Intro
IRAF can be run on SMU A/P linux servers mars, andromeda, venus, and crux. As it is both a command driven and graphical program it needs to be run from a graphical X-Windows environment. The best way to do this on campus is from the PCs in AT325.
Login
- Login to the windows pc using your SMU A/P pc account (ITSS “S” accounts don’t work).
- On the desktop, there should be an icon: Xwin32 Broadcast – double-click it.
- Choose one of the servers mentioned above from the list of servers shown.
- Login with the same username as your pc account. The password is not “synced” with Windows and may be different.
- Right-Click on a blank part of the desktop and select Open Terminal.
Those using Macs or other systems supporting an X-Windows environment can connect using ssh using the command 'ssh -X server_name'.
Initial Setup
A few commands must be run once to setup your account for iraf. Type the following:
configiraf
setupiraf
mkiraf (press enter when prompted for input)
You can edit the file ~/login.cl in a text editor to setup some IRAF defaults. The one line you may want to change is the location to look for images:
set imdir = "change_this_part/"
Be sure to leave a trailing / and be specific (eg. /home/username/????/)
Running IRAF
Each time you want to run IRAF do the following from a Terminal window:
setupiraf
iraf
This will cause two windows to pop up, a text window with the startup message and command prompt of “cl”, the IRAF command interpreter and the “SAOds9” image display program linked with IRAF.
Test displaying an image by typing:
display dev$pix
press enter twice (this is a default image of M51 included with IRAF)
To display images larger than 512x512 pixels use the command:
set stdimage=imt2048 (or imt4096, etc.)
(Updated May 2015)