.

[[leicester]] # Leicester community
username =
password =
community = uk.ac.le.star

More info on python scripting is available on the Python Scripting guide and example scripts in python.tar.gz

Working examples

We will work through the examples given in the Examples of usage of VODesktop. In particular take a look at:

• Cone Searches
• Stellar Jets
• Data Access Worksheet
• Merlin Imager
• Data Base Queries

Background on the JETSET School

The meeting web page is at http://www.dias.ie/jetsetschool/index.html. This 5th School took place in Galway, Ireland from 8-13 January 2008. The AstroGrid workshop occured 12 Jan 2008 from 09.00 to 13.00)

Help and feedback after the School

Nicholas Walton (naw@ast.cam.ac.uk) and Eduardo Gonzalez-Solares (eglez@ast.cam.ac.uk) would be happy to answer any help queries you may have after the workshop.

You are encouraged to try keep working with AstroGrid once the workshop has ended! Keep an eye on the http://www.astrogrid.org website for further details. There will also be an announcement email list which we will be setting up - you'll be given a chance to opt-in to that in the next couple of weeks.

... and finally ... if you missed it - here is my talk in pdf format.

Software

The software used can also be downloaded from the following locations:

• VO Explorer (2007.4beta1 file)
• TOPCAT
• Aladin
• Splat VO
• Python Astrogrid Module

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Nicholas Walton (11th January 2008)