Computing / Controls


Console PC: pc3197
Installed on pc3197:
  • specXTM, for use with the XTM.
  • specPD, for simple use with the Powder Diffractometer.
  • specOptics, for general beam optics tuning.
  • fourc, for 4-circle applications with the Powder Diffractometer. This configuration has not been tested.
These 4 configurations are linked to a common configuration file (see the spec Administrator's Guide). The front-end and optics motors are common to all configurations.
To use spec at the Powder Diffractometer End Station, login on console pc3197 and issue the command: specPD


Console PC: pc3557

SPEC configurations

Installed on pc3557:
  • specSD, for simple use with the Surface Diffractometer.
  • specMCA, the same as spec but with a Roentec MCA configured for local connection via the COM7 serial port of pc3557, instead of the third Newport MM4006 motor controller.
  • specOptics, for general beam optics tuning.
  • fourc, for 4-circle applications with the Surface Diffractometer. This configuration has not been tested.
The specSD, specOptics and fourc configurations are linked to a common configuration file (see the spec Administrator's Guide). The front-end and optics motors are common to all of these configurations. specMCA has an independent configuration file because of the hardware incompatibility of the COM7 port.
  • To use spec at the Surface Diffractometer End Station, login on console pc3557 and issue the command: specSD
  • Customised SPEC macro manual. A detailed description of the SD-endstation-specific SPEC macros can be downloaded here.

  • To use spec at the XTM End Station, login on console pc3197 and issue the command: specXTM
  • For XTM operation, spec is then normally put into a sort of server mode by issuing the command: mainscan
Interaction with the XTM software is then via the "Tomo Control" panel.
The following tables have been generated from the various spec config files. The descriptions have simply been obtained from the EPICS description field, which is limited to a length of 38 characters. They are therefore of somewhat limited value. Sorry!

Where the EPICS name is given as "MM4006/x/y", the motor is motor number <y+1> on the MM4006 Newport interface connected to serial port COM<5+x> on pc3557. See this link.

Motors in Approximate Beam-line Order:
  • Alphabetical List of EPICS Motor Names
  • Alphabetical List of specXTM Motor Names
  • Alphabetical List of specPD Motor Names
  • Alphabetical List of specSD (Surface Diffr) Motor Names