Starting the ISS Workstation System

The workstation and the ISS software will start automatically whenever the workstation powers up, either after being switched on or after a power failure. The system start-up is called a boot, short for bootstrapping, from the phrase "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". The system essentially bootstraps itself by using a small "boot loader" program to load enough of the system that it knows how to run the rest of the system.

If the workstation does not boot automatically, it may stop at a low-level hardware prompt. To boot from the > prompt, enter b. To boot from the ok prompt, enter boot.

When booting the system manually, make sure the Jaz drive contains a data disk. Since all of the ISS programs try to start automatically and continue wherever they may have left off after a possible power failure, the Archiver program will need to have access to a data disk when it starts so that it knows it can start archiving data files. If no disk is present when the Archiver starts, the Archiver will suspend archiving until it is told to check for a new disk. The check can be requested manually after the system is up and running, but it is safer just to make sure a data disk is in place before startup. See Creating Data Disks for instructions on creating a data disk.

During the boot process, the system displays messages about its progress on the console. Eventually the screen clears and displays a window with a login prompt. At this point, assuming the Jaz drive contained a data disk at startup, the whole system is operational and ready for continuous running. Login is not required. The ISS workstation system has been developed with a goal of continuous unattended operation for months at a time. No intervention will be needed for a normal startup, since the system needs to be able to recover from a power failure while no operators are present to help it out.

Once the system is running and the login window appears, the operator can log in to start the control and visualization windows. Enter the username at the login prompt:

iss

Then enter the password at the password prompt. It is up to you to remember the password.

During login, the ISS programs with graphical window interfaces begin. Many of these are the windows and icons mentioned in the chapter Operator Basics.

Once logged into the system, the iss user should not log out unless the ISS system needs to be restarted! Logout automatically stops all the ISS programs which were started on boot and which run in the background, including data collection programs, not just the programs with window interfaces. This allows an operator to restart the ISS software, particularly data ingest routines, just by logging out and logging back in, without rebooting the workstation. Normally, there is never a need to log out once logged in—only if a restart is needed.