FILE: readme                    Copyright (c), Symmetric Research, 2004-2010

SrPar2Ew is a program for sending data from a SR PARxCH 24 bit
A/D data acquisition system to an Earthworm WAVE_RING buffer as
TYPE_TRACEBUF2 messages.  It works with any one of the three PARxCH
systems, one, four, and eight channels.  And can also be used with two
PAR8CH A/D's and a shared PARGPS timing unit on a single PC to acquire
16 channels of data.  SrPar2Ew is similar in concept and
organization to the ADSEND module except it works for the SR PARxCH A/D's.

In order to compile this modules, a copy of the Symmetric Research
PARxCH and PARGPS software library and include source files are
required.  A partial copy of the SR software can be found in the
parxch and pargps subdirectories.  These contain the required source
files and their associated driver files for both Windows and Linux.

A full copy of the SR software in compressed zip and tar format is
included with this Earthworm distribution.  The most current and
up-to-date version of the SR software is always available free from
the download page of our website: www.symres.com.  You should use the
version of PARxCH software, compiled with GPS_AVAILABLE defined, that
supports the PARGPS even if you don't plan to use the PARGPS in your
application.

In order to run SrPar2Ew, a PARxCH board must be properly
connected to your computer and its device driver must be correctly
installed.  Before using the PARxCH with Earthworm, we strongly
recommend you follow the instructions included with the full PARXCH
software for setting up the board and installing the driver and then
verify its correct operation using the included diags and scope
programs.

Once you have both Earthworm and the PARxCH working separately, you
should edit the srpar2ew.d configuration values so they match
your hardware setup.  You will probably also need to edit some
additional Earthworm configuration files like startstop.d,
wave_serverV.d, export_scn.d, etc to handle the data SrPar2Ew
will be providing.  Some example steps are given below.  

For additional configuration help, please refer to the readme.txt
files in the run_xxx subdirectories.  These directories contain a
consistent set of configuration files appropriate up for a very simple
Earthworm setup using Symmetric Research equipment.  And can be a good 
starting point from which to customize your own configuration files.
Users of equipment from other manufacturers are advised to start from
the Memphis Test suite instead.  It can be found at:
folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/ew-dist/v7.2/earthworm_test.memphis.tar.gz

For more details about how the SrPar2Ew module is organized,
please see the comments at the top of the .c source file.
    
For support or to suggest improvements, please contact Wendy Tucker at
Symmetric Research (email: info@symres.com).

The files in this directory are:
 makefile.nt             creates the executable for SrPar2Ew on Windows 2K/XP
 makefile.ux             creates the executable for SrPar2Ew on Linux
 makefile.sol            place holder for unsupported SrPar2Ew on Solaris
 readme                  this file
 srpar2ew.c              source file for the SrPar2Ew module
 srpar2ew.d              configuration file read by SrPar2Ew
 srpar2ew.desc           the descriptor file for SrPar2Ew required by statmgr
 srpar2ew_ovr.html       HTML page with SrPar2Ew overview
 srpar2ew_cmd.html       HTML page with configuration command descriptions
 run_v6.3                directory with executables and sample config params for v6.3
 run_v7.x                directory with executables and sample config params for v7.4
 run_16chan              directory with sample config params for running 16 channels
 parxch                  directory with minimal SR PARxCH software to compile and run
 pargps                  directory with minimal SR PARGPS software to compile and run



To run SrPar2Ew, do the following:

1) Install Earthworm.  Test it.

2) Setup the SR hardware and software.  Install the SR software that 
   came with your PARxCH and PARGPS.  Hook up the hardware and use
   their respective diag.exe programs to make sure they're working 
   properly.

3) If the PARxCH and PARGPS drivers supplied with the SR software
   are different than those supplied with earthworm.  You should
   uninstall the former and install the latter when using earthworm.
   See the note below for more details.

4) Put srpar2ew.d and srpar2ew.desc in the run params 
   directory (eg \earthworm\v7.4\run_symres\params)

5) Edit srpar2ew.d to select the PARxCH model, port mode, etc
   that match your equipment and select the desired sampling rate, 
   channel names, etc

6) Edit startstop_nt.d to also control srpar2ew (eg add 
   lines like:

   Process          "srpar2ew srpar2ew.d"
   PriorityClass     Normal
   ThreadPriority    Normal
   Display           NewConsole

7) Edit wave_serverV.d to save the PARxCH data into tanks 
   eg add lines like:

   Tank    CH00 SHZ SR P1 880   INST_UNKNOWN  MOD_WILDCARD       1         10000         c:\earthworm\v7.4\run_symres\data\pch00.tnk

8) Edit wave_viewer.d or the config file for another viewer
   to see the PARxCH data.

Then startstop earthworm and the system will begin acquiring data.



Note: If you have unexpected problems, the first thing to check is
that you are using a consistent set of software.  It is important that
the PARxCH and PARGPS drivers you use match the headers and libraries
compiled into SrPar2Ew.  

For example, if you plan to use the version of srpar2ew.exe from
the standard earthworm executable directory (eg \earthworm\v7.4\bin),
then be sure to install the matching driver from the
srpar2ew\parxch\driver directory in the EW directory tree and
not from the SR directory tree.  

If instead you plan to use the SR drivers that came with your PARxCH
and PARGPS or that you downloaded from our website (www.symres.com),
be sure to copy srpar2ew.exe from the appropriate run_ directory
(eg run_v7.x for EW 7.4) into the standard earthworm executable
directory.  Recompiling srpar2ew.exe from the parxch\extras\earthworm 
directory in the SR directory tree will also put a consistent copy 
in the standard EW executable directory.  

