Information on the Home Remote Observing Software

Table of Contents

Introduction
Shane Remote Observing Policy
Nickel Remote Observing Policy
Software
Software Installation
Mt. Hamilton Homepage

Introduction

Observing operations at Lick are available with software based on the home observing scheme developed for Keck and experimental network gear. Here we document the installation process for computers running Mac, Linux, and Windows Operating Systems.

Please refer to the Shane Remote Observing Policy and the Nickel Remote Observing Policy for more information on who may observe remotely and how to gain authorization to do so.

Downloading the Remote Observing Software

The Remote Observing Software is available on github at: https://github.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving

Installation and Setup

MacOS
Software requirements/installation:

After installing the above software, fetch a copy of the remote observing software from github: https://github.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving If you have git installed you can simply do: 


    cd ~
    git clone https://github.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving
    cd ~/lickRemoteObserving/
Otherwise, download the zip file from github and unzip it to a convenient location (ideally your home directory): 
    
    cd ~
    unzip ~/Downloads/lickRemoteObserving-release.zip 
    cd ~/lickRemoteObserving-release/

Once inside the lickRemoteObserving directory we<80><99>re going to create the LRO conda environment by doing: 


    conda env create -f environment.yaml
This will install all of the requisite packages for us. We can then activate the LRO environment: 

    conda activate LRO
Note: You will need to be in the LRO environment whenever you launch the Lick Remote Observing software

Next copy the relevant configuration file to local_config: 


    cp mac_config.yaml local_config.yaml
Linux Software requirements/installation: After installing the above software, fetch a copy of the remote observing software from github: https://github.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving

If you have git installed you can simply do: 

    
    cd ~
    git clone https://github.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving
    cd ~/lickRemoteObserving/
Otherwise, download the zip file from github and unzip it to a convenient location (ideally your home directory): 

    cd ~
    unzip ~/Downloads/lickRemoteObserving-release.zip
    cd ~/lickRemoteObserving-release/
Once inside the lickRemoteObserving directory we<80><99>re going to create the LRO conda environment by doing: 

    conda env create -f environment.yaml
This will install all of the requisite packages for us.

We can then activate the LRO environment: 


    conda activate LRO
Note: You will need to be in the LRO environment whenever you launch the Lick Remote Observing software

Next Copy the relevant configuration file to local_config: 


    cp linux_config.yaml local_config.yaml
To make soundplay work (for exposure sounds etc.): 

    echo "soundplayer: 'soundplay-107098-8.6.3-linux-x86_64'" >> local_config.yaml
    echo "aplay: '/usr/bin/aplay'" >> local_config.yaml
Windows
Using the Virtual Machine

While it is technically possible to run the Home Observing software natively on Windows, there are a host of hangups and pitfalls that come along with that, and as it is not officially supported, the Lick Observatory staff will not be able to provide technical support in this instance.

Instead the most straightforward way to run the Home Observing software on Windows is to use a Virtual Machine. Observers can create their own VM, using e.g. VMWare or VirtualBox and then following the Linux installation instructions above.

Alternatively, a premade Linux VM (with all of the requisite software preinstalled) has been created by observatory staff to provide a straightforward path to remote observing on Windows machines. See this page for instructions on obtaining the VM file.

Using WSL

Using Windows Subsystem for Linux, we can run a Linux environment inside Windows, providing an opportunity to run the remote observing software without using a virtual machine. These instructions assume the user is running Windows 11, which is required for the networking to work correctly (see below for discussion on mirrored networking)

Prerequisites

Below we will run through the installation of WSL and the remote observing software. You will also need to install the following software on your Windows host:

  • RealVNC Viewer (Note that RealVNC Viewer is free. You do not need RealVNC Connect)
  • OpenVPN Community

Install/configure WSL

To install/activate WSL open a Windows Powershell window (use the search bar if you can<80><99>t find Powershell). In the Powershell window type: 


    wsl --install

This will take some time, and also installs Ubuntu as our default WSL environment. When the installation is complete, reboot your computer and then open the newly installed Ubuntu terminal (search <80><98>Ubuntu<80><99> in the search bar if necessary). You will need to set a username and password for the new WSL installation. (For further details on installing WSL see: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install)

We will need to enable mirrored networking so that the Remote Observing software can test the VPN connection. To do this we need to create a WSL configuration file in your User directory. You can do this from your Ubuntu terminal by doing: 


    nano /mnt/c/Users/username/.wslconfig

Add the following: 


    [wsl2]
    networkingMode=mirrored
    dnsTunneling=true

save the file (Ctrl+x in nano, answer y when asked if you want to save the modified buffer) Restart WSL to apply these changes (In a Powershell window do: wsl --shutdown)

Reopen the Ubuntu terminal We now need to install Conda inside our Ubuntu instance. Miniconda installation instructions are available here: https://www.anaconda.com/docs/getting-started/miniconda/install#linux-terminal-installer

In your Ubuntu terminal you should be able to run: 


    wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
Followed by 

    bash ~/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
to run the installer.

Accept the EULA, hit return to accept the default install location, and type <80><98>yes<80><99> to allow the installer to modify the shell configuration to automatically activate Conda on startup. When the installation is finished, close and reopen your Ubuntu terminal to refresh everything.

Installing/configuring the Remote Observing Software

Inside your Ubuntu terminal do: 


    git clone http://GitHub.com/bpholden/lickRemoteObserving
to grab a copy of the software from github

Move to the newly downloaded lickRemoteObserving directory: 


    cd lickRemoteObserving
Copy the linux_config yaml file to local_config: 

    cp linux_config.yaml local_config.yaml
Edit the local_config yaml file to point to the correct location of your RealVNC installation. You can use whatever text editor you prefer (nano for the example below): 

    nano local_config.yaml
Replace the line 

    vncviewer: 'vncviewer'
with 

    vncviewer: '/mnt/c/Program Files/RealVNC/VNC Viewer/vncviewer.exe/'
Note that the above line assumes RealVNC Viewer is installed in C:/Program Files/RealVNC and you will need to adjust the above line if you installed it in a different location. save the file (Ctrl+x in nano, answer y when asked if you want to save the modified buffer)

Now we need to install the pre-requisite python packages. There is a conda environment file provided to streamline this process: 


    conda env create -f environment.yaml
This will install all of the requisite packages for us. We can then activate the LRO environment: 

    conda activate LRO
Note: You will need to be in the LRO environment whenever you launch the Lick Remote Observing software in future Note that WSL has no native ability to send sounds to the speakers, so soundplay will not work. Users can attempt to enable sounds by using e.g. PulseAudio to send sounds from WSL to a sound server running on Windows. In this case, users will need to add a couple of extra configuration lines to their local_config yaml file (see Linux setup guide above for soundplay Linux details)

Connecting to the VPN

OpenVPN Connect currently has a bug and does not work with WSL networking in mirrored mode. Mirrored mode is necessary for the remote observing software to know the status of the VPN connection. Instead, use OpenVPN Community (https://openvpn.net/community/) Note that OpenVPN Community should be installed/run on your Windows host, not within WSL.
After installing OpenVPN Community, right click on the new OpenVPN GUI icon in your system tray (click the arrow at the bottom right of your taskbar, next to the clock/network icon to expand the system tray if necessary)
Go to Import -> Import File to add your VPN file, then connect to the VPN

Starting the Remote Observing Software

Before connecting to Lick you will need to activate the VPN connection. OpenVPN configuration files and more information about home observing at Lick are available by sending a message, preferably, of the order of 48 hours in advance, to: Lick Home Observing

In the text of the request please be sure that we have enough information to identify:

Please do not request OpenVPN configuration files until a few (e.g. 3) days before they are required

After the connection is established you can launch the Remote Observing software: 


    ~/lickRemoteObserving/start_lick_viewers shane
or 

    ~/lickRemoteObserving/start_lick_viewers nickel
If you need to test the connection you can do: 

    ~/lickRemoteObserving/test_connection
When you are finished for the night, close the software and be sure to disconnect from the VPN.

Contact a support astronomer if you need more information that is not included in this manual.

sa@ucolick.org
Last modified: Thu Aug 14 20:51:37 PDT 2025