Hi All,

Is there any example code for using MIDAS with the CAEN VME-USB Bridge V1718? 
Thanks.

Regards,
Jimmy

Hi All,

I am testing the libraries provided by CAEN with the sample softwares in the 
bundle CD. The Windows sample program works fine, but I cannot get started with 
the Linux sample program. When I run CAENVMEDemo in Scientific Linux 5.1, it 
gives me a message "Error opening the device". I have followed the instructions 
in CAENVMElibReadme.txt: 
- compile and load the device driver v1718.ko
- install the library libCAENVME.so

Does anyone have any experience of using V1718 in Scientific Linux? Thanks.

Regards,
Jimmy


> Hi All,
> 
> Is there any example code for using MIDAS with the CAEN VME-USB Bridge V1718? 
> Thanks.
> 
> Regards,
> Jimmy

Dear All,

I have a problem when testing the V792N 16 CH QDC with the V1718 VME-USB 
Bridge on Scientific Linux 5.1 i386 (kernel 2.6.18-53.1.21.e15).

The problem is that the V792N does not response normally after a few minutes 
of continuous polling and readout of data. It seems like the V792N is hanged 
and a hardware reset of the VME system is required to bring it working again. 
If I do not poll for DREADY first and directly read the Output Buffer 
continuously, the system can work properly.

I have worked on this problem many days but I cannot find any clues to solve 
it. I have tried to use the CAENVMEDemo program (with some modifications) to 
do the same thing (polling and readout) and it works fine. CAEN technical 
support also doesn't know why the VME system is hanged. I think it might be a 
problem of MIDAS itself. I have tried with MIDAS revision 4132 and the trunk 
version, but the problem is still there. Is there any parameter in MIDAS 
(buffer size etc?) which may cause this problem? I have attached my frontend 
code and drivers for your reference.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Best Regards,
Jimmy

Dear MIDAS-addicts,

I would like to hear your opinion on this:
We've until now used CAMAC with Hytec 1331 controllers. We're using Yale FADCs 
whose readout takes ages in CAMAC (2048 samples take 2 milliseconds to be 
read). We've got 20+ FADC channels (we usually read only 2-3)

Now we've had the brilliant idea to replace the Yale FADCs with some VME 
digitizer and we now plan to buy a Struck SIS 1100/3100 PCI-VME controller,
plus 4 pc. CAEN 1720 8ch 12bit, 250MHz WFD.

(1) Can anybody comment on this choice? Good experiences/problems?

We are still using the CAMAC stuff for all other modules (TDCs, ADCs, 
scalers). So my plan is to have ONE frontend who reads both the CAMAC modules 
and the VME modules.

(2) Is it possible to build and run a dual-controller frontend for both CAMAC 
and VME? Does anybody have experience with that? Or is it a stupid idea?

I'd appreciate any hints.

[Edit: We're using Linux]

Thanks a lot,

Randolf

> Dear MIDAS-addicts,
> 
> I would like to hear your opinion on this:
> We've until now used CAMAC with Hytec 1331 controllers. We're using Yale FADCs 
> whose readout takes ages in CAMAC (2048 samples take 2 milliseconds to be 
> read). We've got 20+ FADC channels (we usually read only 2-3)
> 
> Now we've had the brilliant idea to replace the Yale FADCs with some VME 
> digitizer and we now plan to buy a Struck SIS 1100/3100 PCI-VME controller,
> plus 4 pc. CAEN 1720 8ch 12bit, 250MHz WFD.
> 
> (1) Can anybody comment on this choice? Good experiences/problems?
> 
> We are still using the CAMAC stuff for all other modules (TDCs, ADCs, 
> scalers). So my plan is to have ONE frontend who reads both the CAMAC modules 
> and the VME modules.
> 
> (2) Is it possible to build and run a dual-controller frontend for both CAMAC 
> and VME? Does anybody have experience with that? Or is it a stupid idea?
> 
> I'd appreciate any hints.
> 
> [Edit: We're using Linux]
> 
> Thanks a lot,
> 
> Randolf

Dear Randolf,

I used some time ago several HYTEC 1331 controllers together with the Struck 
SIS3100. Since the HYTEC is IO-mapped and the SIS3100 is memory mapped, there was 
no problem in running them in parallel. Note however that there will soon be an 
improved version of the SIS3100 with improved speed, and also CAEN plans a WFD 
with 32 channels, 6 GSPS, 12 bit, using the DRS chip for the next year. I don't 
know if you need that, but just that you know.

Best regards, 
  Stefan

Hi,

I am running Scientific Linux with kernel 2.6.9-34.EL and  I have
glibc-2.3.4-2.25. When I run mlogger, I receive the error:

*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x0073e93e ***
Aborted

Any ideas?

> Hi,
> 
> I am running Scientific Linux with kernel 2.6.9-34.EL and  I have
> glibc-2.3.4-2.25. When I run mlogger, I receive the error:
> 
> *** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x0073e93e ***
> Aborted
> 
> Any ideas?

Not much. Try to clean up the ODB (delete the .ODB.SHM file, remove all shared 
memory via ipcrm) and run again. I run under kernel 2.6.18 and glibc 2.5 and this 
problem does not occur. If you cannot fix it, try to run mlogger inside gdb and 
make a stack trace to see who called the free().

> > Hi,
> > 
> > I am running Scientific Linux with kernel 2.6.9-34.EL and  I have
> > glibc-2.3.4-2.25. When I run mlogger, I receive the error:
> > 
> > *** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x0073e93e ***
> > Aborted
> > 
> > Any ideas?
> 
> Not much. Try to clean up the ODB (delete the .ODB.SHM file, remove all shared 
> memory via ipcrm) and run again. I run under kernel 2.6.18 and glibc 2.5 and this 
> problem does not occur. If you cannot fix it, try to run mlogger inside gdb and 
> make a stack trace to see who called the free().

Sorry for being vague. I cleaned up the ODB, but it doesn't seem to be the
problem. Here is a sample run of mlogger and gdb:


/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# mlogger -v -d
*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x007f793e ***
Aborted (core dumped)
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# 
[root@tsunami AL_Test]# gdb mlogger core.23213 
GNU gdb Red Hat Linux (6.3.0.0-1.143.el4rh)
Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are
welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions.
Type "show copying" to see the conditions.
There is absolutely no warranty for GDB.  Type "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "i386-redhat-linux-gnu"...Using host libthread_db library
"/lib/tls/libthread_db.so.1".

Core was generated by `mlogger -v -d'.
Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libCore.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libCore.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libCint.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libCint.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libRIO.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libRIO.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libNet.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libNet.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libHist.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libHist.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGraf.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGraf.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGraf3d.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGraf3d.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGpad.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libGpad.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libTree.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libTree.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libRint.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libRint.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libPostscript.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libPostscript.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libMatrix.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libMatrix.so
Reading symbols from /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libPhysics.so...done.
Loaded symbols for /home/dayabay/Software/Root/lib/libPhysics.so
Reading symbols from /lib/libdl.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libdl.so.2
Reading symbols from /lib/libutil.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libutil.so.1
Reading symbols from /lib/tls/libpthread.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/tls/libpthread.so.0
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6
Reading symbols from /lib/tls/libm.so.6...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/tls/libm.so.6
Reading symbols from /lib/libgcc_s.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
Reading symbols from /lib/tls/libc.so.6...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/tls/libc.so.6
Reading symbols from /lib/libpcre.so.0...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libpcre.so.0
Reading symbols from /lib/libcrypt.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libcrypt.so.1
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/libz.so.1...done.
Loaded symbols for /usr/lib/libz.so.1
Reading symbols from /lib/ld-linux.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/ld-linux.so.2
Reading symbols from /lib/libnss_files.so.2...done.
Loaded symbols for /lib/libnss_files.so.2
#0  0x002e37a2 in _dl_sysinfo_int80 () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
(gdb) 
(gdb) 
(gdb) 
(gdb) where
#0  0x002e37a2 in _dl_sysinfo_int80 () from /lib/ld-linux.so.2
#1  0x016d68b5 in raise () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#2  0x016d8329 in abort () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#3  0x0170a40a in __libc_message () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#4  0x01710a08 in _int_free () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#5  0x01710fda in free () from /lib/tls/libc.so.6
#6  0x08057108 in main (argc=3, argv=0xbff94f14) at src/mlogger.c:3473
(gdb) 
/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************


I am running Midas 2.0.0 and here is a section of my mlogger.c:


/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
/********************************************************************\

  Name:         mlogger.c
  Created by:   Stefan Ritt

  Contents:     MIDAS logger program

  $Id: mlogger.c 3476 2006-12-20 09:00:26Z ritt $

\********************************************************************/

// stuff...

/*------------------------ main ------------------------------------*/

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
   INT status, msg, i, size, run_number, ch = 0, state;
   char host_name[HOST_NAME_LENGTH], exp_name[NAME_LENGTH], dir[256];
   BOOL debug, daemon, save_mode;
   DWORD last_time_kb = 0;
   DWORD last_time_stat = 0;
   HNDLE hktemp;

#ifdef HAVE_ROOT
   char **rargv;
   int rargc;

   /* copy first argument */
   rargc = 0;
   rargv = (char **) malloc(sizeof(char *) * 2);
   rargv[rargc] = (char *) malloc(strlen(argv[rargc]) + 1);
   strcpy(rargv[rargc], argv[rargc]);
   rargc++;

   /* append argument "-b" for batch mode without graphics */
   rargv[rargc] = (char *) malloc(3);
   rargv[rargc++] = "-b";

   TApplication theApp("mlogger", &rargc, rargv);

   /* free argument memory */
   free(rargv[0]);
   free(rargv[1]);   // Line: 3473
   free(rargv);

#endif

// etc...

/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************
/**************************************************************


I'll play with it some, but I wanted to post this info first.

> Sorry for being vague. I cleaned up the ODB, but it doesn't seem to be the
> problem. Here is a sample run of mlogger and gdb:

Thanks for the info, that explained the problem. It is related to the lines

rargv[rargc] = (char *)malloc(3);
rargv[rargc++] = "-b";

where one first allocates some memory (3 bytes), but then overwrites the pointer with 
another pointer to some static memory ("-b"). The following

free(rargv[1]);

then tries to free the static memory which fails.

The problem was already fixed some time ago, so please update your version from the SVN 
revision (see https://midas.psi.ch/download.html for details).

> The problem was already fixed some time ago, so please update your version from the SVN 
> revision (see https://midas.psi.ch/download.html for details).

I wanted to check out the latest websvn midas repository viewer installed at PSI, so I used the web "annotate/blame" tools 
to trace the fix to this bug down to revision 3660 committed in April 2007. (It turns out that "svn blame" is not very useful 
for tracing *removed* lines, so I ended up doing a manual binary search across different revisions of mlogger.c)

K.O.

Hi, I am looking for a way to mutate ODB values from a custom page. I have been
using the edit attribute for the 'odb' tag, but for some things it would be nice
if a form can handle the change. I have seen references to ODBSet on the forums,
but I haven't been able to find documentation on it. Is there an available
Javascript library for Midas and/or are there more tags than I am aware of (I am
only aware of the 'odb' tag)?

At present the only documentation on the Javascript library is in this elog
e.g. Message 496 31 Jul 08

The Javascript library which you can view
http://<your mhttpd host>/mhttpd.js
now supports ODBEdit as well as ODBGet and ODBSet
 
I advise you get the latest version of mhttpd.c so you can use ODBEdit which changes
the ODB value directly via ODBSet.

You use it like this:
document.write('<a href="#" onclick="ODBEdit(/Equipment/test/Variables/Demand[0])">');
document.write('<odb src="/Equipment/test/Variables/Demand[0]">');
document.write('</a>');

You can also use HTML to edit the variables, but the advantage of Javascript is that
you can use variable ODB paths, so it is more powerful.

Here is an example of using a form on a custom page to edit a variable (in the
example, the run number) using Javascript (ODBEdit) and HTML. 

To try this example, in ODB, create key (STRING)
/custom/try& 
 and set it to "/home/user/try.html"

where the path of the example code on the disk is  /home/user/try.html

This will put an alias link on the Main Status page called "try" which you click on
to see the custom page.

Code of try.html:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN">
<html><head>
<title> ODBEdit test</title>
<script src="/js/mhttpd.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
var my_action = '"/CS/try&"'
var rn
var path

document.write('</head><body>')
document.write('<form method="get" name="form2" action='+my_action+'> ') 
document.write('<input name="exp" value="'+my_expt+'" type="hidden">');

document.write('Using Javascript and ODBEdit:
')
path='/runinfo/run number' 
rn = ODBGet(path)
document.write('Run Number: '+rn+'
')
document.write('Edit Run Number:')
document.write('<a href="#" onclick="ODBEdit(path)" >')
document.write(rn)
document.write('</a>');
document.write('
') ;
</script>


Using HTML :


Using edit=2 ...  Run Number:
<odb src="/runinfo/run number" edit=2>


Using edit=1 ...  Run Number:
<odb src="/runinfo/run number" edit=1>


</form>
</html>


Note the "edit=2" feature is handy so that you can use Javascript or HTML on your
page and the user sees no difference.


> Hi, I am looking for a way to mutate ODB values from a custom page. I have been
> using the edit attribute for the 'odb' tag, but for some things it would be nice
> if a form can handle the change. I have seen references to ODBSet on the forums,
> but I haven't been able to find documentation on it. Is there an available
> Javascript library for Midas and/or are there more tags than I am aware of (I am
> only aware of the 'odb' tag)?

Hello Midas experts:

We have setup a DAQ using MIDAS to readout two ADCs in the crate.
We are running into problem of analyzer getting killed between 
runs.  Sometimes it would crash after a few runs and sometimes it 
would go on for many many runs before analyzer gets killed.  It always 
occurred between runs not when we are taking data.  Any suggestions 
on what we could try?  The error message from the midas.log file is 
appended below.

Thanks,

Dawei

Wed Mar  4 11:53:11 2009 [Analyzer,ERROR] [midas.c:1739:,ERROR]
cm_disconnect_experiment not called at end of program
Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [mhttpd,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' on buffer 'SYSMSG'
removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.7s,TO 10s)
Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [mhttpd,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' (PID 1) on buffer 'ODB'
removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.7s,TO 10s)
Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' on
buffer 'SYSTEM' removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.9s,TO 10s)
Wed Mar  4 11:53:29 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,TALK] starting new run
Wed Mar  4 11:53:29 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,ERROR]
[midas.c:8264:rpc_client_check,ERROR] Connection broken to "Analyzer" on host
tsunami

Hi,

your log script sound to me like the analyzer either got into an infinite loop or 
did a segment violation and just died. I would recommend to run the analyzer from 
inside the debugger. When you then get the segment violation, you can inspect the 
stack trace and see where the bad things happen. Since the analyzer works nicely in 
other experiment, I expect that your problem is related to the user code. Maybe it 
happens at the end of the run, but there is a timeout before the crashed process 
gets cleaned from the ODB, that's why you might think that it happens "between" 
runs.

Best regards,

  Stefan

> 
> Hello Midas experts:
> 
> We have setup a DAQ using MIDAS to readout two ADCs in the crate.
> We are running into problem of analyzer getting killed between 
> runs.  Sometimes it would crash after a few runs and sometimes it 
> would go on for many many runs before analyzer gets killed.  It always 
> occurred between runs not when we are taking data.  Any suggestions 
> on what we could try?  The error message from the midas.log file is 
> appended below.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dawei
> 
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:11 2009 [Analyzer,ERROR] [midas.c:1739:,ERROR]
> cm_disconnect_experiment not called at end of program
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [mhttpd,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' on buffer 'SYSMSG'
> removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.7s,TO 10s)
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [mhttpd,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' (PID 1) on buffer 'ODB'
> removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.7s,TO 10s)
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:22 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,INFO] Client 'Analyzer' on
> buffer 'SYSTEM' removed by cm_watchdog (idle 10.9s,TO 10s)
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:29 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,TALK] starting new run
> Wed Mar  4 11:53:29 2009 [AL Experiment Frontend,ERROR]
> [midas.c:8264:rpc_client_check,ERROR] Connection broken to "Analyzer" on host
> tsunami

Dear All,

I have created a custom page (please see the attachment) and imported into 
MIDAS with key name "Control panel&" (without the ""). I have the following 
two questions:

1) I display the status of the run with <odb src="/Runinfo/State">, but it 
returns numbers which is not user friendly. How can I make something 
like "Running" with green background and "Stopped" with red background in the 
default status page?

2) When I click either Start/Stop/Pause/Resume, it can performs the right 
things, but afterward it jumps to the page "http://domain.name:8081/CS/" which 
shows "Invalid custom page: NULL path". How can I make it returns to the 
correct page "http://domain.name:8081/CS/Control%20panel"?

Thank you for your attention.

Best Regards,
Jimmy

Dear All,

I have one more question. I use <odb src="odb field" edit=1> to display an 
editable ODB value, but how can I show this value in hexadecimal?

Thanks.

Best Regards,
Jimmy


> Dear All,
> 
> I have created a custom page (please see the attachment) and imported into 
> MIDAS with key name "Control panel&" (without the ""). I have the following 
> two questions:
> 
> 1) I display the status of the run with <odb src="/Runinfo/State">, but it 
> returns numbers which is not user friendly. How can I make something 
> like "Running" with green background and "Stopped" with red background in the 
> default status page?
> 
> 2) When I click either Start/Stop/Pause/Resume, it can performs the right 
> things, but afterward it jumps to the page "http://domain.name:8081/CS/" which 
> shows "Invalid custom page: NULL path". How can I make it returns to the 
> correct page "http://domain.name:8081/CS/Control%20panel"?
> 
> Thank you for your attention.
> 
> Best Regards,
> Jimmy