[RASMB] XLA/computer communications

[Andrew Leech]

lelj at interchange.ubc.ca wrote:

> I do have some comunication problem with my instrument, or better I should say
> that almost everytime I turn the computer on the software never "communicates" 
> with the XLA. I use the software to switch from Comm 1 to Comm 2 exactly as the
> Beckman engineer suggested and this turn on the flashing thunder. In my case it
> always work and I have never had any other problem.
> My insturment was installed last august, so I guess it is not a software problem!
> 
> barbara

I have the same phenomenon - now I always start up the GUI and give it 30
seconds
or so to come up with the blue lightning flashes. If it doesn't, I just quit and
restart it immediately and then the flashes appear and it works ok. I don't
bother
fiddling with the ports. All the machines I have used have had the 4.5 GUI
version.

Jim Bloom wrote:
[problem with older system]
> >       I have four questions:  1.)  the obvious one, does anyone have a
> > solution other than never turning the system off;  2.) out of curiosity has
> > anyone else had the problem (whether they have a solution or not);  3.)  if
> > I were to get the latest computer and latest software, would the problem be
> > corrected;  4.) finally a more general question:  latest software and modern
> > computer....are they worth the cost and hassle?
> >
> > Jim Bloom

I think some machines may require a new EPROM chip on the centrifuge circuit
board (only a 10 minute job) to work with the 4.5 software. We have an older XLA
working with the 4.5 GUI software and Windows 98 quite happily, and the newer
(vanilla PC) computer is much quicker.
I've only had two times where the software lost control of the centrifuge, both
times there was a message about "DAB: RTE not running". In one case simply
quitting
and restarting the GUI restored communications, in the other I had to power
cycle
the centrifuge as well.

The biggest problem I've had with software is not the acquisition but the
Beckman
data analysis package. Version 4 does not work at all well on W95 on the Beckman
PC - it crashes practically every time. Under W2000 it works fine except that
the
parameter entry boxes are illegibly coloured. Version 6 on the other hand looks
a lot nicer and doesn't crash, but some parts work only on a good day (e.g.
subtract
data) and it sometimes takes a Henry Ford approach to v-bar and rho ("you can
put
in any values you like but I'm going to use 0.73 and 1"). 


> > From: John Philo <jphilo at mailway.com>

> > With regard to upgrading computer and software, I think right now is a poor
> > time to do it. Beckman will "soon" be releasing a new version of the
> > instrument control software (what they call the "GUI") that runs under
> > Windows 2000, and I think it would be foolish to change until that happens.
> > I don't think there is a firm date for that release (which is driven by the
> > need to change the camera chip for the interference optics), but we've been
> > running beta versions in the new user training course for about a year now.

Would that mean that the new software wouldn't work with the current Raptor
camera/card? It would be nice to be able to get rid of W95, which is starting
to pose maintenance and security problems.

On a different topic but related to interference optics, I thought it would be
nice to make a "movie" of sedimentation using the camera pictures, but short of
sitting there and manually saving the fringe patterns every so many seconds, I
can't find a way to have them saved to disk. Has anybody tried to do this?

Andrew

-- 
Dr Andrew Leech                   *  Laboratory Manager
Technology Facility               *  Molecular Interactions Laboratory
Department of Biology (Area 15)   *  Tel   : +44 (0)1904 328723
University of York                *  Fax   : +44 (0)1904 328804
PO Box 373,  York  YO10 5YW       *  Email : apl3 at york.ac.uk