Hello all,
Thanks very much to all of you who offered your experience and suggestions responding to my question about how Linux works on operating a spectrometer. I have put together a summary and any comments are welcome.
My original question:
I have not seen any discussion on how Linux works on operating a spectrometer since Bruker's release of NMRSuite 3.1 for Red Hat Linux 7.1 (Jan 2002 news letter). According to the news letter, Bruker recommends using RED HAT 7.1 and the HP X2000 PC. This software/hardware combination was successfully tested with the NMR-SUITE 3.1 and is fully supported. Any other Linux systems and PC hardware components will probably also work, but are not tested and supported by Bruker. Just wondering if any of you have experienced using any Linux with an Avance spectrometer.
We intend to replace our Indy on an Avance spectrometer running XWINSuite 3.0 with a PC running either Win2000 or Linux (XWINSuite 3.1). since our recent SGI/O2 to PC/Win2000 upgrade on our DRX300 still left us unsolved problems such as 2D refreshing display, we are thinking of Linux as our next try. This will make life more challenging since we have already got Sun, SGI/O2, and PC/Win2000 on three other spectrometers!
Also, Bruker strongly recommend getting a service visit to have a Bruker qualified engineer perform the upgrade. What do you all think about this?
Any of your comments would be very much appreciated.
The following are replies I got in order received:
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We use SuSe Linux 8.0 with a customer built computer to control
our sopectrometers. This works very well. Two startup scripts
have to be modified, but that's all. The most essential thing is a Matrox graphics card (we use G450) to enable hardware visual overlays. Don't use nVidia or ATI graphics cards. This wouldn't work.
To get Linux runnig you maybe need some replacement cards for CCU, TCU, FCU and /or RCU. I believe TCU has to be at least ECL 04, FCU 06, but of course it's better to ask Bruker. CCU, TCU and RCU are easy to change, to change FCUs is a little bit more challenging.
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We have converted two Avance DRX spectrometers (600, 500 MHz) from SGI to PC-Windows 2000 with no problems. For us that was a lot better than Linux since the campus here fully supports Windows I have to do less sys admin stuff than I would with Linux.
For one upgrade we got a Dell PC and the other we got a Gateway PC. Both have worked fine. We did the conversion ourselves - the Bruker instructions are very detailed. We have been completely satisfied with Xwinnmr 3.1 with Windows 2000.
(Note, the next reply is to answer my additional question about what kinds of graphic cards are used for the Dell and Gateway PC. Wei)
On the Dell we have a 64MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
On the Gateway we have a 32MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 200
In both cases we did not try to find a special graphics card - they just happened to be what came with the computer.
I would recommend going to Xwinnmr 3.1 ASAP. Bruker themselves said there were problems with 3.0. But 3.1 has worked fine for us
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I have try the Xwin-NMR 3.1 for Linux. I use Redhat 7.1
and HP pc. But i am not success. The problem is the EC level of the hardware. So i think you should pay attention to your hardware EC level.
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Bruker strongly recommends a service engineer be present due to the board upgrades that may need to take place. There are minimum ECL numbers for almost all of the boards in your AVANCE. Bruker center should be able to supply you with that information. Depending on the number of boards installed, you may be faced with problems if one of the boards is bad.
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I am in the process of installing Linux on our AV 500. I have already bought the computer and am in the process of installing Red Hat Linux now. I will hopefully have Linux installed in the next month or two and will let you know how this goes.
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We will be in the same situation in the coming year and have been looking
at exactlythe same issues, ie Windows 2000 pro vs. Linux for our Bruker upgrades. We currently run XwinNMR version 2.6 on our O2 based system for our DPX 300. We still run an old AC200 (aspect 3000 with PC winNMR workstation) but this will be replaced in the next cycle of upgrades.
We are determined that any new system we get will run the same software
package as the DPX, so we are looking at this situation very carefully and I would appreciate seeing any responses you might receive.
Our support people think that Linux is far and away the best choice, but I,
like you , would prefer to hear about the experience of others with these systems.
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We faced a similar situation & we went with Win2000. I am expecting the system by the end of this month, at which time I can give you my experience. I believe it is straightforward and I intend to do it myself. Also, we can call them over the phone if there are specific difficulties.
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We are in the same boat for upgrading our computer systems; we will be
trading in 3 O2s for PCs next year and opting for the LINUX path. Our
Bruker engineers have strongly recommended LINUX as the way to go. I will have to learn some LINUX admin now since our IT people only support Windows NT.
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Your Linux query is relevant to all Bruker users as SGI dwindles
with them. Please post a summary for the general benefit...we will
be facing that decision with our next purchase..hopefully in
2 months.
My few inquiries around and discussion with Bruker and our computer
people have me optimisitic about taking the Red Hat route.
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I think that I would probably push Bruker to fix the problems you see with 3.0, or make sure that they are already fixed in 3.1, before I gave them more cash & chose another OS to add to your already-complex mix.
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All of our four Brukers (DPX, DRX, and DMX vintage from 1994 to 1997) are now running under Linux Red Hat, one under 7.1 and the rest 7.3 and all are using Dell Dimension 4500 computers. You've probably gotten much feedback already so, I'll just say that everything is working fine.
You certainly don't need a service engineer to change computers and the required board changes for the spectrometer are likely just CCU (maybe tcu or fcu).
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Wei Wycoff (Ph. D.)
125 Chemistry Building
601 S. College Ave.
Department of Chemistry
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
Phone (573)-882-3291
Fax (573)-882-2754
Email wycoffw@missouri.edu
http//chem.chem.missouri.edu/nmr/nmr.html
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