SimulTOF Workstation Setup

Workstation Requirements

The SimulTOF Workstation is an integral part of the SimulTOF mass spectrometer instrument. If the workstation needs to be replaced, it is best to contact Virgin Instruments for assistance.

The current workstation used for the SimulTOF instrument is a Dell Precision Tower 5810. Here is a list of general requirements for the SimulTOF workstation:

  • Intel XEON Processor E5-1650 v4 or better, 6 Cores, 3.6 GHz, 4.0 GHz Turbo, 15 MB Cache
  • 8GB 2400MHz DDR4 RDIMM ECC
  • NvidiaQuadro K620 2GB or equivalent
  • At least two full length PCIe slots (required for digitizer card)
  • 425W Power supply (required for digitizer card)
  • 256GB SATA Class 20 Solid State Drive
  • For a local database installation, an additional1TB SATA 7.2k RPM HDD, enterprise grade
  • 1Gbit NIC PCIe add-in card (required for instrument communications)
  • Startech 4 Port PCI Express High Speed USB 2.0 card (required for camera), not required for Dell 36xx or 58xx workstations.
  • Serial port (optional for debugging)
  • Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Software Download

The SimulTOF Software Suite and pre-requisite software can be downloaded from:

Save the files to the Desktop for easy access.

Postgres Database

For a mass spectrometer workstation using a local database, Postgres needs to be installed. This is not required for a desktop analysis workstation accessing a remote instrument database or network database.

Use the following document for the installation and setup of the Postgres database:

SimulTOF Software

The latest SimultofSoftware is located at:

Previous releases can be found under the download root folder:

Instrument Workstation Setup

The SimulTOF instrument workstation requires a separate network interface card to communicate with the instrument.

  1. From Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel, click Change adapter settings.
  2. Rename the network interface card used for the instrument “Instrument network”.
  3. Right-click on the Instrument Network connection and click Properties.
  4. Uncheck all items except for “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”.

  1. Select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and click Properties.
  2. Set the IP address to “169.154.1.1” and the Subnet Mask to “255.255.0.0”

  1. Click OK and close the Network properties dialogs.

Agilent Digitizer Driver Installation

For a SimulTOF mass spectrometer workstation with an Agilent digitizer, the following hardware drivers need to be installed. These are not required for a desktop analysis workstation.

Install the Agilent digitizer drivers for a mass spectrometer workstation in the following order:

  1. Power off the workstation and install the Agilent Digitizer in a 225W PCIe slot (long slots with a clip at the end), with an additional power cable to card.
  2. Turn on the workstation and install “IOLibSuite_17_2_20818_0.exe”.
  3. After Extraction, click Yes to allow this application to make changes to your device.
  4. Keep the default Typical setup type.
  5. Install “MD2_Software_CD_1.12.6.exe”.
  6. Click Yes to allow this application to make changes to your device.
  7. Click Install MD2 Software.
  8. Keep the default setup typeComplete.
  9. Click Yes to restart the computer.

Spectrum Digitizer Driver Installation

For a SimulTOF mass spectrometer workstation with a Spectrum digitizer, the following hardware drivers need to be installed. These are not required for a desktop analysis workstation.

Install the Spectrum digitizer drivers for a mass spectrometer workstation in the following order prior to installing the digitizer card.

  1. Run “spcm_drv_install_4.0.13877.exe”.
  2. Run “spcmcontrol_install64bit.exe”.
  3. Power off the workstation and install the Spectrum Digitizer in a 225W PCIe slot (long slots with a clip at the end), with an additional power cable to card. Some buses can support the Spectrum digitizer without the additional power cable.
  4. Turn on the workstation and run “Spectrum Control Center (64-bit)” from the Desktop or Start menu. Cick No to disable automatic driver updates.
  5. In the Support tab, under “Kernel Registry Settings”, set “Continuous Memory Allocation” to 64MB.

  1. Close the Spectrum Control Center.
  2. Reboot the workstation.

Camera Driver Installation

For a SimulTOF mass spectrometer with a camera, the following hardware driver needs to be installed. This is not required for a desktop analysis workstation.

The camera driver does not use a setup application. Follow these directions to install and setup the camera:

  1. Extract the Camera driver zip file to the Desktop.

  1. A folder named “NETCamera Driver” will be placed on the Desktop. Minimize Windows Explorer.
  2. Plug the camera into a USB port on the separate USB 2.0 card (not one of the built-in workstation USB ports). The camera cable is the only USB cable coming from the instrument.
  3. Open the Device Manager by clicking the Windows Start button and typing “Device Manager”.
  4. Expand the “Other devices” section, where NETCAM is shown with a warning symbol.
  5. Right-click on the NETCAM device and click Update Driver…

  1. Click Browse my computer for driver software.
  2. Click Browse…to the right of the folder text box.
  3. Browse to the 03_Driver folder under “NETCamera Driver”.

  1. Make sure that “Include subfolders” is checked and click Next.
  1. After the driver is installed you should get a success message and return to the Device Manager, which should show the NET Camera listed under “Imaging devices”.
  1. Return to Windows Explorer and open the folder “NETCamera Driver\06_Tools\dxRegistration”.
  2. Right-click on RegisterICube.exe and click Run as administrator.
  3. If the camera is listed, click Unregister device.
  4. Click Hide “No Device” Msg.
  1. Verify that there are entries under the top two dropdowns and click Register device.
  2. Click OK to the success message. If installing in a USB 3.0 port, you may get errors instead, just continue.
  3. The camera should now be listed under in the “Registered devices” grid.
  1. Close the ICube dx-Registration application.
  2. If installing in a USB 3.0 port:
  3. Return to Windows Explorer and open the folder “NETCamera Driver\04_Viewer\iControl”.
  4. Double-click on iControl.exe.
  5. Verify that “NET 1500 BU” is listed in the dropdown.
  6. Click Camera > settings.
  1. Move the Clock slider to 20 MHz.
  2. Click the green play arrow to start the camera stream.
  3. Verify that the image updates in the viewer window.
  4. Close the Viewer.

Install SimulTOF Software

SimulTOF software can be installed on the instrument workstation as well as a stand-alone analysis workstation.

  1. Launch SimulTOFSetup.exe
  2. Click Yes to allow this application to make changes to your device.
  3. After extraction, click Next.
  4. Click I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next.
  1. In the Choose Setup Type dialog, click either Desktop or Mass Spectrometer
  2. Desktop is used for a stand-alone analysis workstation which will include the following applications:
  3. SimulTOF Viewer
  4. SimulTOF Plate Manager
  5. SimulTOF Browser
  6. SimulTOF Wizard
  7. SimulTOF Processor
  8. SimulTOF Manager
  9. Mass Spectrometer will include all the applications used in the Desktop setup type and the following:
  10. SimulTOF Controller
  11. Click Install.
  12. Click Finish and view the Release Notes.

SimulTOF Firewall Setup

TODO

Database Setup

The first time the SimulTOF Controller or Viewer is run, a setup dialog will ask for the database connection information.If you are using a local database (see Postgres Database), type “localhost” in the host field.If you are using a network hosted database, enter the server name in the Host field.

Hardware Setup

In the SimulTOF Controller setup dialog, click on the Hardware tab. This tab does not appear in the SimulTOF View setup dialog.

  1. Check Use PMD Controller.
  2. Change the “Warning Level” to 100 steps.
  1. Click OK.

Motion Controller Communications Troubleshooting

If the SimulTOF Controller does not communicate with the motion controller, it may be necessary to reset the IP address of the motion controller.

  1. In the Network Adapter settings, verify the Instrument NIC the IP address is 169.254.1.1 and subnet mask is 255.255.1.1. On older instruments, this will need to be updated. See Instrument Workstation Setup.
  2. In the Hardware tab of the SimulTOF Controller Settings, verify that PMD Motion Controller is checked. Verify that the Motion IP address is 169.254.1.103 and the Motion Port is 10023. If the Motion IP value is incorrect, Click Default next to the incorrect values. If any of these values were incorrect, click OK and restart the SimulTOF Controller.
  1. If the motion settings are correct and there is no communications, click the Browse[…] button next to the Motion IP text box.
  1. If the board information is blank as shown in this dialog, click Reset IP.
  1. Click Yes to the confirmation message.
  1. A validation message should appear if programming was successful. Click OK.
  1. If you get a failure on the Reset IP, then you need to connect with a Serial Port to reset the IP address of the PMD. Contact Virgin Instruments for assistance.
  2. The Program PMD dialog should now be populated with the board information (Name, Serial Number and DIP Switches will differ).
  1. Click Close. Close and restart the SimulTOF Controller.

More Information

For technical assistance or support, please contact Virgin Instruments.

Phone:(508) 460-1600

Fax:(508) 460-1607

Email:

Address:261 Cedar Hill Street, Suite 100, Marlborough, MA 01752

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