Welcome | spec | C-PLOT | Support | Users | Contact
 
Contents -> startup  
spec Help pages

NAME

startup - procedure to initialize parameters

SYNOPSIS

startup

DESCRIPTION

The startup macro lets you change the default parameters that are used by many of the macros in the standard library. The startup macro gathers together initialization macros such as newfile, setscans, setplot and startgeo into one place. Also, startup prompts you for a title, the name of the printer device name, the name of a command file directory, the default count time and the updated-move-and-count update interval.

The title you enter will appear in the scan headers that are printed in the data file, on the printer and on the screen.

The printer device is normally a name such as /dev/lp, /dev/lp1, etc. If you don't have a printer, enter /dev/null for the printer name.

The command file directory name is used by the do and qdo macros. These macros look for command files in the command file directory if they are not in the current directory. If you want to keep your spec command files in a special directory, you can enter that directory name. Otherwise, you can enter a single dot to indicate the current directory.

The default count time is initially one second and is used by the ct and uct macros as the count time if no arguments are given.

The update time controls how often the motor controllers or counters are read and the readings displayed on the screen during updated moving and counting. The default value is 0.25 seconds. Setting the value to zero is allowed, and causes the hardware registers to be read as often as possible. Entering zero or a small value may slow down other processes on the computer, though, so beware if you or someone else is trying to do something else from another window or terminal.

GLOBALS

TITLE
Scan title.

PRINTER
Printer name.

DO_DIR
Alternate command file directory.

COUNT
Default count time.

UPDATE
Update interval for screen displays.

SEE ALSO

newfile setplot setscans

[Help File Index]


... Meeting the software needs of scientists since 1985 ...

Return to CSS home page ...
Last Formatted Jul 14, 2008
Last Updated 02/28/01
Send comments, queries, suggestions to info@certif.com

© 1995-2003 Certified Scientific Software. All rights reserved