The syntax of the most useful commands is summarised below. For details, see the ACAM observing guide.

The system is sensitive to the case of the command, but not to that of the parameters - it will respond to:

acamslit ACAM_0.5

or to:

acamslit acam_0.5

but not to:

ACAMSLIT ACAM_0.5

Type '&' after a command to recover the prompt immediately after issuing a command, e.g.:

multrun acam 5 300 "title" &

(useful if you want to issue further commands while the initial command is being executed).

To put in the background a currently-executing command (e.g. to get the prompt back), type ctrl/z. To bring it back to the foreground, type fg.

agacam             Position the largefeed flat mirror in the
                   A&G box to transmit light from the sky to ACAM
                   (abbreviation for agmirror largefeed)
  
acamcal            Position the smallfeed flat mirror in the 
                   A&G box to transmit light from the calibration lamps
                   to ACAM
                   (abbreviation for agacamcal, or agmirror smallfeed)
  
acamimage SlnR     Configure ACAM for imaging through the Sloan r filter.
                   This filter can be in either of the
                   filter wheels, or in the focal-plane slide.
                   The command is not case-sensitive.

acamimage SlnR 1   Configure ACAM to image the 1-arcsec slit through the
                   Sloan r filter (useful during spectroscopic
                   acquisition).
                   The command is not case-sensitive.

acamspec V400 1    Configure ACAM for spectroscopy, using the V400
                   grism, and a 1-arcsec slit.  For e.g. the 0.5-arcsec
                   slit, type acamspec V400 0.5.
                   Optionally a filter can also be requested, by giving 
                   its name as a third parameter on the command line.
                   The command is not case-sensitive.

acamslit ACAM_0.5  Select 0.5-arcsec slit (the options are
                   clear, ACAM_0.5, ACAM_0.75, ACAM_1, ACAM_1.5, 
                   ACAM_2, ACAM_10, mask)

NB the acamimage and acamspec commands move whichever of the 3 mechanisms
(slit slide and 2 wheels) need moving,
and apply the relevant telescope focus offset.


acamslit -p 2      Select slit position 2 (range 1 - 8) - this
                   is equivalent to the above

acamwh1 3          Move filter wheel 1 to position 3 (range 1 - 7
                   usually)

acamwh2 7          Move filter wheel 2 to position 7  (range 1 - 7
                   usually)

acamwh2 BESU       Move filter wheel 2 to position of Bessell U filter 
                   (the name is as given in the ING filter database)

The following commands can be used to initialise mechanisms: acamslitinit, acamwh1init, acamwh2init.

To stop a mechanism, use: acamslitstop, acamwh1stop, acamwh2stop

window acam 1 "[1:2148,800:3300]"    
                   Set up standard readout window - this one
                   is useful for both imaging and
                   spectroscopy

rspeed acam slow   Set readout speed slow (23 sec for 2k * 2k readout) 
                   or fast (14 sec for 2k * 2k readout)

bin acam 1 1       Set binning in x and y dirctions (in spectroscopy
                   mode, wavelength changes with y)

scripts/acam/acamw1  Enable window 1, after disabling window 2

scripts/acam/acamw2  Enable window 2, after disabling window 1

In the event of data-acquisition problems, try:

dasreset acam

but remember to reset the window, speed and binning afterwards.

glance acam 20     Take 20-sec exposure, store it as s1.fit 
                   (no FITS headers)

run acam 20 "title" 
                   Take 20-sec exposure, store as rnnnnnnn.fit. 
                   If title is omitted, the TCS object name is used
                   in the observing log and the FITS headers.

multrun acam 5 300 "title"
                   Take 5 300-sec exposures 

bias acam          Take bias frame

multbias acam 10   Take 10 bias frames

newtime acam 600   Change requested exposure time to 600 sec

finish acam        Finish exposure now, keep data

abort acam         Finish exposure now, don't keep data.  If issued
                   during a multrun, this should terminate the multrun.
                   (See start of page for advice on how to get the prompt
                   back if a multrun is currently in progress.) 

saveccd acam file  Save speed, window and binning settings to a named file

setccd acam file   Restore above settings from named file

unsetccd acam      Restore default settings (those applied on system startup)

The commands flat, sky and arc (and multflat, multsky and multarc) do exactly the same as run (and multrun) except that the value of the OBSTYPE FITS header is changed accordingly. To disable or enable the telescope focus correction:

  
acam_focus disable

acam_focus enable

By default, the telescope focus correction is enabled.