From: "Hill, Bruce" <bhill@slac.stanford.edu>
To: "Chaiken, Alison" <alison@slac.stanford.edu>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:39:02 -0700
Subject: Re: Photon Group, CameraLink and areaDetector
Thread-Topic: Photon Group, CameraLink and areaDetector
Thread-Index: ActIrUpwQOQfLtcdSReK/Olu3Vi5cA==
Message-ID: <4C7C5D36.7020509@slac.stanford.edu>
References: <4C7C018A.7060101@slac.stanford.edu>
In-Reply-To: <4C7C018A.7060101@slac.stanford.edu>
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Hi Alison,
My latest version of our EDT CamLink driver can be checked out via:
svn co=20
file:///afs/slac/g/pcds/vol2/svn/pcds/epics/trunk/modules/edt_unix/current=
=20
edt_unix

The primary edm screen is in the edt_unix module,=20
$TOP/camScreens/liveImage.edl.
We typically create a soft link called camScreens in our hutch specific=20
edm home directory
which will point to the camScreens directory for the appropriate=20
edt_unix release, and
a soft link called evrscreens which points to the appropriate event=20
module screens.

The edt_unix module supports a variety of different CamLink cameras in=20
different modes, each of
which has a separate configuration file in $TOP/camera_config.   =20
Unfortunately,
I don't see any Opal cameras, and the only PCO camera is the PCO.1600.
However, the support from EDT has been very good and they usually are good
about helping to add support for new cameras.

My edt_unix module depends loosely on a module called diagTimer that I=20
wrote.
svn co=20
file:///afs/slac/g/pcds/vol2/svn/pcds/epics/trunk/modules/diagTimer/current=
=20
diagTimer

The IOC that uses these can be checked out via:
svn co=20
file:///afs/slac/g/pcds/vol2/svn/pcds/epics/trunk/ioc/unixCam/current =20
unixCam

To build any of these using our EPICS release area, you would need to=20
ssh to an NEH
linux system.    (ssh to pslogin, then to psusr109 or psusr 110 ... or=20
psusr 118)
Our modules and IOC's require an environment variable
EPICS_SITE_CONFIG=3D/reg/g/pcds/package/epics/3.14/RELEASE_SITE

You might prefer to get these to build against your released EPICS base=20
and modules.
My IOC uses generalTime, iocAdmin, autosave, event, edt_unix, and=20
diagTimer.    Most
of these are probably compatible with the equivalent e-Beam modules, but yo=
u
may need my latest event module to run this under linux.
svn co=20
file:///afs/slac/g/pcds/vol2/svn/pcds/epics/trunk/modules/event/current=20
event

The IOC could easily be trimmed back to not need event, autosave, and=20
iocAdmin.
If you don't want diagTimer, it could be stripped out of the edt_unix=20
module fairly
easily, as it's only needed for diagnostics.

If you create an areaDetector driver for your Silicon Software frame=20
grabber,
I'd recommend naming it something like siliconSoftware instead of camlink,
as camlink is a hardware standard and we need our drivers to be specific=20
to the
appropriate vendor frame grabber interface software.

Please let me know if you have more questions or have trouble getting to an=
y
of these.    We may need to add you to the appropriate group to get=20
access to NEH
linux systems.    I've got several higher priority tasks, so I don't=20
know when I'll
get to the areaDetector work.    Probably not till after the Sept=20
shutdown, as we're
going to be pushing to upgrade EPICS base and RTEMS over this brief=20
shutdown.

Best regards,
- Bruce

Alison Chaiken wrote:
> Greetings Bruce, I was pleased to hear last week that you will be=20
> engaged in some similar work to me this fall.    Right now I'm puzzling=20
> over the servers I need to order for use with my incoming pco.edge 900=20
> MB/s CameraLink cameras and associated Silicon Software custom=20
> framegrabbers.    I'm curious what the status of the software that your=20
> group will use with your CameraLink cameras is right now.    Do you=20
> folks already have some of the Opal cameras?    Is there software that=20
> runs them that I could examine?
>
> My tentative plan is to create a CameraLink class for the areaDetector=20
> package and to use it with the C driver sources I received from Silicon=20
> Software, but I'm always happy to learn about better ideas!
>
> Thanks,
> Alison
>
>  =20

--=20
Bruce Hill
Member Technical Staff
SLAC National Accelerator Lab
2575 Sand Hill Road M/S 10
Menlo Park, CA  94025