Frequently Asked Questions

Purchasing Decisions
Data Systems
Vx Acquisition System
EnviroLink & Vector/2 Data Systems
HP (Agilent) ChemStation
Miscellaneous

Purchasing Decisions

Question: Why invest in a new mass spectrometer data system?

Answer: Since you are browsing this website, you are already considering investing in a replacement data system. There a many aspects to such a decision including financial considerations, instrument condition, original data system condition, and the benefits of a replacement data system.

  1. Our first axiom is "Only invest in a solid instrument!"  If your instrument is one of the many older instruments that performs well, is reliable, and generates good data, you should consider a replacement data system investment. Also consider the investment made in personnel, and their ability to maintain and operate your instruments.
  2. Our second axiom is "Only invest in strategic instruments!"  What is the role of this instrument in your laboratory? Why is this instrument important to your operations?
  3. If you have a strong and strategically important instrument, your next consideration should be the condition and features of the original data system. Older data systems based on out-of-date computer systems such as HP-Pascal, HP-RTE, HP-Unix, Extrel-PDP11 and Finnigan-DG, are difficult and costly to repair. As an evaluator, you should determine the time between failures for these systems. Considering maintenance costs and downtime, it may be cost effective to replace these systems.
  4. Consider the features of your current data system. Does the processing package generate the type of results and reports required by you or your clients?
  5. Consider the data systems ease-of-use, especially if operator turnover is high.
  6. Additionally, consider:

Our data systems strive to enhance your instruments performance and longevity, at a fraction of the cost of a new instrument. What is the cost effective instrument solution for your organization? Perhaps a replacement data system is the best solution. If it is, then contact Adron Systems.

The next section discusses the value of vintage instrumenation.

Question: What's the value of my vintage mass spectrometer?

Answer: There are many aspects to this question. First, it is important to realize and accept that the value of your older instrumentation on the resale market may be relatively modest. This is certainly a point to consider when contemplating the purchase of a replacement data system. However, it is not the most interesting or important point to consider.

Your older instrumentation may have a high value to your company's operation. This is particularly true if your instrumentation has been, and continues to be, a strong revenue generator for your lab. If this is not true, then your instrument probably should be retired.

Another important value is your staffs' knowledge. If your lab's personnel know how to maintain, and repair your vintage machines, this is a tremendous value. If your lab utilizes several similar instruments, these benefits are compounded.

The goal of our data systems is to extend the useful life of these vintage machines, so they can continue to be strong revenue generators for your lab. We use the term "vintage" in recognition that many older quadrupoles and ion traps are good performers; generating excellent data with good reliability. Aside for their original data systems, many of these older instruments have aged well!

In the next section you will learn the benefits of a new Adron data system.

Question: What are the benefits from a new Adron data system?

Answer: A data system consists of three primary elements:

Introduction of a new PC to an older instrument provides extraordinary gains. Considering its cost, (around $1000USD), a new PC is a remarkable value. Consider these PC features:

Older data systems based on PC technology, usually cannot take advantage of today's PC's, due to hardware timing issues. Even without timing issues, getting an old MS-DOS or Windows 3.x based system to run a new PC is, at best difficult, and usually isn't worthwhile.

A replacement data system needs to have access to a strong data processing package. The goal of a data system is to generate meaningful results. Our EnviroLink data system relies on HP (Agilent) ChemStation for its data processing. If your lab has standardized on another package, Adron Systems can help with data conversion software. (See our products page for details on our conversion software, Capture.)

The heart of the data system is its acquisition package. The Adron data system is remarkably adept, supporting a wide range of mass spectrometers, chromatographs and samplers. Further, these components can be mixed and matched in a myriad of ways. For different instrument configurations, our software offers a consistent user interface, easing operator training.

Our data system provides versatile instrument control, including computer control of many chromatographs and autosamplers. (See our instrument page for supported instruments.)

The next three sections discuss the performance of our data system.

Data Systems

Question: How can a replacement data system offer improved performance?

Answer: A combination of improved mass scanning electronics, more sensitive (and less noisy) ion input electronics, signal averaging and signal filtering can contribute to improve mass spectrometer performance. This applies to analog quadrupole instruments (Finnigan, Extrel, Nermag) controlled by our TEK-803 board. See the next two questions regarding sampling rate and ion signal resolution.

Additionally, today's PC offer greatly improved I/O speed and processing power compared with the original data system. Increased I/O speed allows data from the instrument to be pulled in more quickly. Less time pulling in data means more time is available for scanning, signal averaging and filtering. A modest performance gain for digitally controlled instruments such as Hewlett-Packard quadrupoles, Finnigan and Varian iontraps.

Question: What is the sampling rate of the acquisition unit? How is this related to scan speed?

Answer: The sampling rate of the analog acquisition unit is 33 kHz ... this can be parsed out in many ways during a scan. Scan speed (in terms of amu/sec) is developed by parsing these samples across the acquired mass range. For example, the first parameter that must be specified is how many sample points are needed to characterize a mass spectral ion peak. On a quadrupole instrument (with unit resolution), the peaks are usually one amu wide, and typically 8 points are needed per peak in order to characterize it well enough for a peak detector to consistently determine peak centroid value and position. So on a 1000 amu scan, 8000 points (8 points per amu x 1000 amu) would be needed. At the 33 kHz rate, this would allow the scan to be completed in about 0.25 seconds ... so a rate of 4000 amu/sec would be possible based on our electronics.

However, in most instruments, this rate is not achievable based on the mass filter electronics within the spectrometer. In these cases, the speed can be "slowed down" by taking multiple points at each amu step and averaging/summing these values together. For our example above, if we took 4 samples at each amu point it would take 32 sample conversions (8 points per amu x 4 sample readings per point) to acquire a single amu. In this case, to scan 1000 amu would take 32,000 points or approximately 1 seconds based on the 33 kHz overall sample rate.

The combination of points per amu and number of conversions per point directly determine the scan speed. For most applications, 1000 amu/sec scan speed is more than enough and easily falls within the bandwidth of our system.

Question: What is the signal resolution of the TEK-803 ion input channels?

Answer: The incoming analog ion signal from the mass spectrometer enters the analog-to-digital (A2D) circuitry within our interface electronics. Once there, an autoranging input circuit of different gain ranges (x1, x10, x100) determines the best gain channel for the signal. For instance, signals below 100 mV are amplified by the x100 channel, signals between 100 mV and 1 V by the x10 channel, and signals above 1 V by the x1 channel. The "preconditioning" amplified signal passes through a 16 bit A/D (65535 points) convertor and is numerically scaled to represent the original incoming signal. Therefore, the system has a input dynamic range of 1 : 6553500 counts on a single sample reading allowing digitizing of analog values down to around 1.5 µV (10 V full scale input / 6553500 points).

Question: What boards do I need for computer (serial) control of a Varian 3400 chromatograph?

Answer: For serial control of your chromatograph, you need a Varian serial interface board and a compatible Varian CPU board. These boards reside in slots on the left side of the instrument. Slot "S I/O" is for the serial board. The revision number for the CPU board can be noted when the chromatograph first starts or "INSTR TEST" is invoked. The number is of the form:

 03-910xxx-00

where "xxx" is the number of interest. These boards usually work:

The following boards do not work:

Generally, boards in the "5xx" and "6xx" series do work. We haven't found any boards in the "2xx" serial that work. For other boards in the "3xx" and "4xx" series, we just don't know!

Note: For the Varian 3400, the Vx Acquisition System defaults to 2400 baud. On the Varian S I/O board, locate switch S3. For 2400 baud, set #2 of the DIP switch to the ON (up) position. Set all other positions of the DIP switch to the OFF (down) position.

Question: What serial cable do I need to connect the Varian 3400 GC to a PC?

Answer: The recommended cable is available directly from Adron Systems. Adron's part number is V3400-CBL with the description "Varian 3400 to PC Serial Cable." This is a custom 3 meter cable. The computer side has a female (receptacle) 9-pin D-sub connector that attaches to the PC's serial (COM) port. On the GC side is a male (plug) IEEE-488 style connector (AMP CHAMP) that attaches to the Varian S I/O card. The GC connector has a grounding strap that connects to the chassis of the Varian 3400. The grounding strap is attached to the cable's shield. Note: The shield isn't attached to the end connectors!

Note: An equivalent cable was available from Thermo-Fisher under part number 94022-63040. Thermo's order desk number is (800) 532-4752. Apparently, Thermo stopped manufacturing this cable as of 2008.

Question: What serial cable do I need to connect an HP7673 autosampler to a PC?

Answer: The recommended cable is available from L-com® Connectivity Products. L-com's part number is CSNULL259MF-10 with the description "Deluxe Null Modem Cable, DB25 Male / DB9 Female, 10 ft." This cable is compatible with the HP7673A and HP7673B autosampler models.

Note: This cable is also used for serial control of the HP5890 Series II GC when using the DICE interface connector.

Question: What serial cable do I need to connect a CTC A200S autosampler to a PC?

Answer: The recommended cable is available from L-com® Connectivity Products. L-com's part number is CMZ10-IBM with the description "Molded AT Modem Cable, DB25 Male / DB9 Female, 10 ft."

Question: How can I move data off of my old Incos 50 Data General computer?

Answer: There are two approaches to this problem. If your data is stored on streaming backup tapes, then there are companies that specialize in transfering data to new media such as CDs or DVDs.

Wild Hare Computer Systems specializes in Data General computers such as those used by older Finnigan MAT GC/MS systems. Wild Hare provides media conversion services for these systems. Wild Hare's reNOVAte product allows the Data General operating system and software to run as an emulated or "virtual" system on a PC.

An inexpensive but tedious approach for moving data off of your Data General computer relies on using a PC as a terminal. The PC, running a terminal emulation program, allows data to be transferred from the Data General computer. Our colleagues at MasCom Service provide the GetRun scripts for pulling Finnigan MI,MX files off of the DG-10 computer. The script files can be modified with a text editor to match your needs.

We would suggest trying the E-Term32 or EM340W terminal emulation programs from DCSi. These terminal emulators support MasCom's GetRun scripts.

Note: E-Term32 doesn't support the VTMODE command in the GetRun ECF scripts and you'll need to delete the VTMODE lines.

Note: If your Finnigan data is in MI,MX or TI,TX,CT format and you want to view it on a PC, check out the Vx Capture™ GC/MS data conversion program. Vx Capture converts these Finnigan file formats over to Agilent ChemStation format. Send Adron Systems one of your Finnigan data files and we'll return a ChemStation file to you!

Note: If you have suggestions for improving this section, we would appreciate your comments.

Vx Acquisition System

Question: Why is your new system called Vx?

Answer: We've taken the "V" from our Vector series of data systems. The "x" because its our neXt data system. Internally, the system was called VectorX but eventually was shortened to Vx.

Question: Why do you refer to Vx as an "acquisition system" instead of a "data system"?

Answer: Adron Systems is emphasizing that Vx is focused on controlling and pulling in data from the instrument, i.e., the acquisition of data. Processing of data is left to another package such as HP's (Agilent's) ChemStation, Varian WorkStation, or another user specified package. Vx works with a variety of processing packages because it can generate target data files in a variety of formats.

Question: Is Vx a "Windows" based acquisition system?

Answer: The Vx system is a native Windows application targeting Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. Vx takes the best features of our EnviroLink and Vector/2 systems, i.e., a versatile instrument architecture. The user interface for Vx has been completely reworked to take advantage of current Window user interface elements. For a preview, go to our Vx product page.

Question: What are the computer requirements for the Vx Acquisition System?

Answer: Suggested PC:

Suggested Monitor:

Operating Systems:

Question: Does the Vx Acquisition System run on Windows Vista™?

Answer: The Vx Acquisition System and our GC/MS file conversion utility, Vx Capture both work on Microsoft Windows Vista™ Business and should be compatible with Vista's other editions.

Question: Any hints for doing the "zero-adjust" on my Finnigan Magnum ion trap?

Answer: The zero-adjust procedure is described in the VxStart.pdf document included with the Vx Acquisition System. The Magnum_Zero_Check.pdf document contains various screen shots from the Vx Acquisition System tune section.

The first screen shot shows the correct zero-adjustment. Additional screen snapshots show incorrect zero-adjustments. The document also includes a photo showing the location of the R11 potentiometer. This adjustment procedure applies to the Finnigan Magnum, ITS40, Tracker and Varian Saturn I ion traps. A similar procedure is required for Varian Saturn II and Saturn 3 ion traps.

EnviroLink & Vector/2 Data Systems

Question: What's the difference between Vector/2 and EnviroLink?

Answer: From an acquisition standpoint, Vector/2 and EnviroLink are nearly identical. Instrument tuning, calibration and data acquisition are essentially the same. A few instrument control parameters are hidden in the EnviroLink system aiding good laboratory practices for testing laboratories.

Vector/2 has its own native processing, library and quantitation packages. EnviroLink, as a derivative of Vector/2, was introduced to take advantage of the HP ChemStation quantitation package. EnviroLink was introduced to target the environmental testing market. Currently, EnviroLink and Vector/2 normally ship with copies of HP (Agilent) ChemStation unless the purchaser specifies otherwise.

Question: Do you have a "Windows" version of Vector/2 or EnviroLink?

Answer: Adron Systems introduced its EnviroLink on Windows and Vector/2 on Windows products in December 2002. These products allow EnviroLink and Vector/2 to run on top of Windows 2000 and Windows XP. HP ChemStation runs directly on the Windows desktop, easing user interaction and printing. See our EnviroLink and Vector/2 pages for more details.

The EnviroLink on Windows and Vector/2 on Windows products run inside of an OS/2 virtual machine using Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 or Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.

New! Teknivent and ProLab users should upgrade their Vector/2 and EnviroLink systems to the new Windows XP based Vx Acquisition System.

Question: What are the computer requirements for the "On Windows" versions of EnviroLink & Vector/2?

Answer: Suggested PC:

Suggested Monitor:

Operating Systems:

Question: How do I know when shutdown is complete for my Finnigan Magnum iontrap?

Answer: The status of the instrument can be viewed using the "monitor channel" popup window (red-button, upper right). This includes turbo pump speed and various instrument temperatures. Open the "message" popup window (note-button, upper left). The message window displays a message indicating when shutdown has completed. Note, once shutdown has completed, the monitor channel window no longer updates.

HP (Agilent) ChemStation

Question: How can I change the default method on startup?

Answer: This answer applies to users running EnviroLink on Windows on Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Users running HP ChemStation, version G1701AA, have problems setting a different default method other than "DEFAULT.M". This is a workaround for this problem.

First, locate the file "WIN.INI". On Windows 2000, this is in the directory "C:\WINNT". Open the file with NOTEPAD and look for the section "[PCS,1]". You'll find these entries:

Change these two entries to your desired values.

You'll also need to change the target section of the Data Analysis shortcut. Consider this example (original top, modification bottom):

This makes VOA.M the method loaded on startup.

Question: What is Extend MS?

Answer: Extend MS is a set of enhancements that "layer" over HP MS ChemStation and HP MS EnviroQuant. A number of enhancements target the usability of the ChemStation software, eliminating the number of steps required to perform a specific task. Other features improve productivity by supplying completely new capabilities, such as integrated QA/QC tracking and project summary reports. All have been designed to reduce data processing and turn-around times, while improving information flow and reliability.

Extend MS is a product of ProLab Resources.

Miscellaneous

Question: What's the relationship between Adron Systems and ProLab Resources?

Answer: ProLab Resources was formed in 1995 by Keith Martinko and Richard Opsal, former employees of Teknivent Corporation, the original developer of the Vector/2 and EnviroLink data systems. ProLab's first product was Extend MS, as described above. Additionally, ProLab Resources provided consulting and development services to a number of companies.

ProLab Resources acquired the rights to the EnviroLink and Vector/2 data systems. ProLab Resources also is involved in updating data systems for various HP (Agilent) instruments including GC's, LC's as well as mass spectrometers.

In 2002, Adron Systems LLC was formed by Dr. Opsal. Adron Systems acquired the software rights to the EnviroLink and Vector/2 data systems from ProLab Resources. ProLab Resources continues to manufacture the acquisition hardware used by these data systems. The two companies work closely together to bring you data system upgrades and laboratory software products.

Question: What's a dongle?

Answer: A dongle is a software protection device used to prevent software theft. The EnviroLink and Vector/2 data systems utilize a dongle that attaches to the parallel printer port of the computer. The Vx Acquisition System dongle attaches to a USB port. A dongle is periodically queried by a program to see if it is present and to verify a feature set. Our dongle is supplied from the company Aladdin Knowledge Systems. The dongle has the word HASP on its side. If your data system has a dongle with the word SENTINEL, this is a dongle from Teknivent Corporation. Users with the SENTINEL dongle should contact Adron Systems for upgrade information to the new Windows based Vx Acquisition System.

Question: Where can I buy OS/2?

Answer: As of December 2005, IBM no longer markets OS/2 Warp. However, OS/2 is available from Serenity Systems International (SSI) in the form of eComStation. Go to the eComStation homepage for further information on this OEM version of OS/2. SSI continues to support and enhance the OS/2 product line and is working on version 2.0, which is available in beta form.

 

 
 

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