True BASIC Worth $15?!?
5 messages in this thread
Dave, I just saw your message to Michael about controling autosamplers and
GCs. Were you successful? Does your setup collect data? Which GC
equipment were you working with? I never thought of using Cando for lab
equipment control. –P.L.->
– via Whap!
I'm controlling HP5880 and Leap Technologies autosamplers. I used to
download the text files off of the HP HP5880 via there serial port board,
but the board drops out sometimes and is now used for just uploading and
downloading methods. I have
Maxima (waters) acquiring the data and download the data to the amiga.
tThe amiga has the 7 port serial board. This way, I can call in from home
and see how the qc samples check out. Eventually, I will have an AI doing
this for me on the Amiga.
Sounds pretty good. I work with an HP1050 HPLC system under Windows 3.1.
It chokes now and then but usually gets the job done. It would be nice to
be able to call in from home to check on the system. I dread walking into
the lab to a red light on one of the instruments.
An AI? Commercial or home grown?
Home grown. There is a large hassle using the amiga in a PC world. But it
gets the job done with no cost to the company. I am at a point
now that 1) do I continue setting up the AT on my own time, but becomes the
property of the company or 2) do I quit and continue on my own.
The problem with quiting is that it still is a PC world out there no matter
how revolutionary the software/hardware is (on an amiga). I am getting
tired of waiting for the nest dos system that is only 1 step better and
never going through the evolutionary stage to the next
level.
To quit or not to quit? That is the question.
Unfortunately, I think it is going to be hard to place Amigas in
laboratories. As a Unix workstation – maybe, but as a data
collection/crunching device for GC/HPLC? Most lab people feel more
comfortable with the PC.
Even at the place I work, everyone has a Mac on thier desk, but PCs in the
lab. How, I wish the Amiga could gain a solid footing in the lab. Your
software would have to be a major evolutionary step (a la Toaster) for the
science community to take the Amiga seriously.
Now, if your AI software could be used in other markets besides the
sciences, such as market forcasting, medical diagnositcs, communication
trouble shooting, You know, have the system be a general front end that
could be customized to a variety of problems, then I would say, Quit! Work
on it full time. But, make sure that the Amiga provides something unique
that the Dos/Mac worlds could not easily copy.