Re: [guide-user] A kludge enabling internet download & display of SDSS data release 4 in Guide 8

Roger Pickard Mar 4, 2007

Hi John,
Nearly, but not quite there.
I followed the procedure easily enough and went to GO TO RA
172644.63+583745.8 (although you don't mention this again). However,
there was a little star at the right position. Note I say star. I
had to change the
type 6 as follows to show a triangle (not sure which of the "type"
lines I needed so copied over both from another tdf!
# type 6
type sC00fcfc;e0,0,12;
type sc5;e0,0,10,c15

However, I go to the location of another SDSS star and hit the SDSS
toolbar and the info says some small file is being downloaded but
nothing appears - even at mag 23!

I'm running XP BTW.

Assuming it's something silly on my part what about a SDSS.dat star so
that you can go to any chosen such star?

Cheers,
Roger



----- Original Message -----
From: "duble.stars" <duble.stars@...>
To: <guide-user@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 1:17 PM
Subject: [guide-user] A kludge enabling internet download & display of
SDSS data release 4 in Guide 8


>
> This is not for the faint hearted, so any doubts whatsoever do not
> even attempt it.
>
> It is actually quite simple and straightforward, but if you don't
> understand it it's likely best not to try it.
>
> Now, this past couple of days VizieR has upgraded the SDSS data
> release 3 photometric catalogue to data release 4, dr 4.
>
> This will show a way of downloading and displaying these objects,
the
> display giving the SDSS magnitudes, their errors, positional
> information, date of observation, a link to a more in depth page on
> the SDSS server, inclusive of an image, and the automatically
> estimated type of object.
>
> First you need to download sdss.zip from the Guide-user yahoo groups
> file section http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/guide-user/files ,
> it's been successfully passed on a virus test this end, but feel
free
> to test it again.
>
> Now to the procedure :-
>
> [Note that if any of this goes wrong, simply reinstalling the latest
> Guide 8 update you are using from Guide8.zip will fix all and return
> things back to as was.]
>
>
> Find gsc22.exe in your Guide directory and _copy_ it to the UTILS
> subdirectory that lies within the Guide directory. It is important
to
> ensure you do not move it, you need to have gsc22.exe existing in
both
> the GUIDE directory and the GUIDE/UTILS directory. Think of it as
> your backup of gsc22.exe.
>
> Copy s.exe to this UTILS directory.
>
> Copy sdssdr4.tdf to the Guide 8 directory.
>
> Copy sdss.bmp to the Guide 8 directory.
>
> sdssdr4 can be copied to the Guide 8 directory or not, it is merely
> some predownloaded data for testing the TDF and is not essential.
> Future downloaded data files will be appended to this file, but if
it
> does not exist a new one should be made. However, if that doesn't
> happen for whatever reason, including this file will give further
> downloads something to append to. GO TO RA 172644.63+583745.8 to
> test, clicking on coloured stars
>
> Now to make some dos batch files, this is simple enough, and works
on
> my machine using win2k. Whether it works in ME or XP I don't know,
> but it should work in any Windows flavour that is capable of
launching
> a dos box. The batch files will be accessed via
>
> START in bottom left of screen, normally, far left of Task Bar
>
> RUN
>
> In RUN entering s in the dialogue box and pressing okay will turn on
> SDSS download, entering g will put things back to default.
>
> Open Notepad
>
> enter the following lines, adapted for your computer
>
> @echo off
> copy d:\fullpath\guide\utils\s.exe d:\fullpath\guide\gsc22.exe
>
> if you store guide in a drive different from D:, edit accordingly,
and
> replace the words "fullpath" with the full file path to your Guide
> directory.
>
> The simplest version would be c:\guide\gsc22.exe for example for
> someone who has isntalled Guide directly to drive C:
>
> Save those two lines as a file named s.bat in your Windows
directory!
>
> That'll be in c:\windows or c:\winnt or similar. It can
alternatively
> be saved in the system32 directory. Basically any directory that is
> listed in the system variables' path will suffice for those in the
> know, otherwise just do the above.
>
> Do all the above with a second file except in Notepad type
>
> @echo off
> copy d:\astro\guide\utils\gsc22.exe d:\astro\guide\gsc22.exe
>
> and save it as g.bat in the windows or other appropriate directory.
>
> Now to edit TOOLBAR.dat. You may wish to make a copy of this and
call
> it toolbar.bak first, however it is usually replaced with Guide 8
> upgrade zipfiles anyway, so recoverable. Unless, of course, you
keep
> a personally modified version, then back it up.
>
> At the top of Toolbar.dat is a number. In your text editor,
possibly
> notepad will suffice, increment this number by 1. ie if it says
0304
> change it to 0305.
>
> You can add the following line anywhere, but if you add it near
other
> internet download toolbar buttons it'll be easier to find in future.
>
> So, in notepad for example, EDIT->FIND usno.bmp or gsc22.bmp or
similar.
>
> Insert a line and add in this line
>
> 2550 !sdss.bmp SDSS data via Internet
>
> such that the local arrear of this list now looks something similar
to
> this
>
> # 2161 !rs.bmp RealSky image
> # 2119 !dss.bmp DSS image
> # 2378 !gsc22.bmp GSC 2.2 data via Internet
> # 2410 !web_dss.bmp Grab DSS image via Internet
> # 2411 !web_a20.bmp A2.0 data via Internet
> 2550 !sdss.bmp SDSS data via Internet
> 2457 !usno.bmp B1.0 data via Internet
> 2458 !2mass.bmp 2MASS data via Internet
> # 2413 !a10.bmp Get A1.0 data from CD-ROM
> # 2414 !a10.bmp Get A2.0 data from CD-ROM
>
>
> You will likely also have an UCAC2 data via Internet link, which I
> have removed.
>
> Save toolbar.dat
>
> Basically this simply works because s.exe is a version of gsc22.exe
> which has been hex edited to get sdss dr 4 data from vizier instead
of
> getting ucac2 data from vizier.
>
> OPERATION
>
> Guide will now have an SDSS toolbar button, possibly also an ucac2
one
> depending on personal preference.
>
> When s.bat is run by using START->RUN->s the file s.exe copies over
> gsc22.exe such that when the SDSS toolbar button is pressed SDSS
data
> release 4 data is returned via VizieR. Incidentally, SDSS data
> release 4 data will also be returned if the UCAC2 button is pressed
in
> this cirumstance. This is a dirty little kludge and simply replaces
> the ucac2 fetch with an sdss fetch. There is no download progress
box
> for SDSS retrieval, incidentally.
>
> To return Guide 8 to UCAC2 download simply use START->RUN->g which
> copies the default gsc22.exe stored in the UTILS directory back into
> the Guide directory and returns the normal situation. Again, in
this
> situation pressing on the SDSS button returns UCAC2 data as does
> pressing on the UCAC2 button. The 2550 tells you that in
toolbar.dat
>
> This is a _kludge_, not a fix or addition.
>
> The SDSS data is returned as coloured stars where g' and r' are
> interpreted as B and R using "photo" in the TDF as this seems to
give
> the most accurate matches. The stars are plotted to the r', or red,
> mag. Right click gives mag info and object type and more info
> additionally errors on mag and date when imaged and a link to the
SDSS
> data release 5 summary page and image for that star at the SDSS
webserver.
>
> SDSS data fills half the northern sky, plus an near complete
> equatorial strip, is good between mags about 15 and 20+, and is of
> decent astrometry, and better than USNO B1.0, so makes a nice
> complement to UCAC2 where it is available, but avoids dense star
> regions so lies mainly away from the Milky Way.
>
> High quality V can be calculated for good g' and r' values using
>
> V = r' + 0.44*(g'-r') - 0.02
>
> for stars that are not too red.
>
>
> Again, if you can see a need for this, try it, if it works, fine, if
> not reinstall your personal latest upgrade file and ignore.
Therefore
> there must be a willingness and ability to reinstall the latest
> upgrade file the user is using before any attempt is made to try
this,
> ie it's the users own responsibility, it's a kludge, if it doesn't
> work you've to be aware of how to return to where you were.
>
> On the other hand, it's simple and straightforward enough, if a
little
> fiddly, and it works a doddle, I've been using it ages (albeit with
> vizier SDSS data release 3 until the data release 4 upgrade
yesterday).
>
> Finally, for those who can hex edit files, you could replace the
sdss
> vizier url, and download file name (sdssdr4), in s.exe with any
other
> vizier list, such as DENIS or CMC14, easily enough, but you'll have
to
> write a TDF to plot up the downloaded datafile in Guide and create a
> .bmp file for the toolbar using 2550 as anchor, but most of the rest
> of the above will be just the same, though s.bat and s.exe will no
> longer be mnemonic, of course.
>
> Cheers
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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