We asked for a quote on the Linux system upgrade. It is expensive, ~ $40K. I have observed the Linux system at another 8200 lab during PFE installation and these comments are based on about 6 days of operations.
Pros: New PC technology with current hardware availability. The Jeol software in my observation is a fairly exact duplication of the 8x00 software running on the Sun OS. Supports JEOL EDS.
Cons: Price tag. Software has no new capabilities that I am aware of. Restricted to JEOL EDS.
The Sun ultra 45 on our 8200 is a very fast RISC computer and is very capable. It is faster than the Linux PC from what I recall, or at least it is not slower. There were hangups with the Linux system that required OP power recycle so it is not necessarily free of comm interruptions.
Our 8200 setup uses a second PC for the frame grabber reflected light and the pulse processing board for the SDD-EDS system as these are not handled by the unix computer. As far as I can tell, the Sun is being used to run the Jeol software which communicates with the SC board on the 8200/8500 via the ethernet interface, and ours also uses a serial connection to the EDS rack to handle the EDS calls. There are no hardware components on the Sun that are customized for the Jeol interface. In other words, a normal ultra 45 with the Jeol software installed and IP addresses configured is ready to be used.
The Sun blade computer installed on many 8200s is obsolete and a poor performer (Blade is the gray and purple computer case). The frame grabber board for reflected light is also inferior to that used for the PC-based setup we have.
We use the Sun ultra 45 to run Jeol OS processes, EDS, and guide-net image acquisition. All images are then transferred to PCs for further processing. Having a Samba share on the Sun really improves the utility of these actions.
IF the Linux system price was more like $4K it would be an option in my opinion.
Cheers,
Paul
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