synApps

This page is the home of synApps. synApps is a collection of software tools that help to create a control system for beamlines. It contains beamline-control and data-acquisition components for an EPICS based control system. synApps is distributed under the EPICS Open license.

Please email any comments and bug reports to Tim Mooney who is responsible for coordinating releases.

Where to find it

You can download the software from the links in the table below:

synApps Version	Release date	EPICS Release	Filename	Documentation	Release Notes	Known Problems
R5_6	12/05/11	3.14.12.1	synApps_5_6.tar.gz (156159012) (mirror)synApps_5_6.tar.gz synApps_5_6.tar (551666176)	synApps_5_6.html	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	None
R5_5	4/21/10	3.14.11	synApps_5_5.tar.gz	synApps_5_5.html	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	None
R5_4_1	3/24/09	3.14.10	synApps_5_4_1.tar.gz	synApps_5_4.html	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	None
R5_4	3/06/09	3.14.10	synApps_5_4.tar.gz	synApps_5_4.html	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	bugs
R5_3	09/10/08	3.14.8.2	synApps_5_3.tar.gz	synApps_5_3.readme	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	None
R5_2	01/05/07	3.14.8	synApps_5_2.tar.gz	synApps_5_2.readme	synAppsReleaseNotes.html	None
R5_1_1	9/22/05	3.14.7	synApps_5_1_1.tar.gz	synApps_5_1_1.readme	synApps_5_1_1.release	None
R5_1	4/7/05	3.14.7	synApps_5_1.tar.gz	synApps_5_1.readme	Not available	bugs
R5_0	3/10/04	3.14.5	synApps_5_0.tar.gz	synApps_5_0.readme	Not available	None
R4_6	2/5/04	3.13.9	synApps_4_6.tar.gz	synApps_4_6.readme	Not available	bugs
R4_6_alpha	7/24/03	3.14.2	synApps_T202_R3_14_1_R4_6alpha.tar.gz	Not available	Not available	Not available
R4_4	3/26/02	3.13.5	synApps_R3.13.5_R4.4.tar.gz	Not available	Not available	Not available

Included Modules

SynApps includes the following modules. Follow the links to find information on a specific module.

Module	Description	Contact
areaDetector	EPICS software for area detectors	Mark Rivers
autosave	Support for saving PV values through an ioc reboot	Tim Mooney
busy	The busy record, formerly part of the sscan module.	Tim Mooney
calc	Device for run-time expression evaluation, and other calculations	Tim Mooney
camac	camac driver, device support, DXP software	Mark Rivers
ccd	CCD control (replaced by areaDetector in synApps 5.4 and higher)	Mark Rivers
dac128V	Industry Pack digital to analog converter	Mark Rivers
delaygen	Delay Generators	David Kline
dxp	DXP digital-signal processing spectroscopy systems	Mark Rivers
ebrick	EPICS Brick (ebrick)	David Kline
ip	Device support and databases for some serial IndustryPack devices	Kurt Goetze
ip330	Industry Pack analog to digital converter	Mark Rivers
ipUnidig	Industry Pack digital I/O	Mark Rivers
love	Love serial digital controllers	David Kline
mca	Multi-channel analyzer support	Mark Rivers
modbus	Modbus-protocol support	Mark Rivers
motor	Motor support	Ron Sluiter
optics	Support for x-ray optics	Tim Mooney
pilatus	EPICS interface to the Pilatus pixel-array detector (replaced by areaDetector in synApps 5.4 and higher)	Mark Rivers
quadEM	APS Quad electrometer support	Mark Rivers
sscan	Support for moving positioners, triggering detectors, acquiring and storing data	Tim Mooney
softGlue	Support for user wiring of digital circuit elements in an FPGA	Tim Mooney
std	Miscellaneous support	Tim Mooney
vac	Support for vacuum controllers	Tim Mooney
vme	Device support and databases for some VME devices	David Kline
xxx	Sample user application, which builds, loads, and runs software from all the other modules listed here.	Tim Mooney
The following modules are usually included in a synApps tar file, but they are not part of synApps.
allenBradley	Allen Bradley PLC communication	Marty Kraimer
asyn	General-purpose device interface facility	Eric Norum
genSub	Discontinued - Multi-I/O subroutine, handles arrays	Andy Foster
ipac	Interface for Industry Pack carrier boards	Andrew Johnson
seq	SNL compiler & sequencer	Benjamin Franksen
stream	StreamDevice	Dirk Zimoch
vxStats	To be discontinued after synApps 5.6 - IOC resource monitor for vxWorks	Carl Lionberger
devIocStats	IOC resource monitor for all operating systems	Stephanie Allison

Installation and Building of synApps

After obtaining a copy of the distribution, it must be installed and built for use at your site. These steps only need to be performed once for the site (unless versions of the module running under different releases of EPICS and/or the other required modules are needed).

Create an installation directory for synApps, usually this will end with
```
.../synApps/
```
Place the distribution file in this directory. Then issue the commands (Unix style)
```
gunzip <file>.tar.gz

tar xvf <file>.tar
```
This creates a synApps installation.
```
.../synApps_X_Y/support/...
```
where X-Y is the release. For example.
```
.../synApps_5_6/support/...
```
Edit the synApps_X_Y/support/configure/RELEASE file, and any SUPPORT.<arch> and EPICS_BASE.<arch> files in that directory that specify architectures you will build, to set the paths to your installation of EPICS base and the synApps support directory. Run 'gnumake release' in the support directory to propagate the content of RELEASE to the modules.
Run gnumake in the synApps_X_Y/support directory and check for any compilation errors.
See support/documentation/synApps.html for more detailed instructions, including required tools. Note that synApps 5.6 is newly dependent on the most recent version of msi (to build the softGlue module).