Documentation organization

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Revision as of 13:21, 30 October 2013 by Pierre (talk | contribs)
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How this documentation is organized

Even after two versions of the Midas documentation, it is still a real challenge to describe the Midas package in a clear, concise and useful way. On this third attempt, we reworked the layout and placed everything on Wiki, hoping that collaborators will be keen to correct, add and improve its content. Feel free to do so by contacting us in case of unclear or incomplete information.

We split the documentation in 4 main sections: Installation, Feature listing, Application listing, Online Database. While the first one provide you a mean to get Midas up and running, the 'Feature listing' should highlight what Midas can do and provide some general information on its implementation. The 'Application listing' refers to 'system- & user- build' applications that maybe needed during the acquisition. The 'Online Database' section describes in details the Midas central information database. Appendices as the last section collect references, and features information with the understanding that the reader is already familiar with the Midas environment.

A lot of information can be replicate in every section, but we try to minimize it by cross referencing elements between the different sections. The hope is that once you found the feature that you need, the involved application and the activation of this feature with its online database section will be clear to implement.

  • Installation section

While originally Midas was available for all sorts of OS, now-a-days, we tend to reduce its support to Linux based, MacOS, and windows. While 'Midas package retrieval' and 'quick start' sections are OS independent, specific procedure on OS based is given for compilation/build/dependencies. This section also includes the environment variables available for a proper MIDAS-DAQ setup .

  • Feature listing

Midas provides you by default a complete DAQ system composed of i.e: Frontend template for acquiring your hardware information, data transfer mechanism to remote computer, data logging capability, data analysis framework, data monitoring, full run control, web interface for experiment control/monitoring. While each of these features is described, other useful option such as subrun, messages, history, etc. may be essential to your experiment.

  • Application listing
  • Online Database