20230404T1600-20230406T2000
Onkar, Tara, Roy
PHYS 401, 433C
Goals
- create 1:1 copy of tcs c: drive (Local Disk)
- boot tcs using copy drive and not original drive
- install lightweight win10 OS on tcs copy drive
Log
- onkar was bored so onkar wanted to restart the p3 project (end goal is to have dc control everything)
- brain dump:
- things stopping us from full integration:
- ISA card that sends the motor commands cannot be installed on a modern PC due to the lack of ISA slots on modern motherboards
- unclear at this time whether ISA cards work properly on win10 and newer OS's
- DFMTCS (TCS software) does not want to open on DC even after all files had been copied over
- either an issue with drivers or with not properly running an "install DFMTCS" program on the dc
- possible solutions to solve these issues
- find PCIE to ISA internal or external conversion thingy
- fuck around and find out
- find wherever this install dfmtcs program would be or social engineer it out of someone at another DFM observatory
- things stopping us from full integration:
- onkar and tara unplugged all telescope cables from control computer and extracted control computer from the desk too access its innards, specifically its harddrive
- boot HDD connected to cc mobo via sata data cable
- onkar repurposed rolly desk from 401 to act as a bench for control computer
- the great copying
- onkar plugged in external SSD (borrowed from dr meyer in 306a) to black USB port on control computer
- onkar booted up control computer as normal and used AOEMI backupper to clone the cc boot drive to the ssd
- had to change ssd from GBR to MBR, believe this has something to do with the win7 OS being a 32bit OS and not 64 bit
- onkar waited hours for this to finish bc USB2.0 is just so gosh darn fast
- booting from ssd
- onkar unplugged sata data cable connecting HDD to motherboard
- installed SSD via USB cable to cc motherboard rear usb2.0
- turned on PC, windows 7 splash screen, black screen, PC restarts, cycle repeats
- tried fixing the win7 install via command prompt in safe mode, no joy
- tried recopying the HDD to SSD in case it was a bad copy, no joy
- tried setting the SSD as the primary boot option in cc bios, no joy
- onkar is very sad and frustrated at this point
- roy advises onkar tries to boot from the ssd on a separate device and to use another drive to boot from for the cc
- attempts to boot dc via ssd, ssd doesn't even show up in the bios as a bootable option, no joy
- need another drive to attempt the second recommendation
Notes
- windows is lame
- having an internal SSD would be great for further testing and may be repurposed for data storage afterward so its not a one-off purchase
- control room kinda messy, also whenever the cc is reinstalled into the desk, the telescope cables must be correctly hooked up and a functions test would be in order
ToDo
- look into drives, what gbr and mbr mean, 32bit vs 64 bit, and anything else that may be relevant for this
- resintall cc
- return cart rolly thing to 401