astronomy May 2008

astronomy@lists.fedoraproject.org

9 participants
9 discussions

Re: [fedora-astronomy] Iraf fork?
by Sergio Pascual 25 Jun '08

25 Jun '08

Iraf has been developed by NOAO until 2006, when the user support was transferred to a volunteer effort, iraf.net. That was about version 2.12. In 2007, NOAO recollected the patches and user contributions, and together with other improvements, released version 2.14. Iraf is vast and ancient. It's partly written in C and partly written in SPP, a custom made language. SPP needs a custom compiler that it's included in the iraf core. SPP is converted into fortran (using f2c) and compiled with the C compiler. Iraf works in different architectures, but lacks x86_64 support. A project[1] exists to port iraf to x86_64, and it's basically the work of one person, Chisato Yamauchi[2]. This work it's outside NOAO or iraf.net. I help him doing the testing of his developments in my Fedora system, as he develops in CentOS. Iraf includes a copy of the libc of the time of its early developments (mid-80s), replicating the functionality of basic system calls. It also includes a modified copy of ncar[3] graphics library 1.0 (current version is 5.0). ncar wasn't free at that time (I don't know if it's free know, it seems to be composed of several packages, some free and some not). Iraf graphics facility, x11iraf, contains non-free code also. I tried to package it in the past[4], but the package couldn't be included due to legal restrictions again. That's where the thread[5] in iraf.net comes from. It was me complaining about the license text in the iraf.net faq no representing the real status of iraf and x11iraf, misleading into believing that both were free software when they weren't. You can see also the answer to the complains about closed code in iraf, basically "please fix it yourself and send me the patches". As iraf is very far from trivial to compile, I suppose that the number of patches received across the years is nearly zero. Neither iraf.net or noao provide tools to work in iraf development, such as a version control system. So, if we want to develop something based in iraf, we at least need to establish a source tree somewhere. Don't call it a fork if you want, but it's the only way to work. [1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/iraf64 [2] http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/~cyamauch/ [3] http://ngwww.ucar.edu/index.html [4] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=249614 [5] http://iraf.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86793

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new to the list
by Maccy 25 May '08

25 May '08

Hi all, I have been following this project with interest for a short time. I am Systems Manager for the X-Ray and Observational Astronomy Group at the University of Leicester. We run Scientific Linux 4.6 on our desktop systems, mainly because I have 55+ systems to look after and I don't want to be upgrading them any more than every 12-18 months. Scientific Linux has proven to be very stable and trustworthy - it is of course a rebuild of the RHEL source. A Fedora Astronomy distro 'proper' would be great, in addition to the Live CD. Are there any plans for this? I would have to give it serious consideration if a large number of packages that we use here are included, such as the HEASOFT stuff, PyRAF/IRAF, and the Starlink Software Collection. The ESO Scisoft collection would be a brilliant inclusion. We have users with Mac and Windows laptops who I am sure would welcome the Live CD. I know that a few of our UK counterparts are wholly using Fedora so I will bring the project to their attention in case they have not discovered it already. Unfortunately I cannot make any meetings on Saturday due to sports commitments but I will of course keep an eye on the mailing list. Best regards, Mark ---- Mark Mahabir (XROA System Manager) Dept of Physics & Astronomy, Phone +44 116 252 5652 University of Leicester, Fax +44 116 252 3311 Leicester, LE1 7RH, U.K.

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Fedora Astronomy SIG Meeting log 17-05-2008
by Marek Mahut 25 May '08

25 May '08

The log is attached. -- Marek Mahut https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Astronomy/ Fedora Project http://www.jamendo.com/ 17:25 marek hey Telimektar 17:26 Telimektar hi marek 17:27 Telimektar you'r a little early :) 17:28 marek ;) you too 17:29 Telimektar i hope we won't be alone :'( 17:31 marek me too 17:48 GeroldKa_aw < [n=GeroldKa(a)p5B2CBCEA.dip0.t-ipconnect.de] quits ["Verlassend"] 17:49 GeroldKa > [n=GeroldKa@fedora/geroldka] joins #fedora-meeting 17:55 danishka_ > [n=danishka(a)124.43.55.148] joins #fedora-meeting 17:57 hanthana < [n=danishka(a)124.43.54.173] quits [Read error: 113 (No route to host)] 17:59 marek astronomy SIG around? 18:00 Telimektar plop :) 18:02 marek anyone else around? 18:02 marek got a message from Sergio that he can't attend 18:04 Telimektar ok 18:04 Telimektar shall we begin ? 18:04 Telimektar (a 2-person meeting :)) 18:05 marek ok 18:06 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Fedora Astronomy SIG | Introduction. 18:06 marek so, who's around? 18:06 * marek Marek Mahut 18:06 *Telimektar Micha"el Ughetto 18:07 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Fedora Astronomy SIG | Review of tasks from last meeting. 18:08 marek so, what's our overall progress? 18:08 Telimektar what were they ? 18:08 marek nothing I guess, because we were only two at the meeting :) 18:08 marek Serio sent me this mail: 18:08 marek <paste> 18:08 marek * I have packaged pyfits, a python interface to fits. This package is 18:08 marek required by pyraf 18:08 marek * I have packaged pyraf also, but, as iraf isn't in fedora, it can be 18:08 marek included for the moment 18:08 marek * I'm giving eso-midas a second try. I have a package that seems to 18:08 marek work but needs some testing. 18:08 marek </paste> 18:08 marek this is the progress report from him 18:08 marek from my side 18:09 marek I was heavily working on gnuradio even with upstream 18:09 marek and it should be quite stable 18:09 marek we need to start working on last packages and think about preparing the kickstart file 18:10 Telimektar I'm still fighting with xvarstar, exams will start again soon, so it won't be fast 18:10 marek this will come in next two month +/- 18:10 Telimektar yes 18:10 Telimektar abous thes kickstart file 18:10 marek Telimektar: np, did you resolve the problem that it's not building under f8? 18:10 Telimektar Telimektar: still on it 18:10 marek :) 18:10 marek ok 18:10 Telimektar marek*: it was not that easy 18:11 Telimektar for the ks, we maybe should ask for a Group package 18:11 danishka_ | changes nick to hanthana 18:11 marek Telimektar: I know :) 18:11 marek Telimektar: not sure if it will be approved 18:11 marek last time they told us no-no. 18:11 marek but it's a good try 18:11 marek Telimektar: we should create a wiki page with a TODO list 18:12 Telimektar yes, my plan's was a roadmap page with link to all subprojects 18:12 marek ok, let's move for the google question. 18:12 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Fedora Astronomy SIG | What if the astronomy SIG has a summer intern ? 18:12 marek do we know something about this? 18:13 marek I don't even know if the application for this are still open 18:13 Telimektar nothing it has juste been a question on the ml 18:13 marek "We'll begin accepting applications from open source mentoring organizations on Monday, March 3, 2008; we'll stop accepting organization applications on Wednesday, March 12th." 18:13 Telimektar even if the student is not provided by gsoc, we could perhaps offer this type of function 18:13 marek ok, so this will go for the next year tasks :) 18:14 marek Telimektar: what do you mean by this typo of function? 18:14 Telimektar we could define some big tasks that could be assigned to a temporary dev, a student for example 18:15 Telimektar but it will come later in the meeting i guess 18:15 marek Telimektar: but who will pay him? 18:15 Telimektar marek: in the mail there was no question of money 18:16 marek well, the Google Summer of Code is that the student work the summer and he gets 2000$ from google 18:16 marek Telimektar: if not it's a standard volenteer that do it in the free time 18:16 Telimektar ok 18:16 marek the gsoc guys get paid for the summer and work heavily on the projects 18:17 Telimektar we should ask Jeff about his proposition 18:17 marek Telimektar: indeed 18:17 marek but the applications are closed for this summer already, let's try our luck next time 18:17 Telimektar Fedora 11 so :p 18:17 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Fedora Astronomy SIG | Forking IRAF and clean it of the closed source? 18:17 marek ;) 18:17 marek yup 18:17 Telimektar 12* 18:17 marek this is a topic from Sergio 18:18 marek <paste> 18:18 marek And finally, can fedora-astronomy be involved in branching iraf? is it 18:18 marek feasible? Iraf it's used by great part of the astronomical community 18:18 marek and would be a I killer application. Could you rise the question in 18:18 marek the meeting? 18:18 marek </paste> 18:18 marek this is a good proposition but will involve a lot of work 18:18 Telimektar a new item for the todo list 18:18 Telimektar it also involves getting in contact with the iraf community 18:19 marek yes 18:19 marek we should discuss it on the mailing list first 18:19 Telimektar yes 18:19 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Fedora Astronomy SIG | Free discussion, mind storming 18:19 marek ok, all other business 18:19 Telimektar you've talked about skylive.it 18:20 marek yes, this is an interesting project 18:20 Telimektar and python module that it needs 18:20 marek you can take photos from scopes over the globe 18:20 marek Telimektar: it needs about 10 python modules that are not in fedora yet 18:20 marek I don't have the list yet, but it should be somewhere on their web 18:20 Telimektar ok, i didn't found soure on their website 18:20 Telimektar source* 18:20 marek or even find it from code 18:22 marek http://download.astronomix.org/skylive/SkyLiveNG-0.1b.tgz 18:22 marek here is it 18:22 Telimektar ok thanks, i'll take aloot on it and make a summary of needs on the ml 18:22 Telimektar a look * 18:22 marek Telimektar: thank you 18:23 marek next item, is getting the packages in EPEL as well 18:23 Telimektar why not 18:24 marek I would like to distribute the Fedora Astronomy spin on a usb stick 18:24 marek people would be able to order it for small price 18:24 marek like 3 euros with the post 18:25 Telimektar mhm, why not 18:25 marek Telimektar: did you saw the persistance feature? 18:25 Telimektar i'm sure som magazines can be interested in this too 18:25 Telimektar marek: i've read a little about it 18:25 marek Telimektar: it's very nice 18:25 marek that way, you can keep your data from observation on the key itself 18:26 Telimektar how do you want to sell the usb stick? 18:28 marek I thought of a web form, something like free media program 18:28 Telimektar ok 18:29 marek I'll try to save some money and get about 300 free for local observatory etc... 18:29 marek and if we are really good, maybe Red Hat will be willing to pay for it too :) 18:29 spoleeba > [n=one@fedora/Jef] joins #fedora-meeting 18:29 marek heyah spoleeba :) 18:29 Telimektar from your own pocket ? 18:30 marek Telimektar: yes. 18:30 spoleeba too many meetings....too little time 18:30 rsc < [n=robert@fedora/rsc] quits [Remote closed the connection] 18:30 marek spoleeba: ;) welcome 18:30 Telimektar 300 free usb sticks it's a lot for a begin 18:30 Telimektar hi spoleeba 18:31 marek Telimektar: well, these are only for local observatory I'm planning 18:31 marek and local institutions 18:31 Telimektar I think i can get some money for such a distributing money in my university 18:31 Telimektar -money 18:32 marek Telimektar: you think your university would be interested in this? 18:32 Telimektar I think i can get some money for such a distributing, from my university 18:32 Telimektar corrected:p 18:32 marek cool 18:33 marek well, we will see later 18:33 Telimektar marek: yeah , i was the president of a physics student association and i know they can be interested by such things 18:33 Telimektar yes 18:33 marek first let's do a spin that kicks ass :) 18:33 Telimektar marek: +1 18:33 marek Telimektar: cool :) 18:33 rsc > [n=robert(a)linuxnetz.de] joins #fedora-meeting 18:33 marek I'll be taking some days off from my work on work on this spin 18:33 marek because my work consumes all my time 18:34 Telimektar we also must finalize the astronomy-menus 18:34 spoleeba marek, so you are really close to putting a spin together? 18:34 marek Telimektar: yup, I had a showstopper on this 18:34 marek spoleeba: kind of, in next two months we can start doing the initial kickstart file 18:35 marek Telimektar: but I've found a way how to create this menu 18:35 spoleeba marek, make sure you look at the guidance from the new Spins SIG 18:35 marek spoleeba: yes, I know it 18:35 Telimektar marek: can't we base it one the games-menus rpm ? 18:35 marek Telimektar: no, the games menus are using standard GNOME categories 18:36 Telimektar ok 18:36 marek games have sub-cats in gnome, that's no the case of other menus 18:36 marek spoleeba: we will have first only a beta kickstart file 18:36 marek spoleeba: I want to release it all little bit after Fedora 10 18:37 marek do we have date for Fedora 10 yet? 18:37 Telimektar i don't think so 18:38 marek spoleeba: do we have the final version of the spins process? 18:38 Telimektar do you have a link to this ? i do not know about it 18:39 marek I saw a proposition on wiki somewhere, but was told by the Board it's still in progress 18:39 marek https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/JefSpaleta/SpinReleaseProcessProposal 18:39 Telimektar thx 18:40 spoleeba marek, of the entire process.. i dont think so 18:41 marek spoleeba: good to have you on the project, you can review it before we propose it to the board itself 18:41 spoleeba marek, but i think the guidance as to what is/is not allowed is mostly there 18:44 marek spoleeba: do you the link to the guidance? 18:45 spoleeba no... let me find it 18:46 spoleeba there's a wiki re-org going on as well...which impact things 18:47 spoleeba http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Spins/CommunitySpinGuidelines 18:48 marek /!\ Fixing packages or applications on the Spin is not allowed. A fix goes upstream. 18:49 marek this mean fix goes to Fedora (upstream here?) 18:49 marek ? 18:52 spoleeba marek, i think it means... not making changes in the Spins kickstart file 18:53 spoleeba that should go in a package...and submitted upstream 18:53 marek spoleeba: ok, understood 18:53 marek anything else we want to discuss? 18:53 spoleeba the idea being...don't screw with things like default config settings via kickstart script action..even though you can 18:54 Telimektar it's ok for me 18:54 Telimektar what are the tasks assignment for now on ? 18:54 marek spoleeba: we were thinking about a different wallpaper 18:55 spoleeba kickstarts are very flexible...and to keep all or spins consistent..we have to refrain from doing some things that kickstart can easily do 18:55 marek Telimektar: I think, from now on, we should create a TODO list wiki page, with the name of the person working on it and final date 18:56 marek spoleeba: yup, I see 18:56 spoleeba marek, get it packaged as a package so anyone else can use it 18:56 spoleeba marek, i think theming differences are allowed..i think games does it already 18:56 marek spoleeba: it would be part of the wallpaper package, but we will have to mess with the default config to set it 18:56 marek spoleeba: ok 18:58 marek spoleeba, Telimektar any other business you would like to raise? 18:58 giallu > [n=giallu(a)81-174-9-190.dynamic.ngi.it] joins #fedora-meeting 18:58 spoleeba marek, i dont think so 18:59 Telimektar ok for me 18:59 marek ok closing this meeting 18:59 marek that you both for coming 18:59 marek changed the topic of #fedora-meeting to: Channel is used by various Fedora groups and committees for their regular meetings | Note that meetings often get logged | For questions about using Fedora please ask in #fedora | See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/FedoraMeetingChannel for meeting schedule 18:59 Telimektar thanks all, see you on the list ! 19:00 marek see you!

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Meeting during the next week ?
by Michaël Ughetto 21 May '08

21 May '08

Hi everybody, I think the time is come for a new meeting. We must discuss about the future activties of the SIG, goal for F10, answer to the question of Jeff ( what is the SIG has a summer intern), and others.... Do you have any preferences for the time of the meeting ? Please feel free to add your topic here : https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Astronomy/Meetings/Agenda Hope to read as much as possible of you soon ! -- Michael Ughetto (Telimektar) http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/MichaelUghetto <telimektar1er(a)gmail.com> || <telimektar(a)esraonline.com> 0x8ECBA2A4 on pgp.mit.edu

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What is to be done ? who could handle what ?
by Michaël Ughetto 21 May '08

21 May '08

Hi everybody ! Here is a little todo list born from the meeting : http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Astronomy/TODO This what i mainly get oh the meeting. Please feel free to add tasks, for this is only a draft. We should also discuss about the assignment of tasks. Who's intersted in what ? Who can handle this task or an another ? etc ... Those question are particulary true for the IRAF fork, this our bigger project and he asks a particular involvment. As the person which will take it in charge must be familiar with the software and able to get in contact (and keep it) with the current IRAF community, developpers. This person should also be able to divide and distribute task the more efficiently possible. This is of course my ideal vision of the project. Please take a look to the forementionned page, modify it, discuss it, ask, suggest, .... Thanks for your participation in the SIG. Have a nice day/night/afternoon/morning (refer to your local time :p) ! -- Michael Ughetto (Telimektar) http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/MichaelUghetto <telimektar1er(a)gmail.com> || <telimektar(a)esraonline.com> 0x8ECBA2A4 on pgp.mit.edu

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Meeting Reminder : Tomorow 05-17-2008 at 1600 UTC
by Michaël Ughetto 16 May '08

16 May '08

Hi all, A little reminder for the tomorrow's meeting ! Don't forget to brought any ideas or suggestion ! Edit this page to add a topic : https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Astronomy/Meetings/Agenda See you tomorrow ! -- Michael Ughetto (Telimektar) http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/MichaelUghetto <telimektar1er(a)gmail.com> || <telimektar(a)esraonline.com> 0x8ECBA2A4 on pgp.mit.edu

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kstarts standalone package
by Marek Mahut 12 May '08

12 May '08

Hi all, Finally we have a sub-package kdeedu-kstars[1]! Many thanks to Rex Dieter. [1] http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=48505 -- Marek Mahut https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Astronomy/ Fedora Project http://www.jamendo.com/

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Long term goals and multiple opportunities
by Jef Spaleta 12 May '08

12 May '08

Good Morning Campers! I haven't participated directly in the Astronomy SIG even though I'm listed in its membership. But I have been thinking about long term opportunities for the SIG to be break out star of the Fedora Project. So let me catch you all up to speed on a couple of long term ideas that I've been leveraging my Board title to have conversations about. 1) open source amateur telescope network Given the right telescope and ccd camera hardware arrangements, we could provide a completely self-contained Fedora based software setup for remote instrument control, with turn-key instructions on how to get an instrument up and in the network. To that end, I have a local high school teacher who has a small grant to put a remotely controlled scope together for his classes to use. It looks like we'll be using a apogee usb camera and an 8 inch meade telescope. Hardware I'm sure we won't have a problem providing support for in Fedora. A filter wheel hasn't been selected yet. Given that hardware what is the best control and image capture software we have in Fedora right now that could be used for instrument control, tracking and image collection? I'm thinking Kstars makes for the best interface for an educational target, but what do i know. Can we do guidestar tracking out of the box with this camera and scope, or would we need a secondary imager? I'm not sure kstars actually does image based guidestar tracking. I haven't even thought about focus control yet. I would imagine we'll need to homebrew something. Whatever we end up doing, I want it to be an easy to follow blueprint so I can get another school to do it next year so we can link multiple instruments together for student use. And if all possible I want to be able to produce a Fedora branded live image with the necessary software to run the instrument. 2) Radio Lunar/Solar Bounce HF Groundstations What would it take to run a network of volunteer groundstations to participate in a coordinated lunar/solar bounce HF experiment? I've run across an experimental opportunity for long baseline interferometry that could make use of a dispersed network of groundstations, and I'd like to see if we can build that network through the Fedora project. Obviously it's going to require hardware that most people don't have...but licensed HAM operators might have. I'm talking with potential researchers now to organize the science proposal. But we also need to stat having a conversation inside Fedora about whether there is enough interest in participating in a network of volunteer stations. I've talked to a couple of people in the HAM SIG, but if the Astronomy SIG wants to help make it happen that would be keen as well. Now that gnuradio is in in the repo, what else would be needed in Fedora to do something coordinated? I'm sure we have the necessary software to make use of gps time syncing when groundstations have access to a local gps time source. One of the goals here is a turn-key live image that can be used as the automated groundstation control. I'm not sure if it will end-up being brandable Fedora without special permission from the Board. it might have to ship some configuration information for data collection specifics that won't be a part of the Fedora repository. -jef

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If the Astronomy SIG had a summer intern.......
by Jef Spaleta 08 May '08

08 May '08

If the Astronomy SIG had a summer student intern, what would you have them work on? Keep in mind that such an intern would be free to walk away from the project at the end of the summer, so you want to define some sort of project that would profit from dedicated manpower for 2 or 3 months and would continue to be useful after that manpower was no longer available. Package maintainership work would be an example of a bad thing to use an intern for. -jef

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astronomy May 2008