Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: VMWare and Computer suggestions

« on: April 17, 2017, 06:32:25 PM »

Hi Daniel,
Sorry for my tardy replies. Just back from a trip to Japan.
The surface pro works pretty well. I have the last but one version (I think it is Surface Pro 3) running windows 10. It does crash from time to time but it works and we have successfully used it for experiments in transgenic mice expressing a form of GCaMP. The only problem for me is that the screen is so high resolution, that the GUI is hard for me to read now i am getting long-sighted.

Relating to a previous thread elsewhere, I have not been able to use the Surface Pro to load up the EEPROM using Cypress, I have had to do that with a macbook pro.

Because Macbooks are quite expensive and we cannot get equipment in and out of our animal unit very easily so need dedicated computers, I would like to find a desktop or laptop that is reasonably cheap but good enough and keeps our IT people happy. Sadly in our University, installing anything yourself is becoming a problem. Just having admin access is a battle in itself !!!! 

2

General Discussion / VMWare and Computer suggestions

« on: March 18, 2017, 02:01:42 PM »

Hello,
I have used a miniscope with a MacBook Pro Retina booting into Windows 7 and with a Surface Pro (3) running windows 10.
I recently bought a new macbook pro but my University (in its infinate wisdom), has decided it will not allow users to dual boot computers. They have provided me with VMWare fusion but I have not managed to get it to work properly with a miniscope when running Windows 7 Enterprise with USB 3 support. I can get some video capture and a lot of crashes but I can't control the LED or exposure/frame rate. The miniscope is not recognised in device manager as MINISCOPE but as a VMWare USB driver so I am not very surpirsed it is not working properly.

Has any one else tried this. I know it is not a great way to proceed but ...
On a separate note, are there any examples of other computers, laptops that work. I may end up buying another laptop and so any suggestions of examples that work would be really helpful.
B
Nick

3

DAQ Software/Firmware / Re: External Triggering

« on: December 05, 2016, 06:52:30 PM »

Thanks Daniel,
That all makes sense.
B
Nick

4

DAQ Software/Firmware / Re: Firmware Only Uploads when using 2.0 port

« on: December 05, 2016, 03:25:03 PM »

Hello Gabriella,
I had the same problem as you but since I made the board myself (don't bother trying this.... it is hours of pain!), I assumed I had messed up somewhere. Now, after some struggling and reading your posts, I think it may have been an issue with USB 3. In the end, I made some repairs to my board (which may or may not have been necessary) and decided to change the EEPROM chip. Using powerbook (windows 7) instead of a Surface Pro 3, I got the board working. I can't be sure which of these was the problem but it may be worth trying a new EEPROM chip since they are easy to replace and cheap compared to the board.
B
Nick H

5

DAQ Software/Firmware / External Triggering

« on: December 05, 2016, 02:37:01 PM »

Hello,
Sorry if I have missed a section on the excellent website but how does the external triggering work? There are 3 external SMA inputs/outputs on the DAQ box. If I connect to SMA 3, then sending a pulse seems to do something but I am not quite sure what?

Is this triggering per frame or triggering a sequence of frames?

I would like to trigger data collection externally to collect for a period of 10-15 seconds and then during this collection, trigger an external stimulus so that it is time locked to the data collection onset.

Any clues how to do this would be welcome.
What do the SMA connectors 1,2 and 3 do? Do any record signals.
Thanks,
B
Nick Hartell

6

DAQ Software/Firmware / Re: problem changing excitation LED power

« on: December 05, 2016, 02:32:18 PM »

Hello,
I had a similar issue with the mouser cable and needed to use an external power supply to get the LED to respond properly. More than a few feet of the mouser cable causes problems. The other type of coax cable is much stronger and better and you can get away with longer lengths without these problems.
Not sure about the frame retrieve error but I had to be very careful with the soldering of the coax cable to the camera to ensure that I did not cause shorts close to where the coax cable is fixed to the sensor board.
Nick