Email: kirk_marat_at_umanitoba.ca
----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ian Parsons" <parsons_at_mpi.com>
> To: "Tong" <nmradm_at_nlbnmr.ibp.ac.cn>; <ammrl_at_chemnmr.colorado.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 5:47 PM
> Subject: Re: PC version of XWINNMR
Dear all,
> I believe that Version 3.1 of the Bruker NMR Suite is planned to be the
> last to support the SGI workstation. So this may be a factor in your
> decision.
SGI has been in financial trouble for a while, I guess. It could leave Bruker
in a bind if SGI went under or was bought up and they didn't have other options.
Of the three platforms (SGI, Linux and NT/2000), SGI doesn't have the annoying
colourmap problems that both the NT and Linux versions seem to have. Everyone
also really likes the SGI 1600 SW monitor :-) , but I guess similar monitors are
available for PCs now. After my one bad experience (possibly my own fault) I have
some concern about Linux security.
> On a related topic - what are people's thoughts about the stability of
> the PC-NT system, in comparison with an SGI? Have people experienced
> hard drive failures and system crashes which have required complete
> re-installation of the operating system and software?
I can say that I have never (in two years) had an NT crash that I could relate
to XwinNMR. The disclaimer being that I only use the NT version for
processing, not acquisition. I have no experience using the NT version for
acquisition. My NT system is about 4 years old and has only once crashed
to the point of having to re-load part of the OS and registry. (Hardware failure)
Fortunately, Bruker has kept most of the XwinNMR configuration and
status information out of the registry, so there was no problem getting
XwinNMR up and running quickly. All in all, I would say that NT itself
seems very robust as well. Certainly MUCH better than Win 95 or 98.
I guess one issue with both Linux and NT is the quality of the PC and it's
components. There is some real junk out there. If you are spending big $$
on an NMR system then it really doesn't pay to get a no-name garage clone.
Spending the little bit extra for a quality name brand system will probably
save you a lot of problems in the long term.
Cheers,
-Kirk
Kirk Marat, Ph.D. NMR Facility Manager
Dept. of Chemistry and Prairie Regional NMR Centre
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA
R3T 2N2
Phone: (204) 474-6259 FAX: (204) 474-7608
Received on Fri Nov 30 2001 - 15:58:20 MST