FACSCAN -> PC

Nick Viner (viner_n@MSdisk.WUstl.EDU)
Tue, 15 Jun 1993 17:20:44 EDT

We would like to be able to transfer FACSCAN files to a PC for storage/analysis
purposes. Eric Martz has given me some useful info already, but I wondered
if I could get some feedback from a wider audience. An ethernet system is
currently being put through the building, but it sounds as though a direct
connection to the HP (we have v 3.1) would be too expensive (>$3000). So
we're considering installing an IEEE-488 board in an adjacent PC and using
that as an ftp-server. Verity have a package called WHPPC which provides
both the board and software for $895, although we could get the board alone
for less and use software provided by BD, I understand. Does anyone have
experience with the Verity package and if so is the software significantly
better than the BD solution? Does anyone else have other suggestions or
solutions?

2 additional questions:

1) We have a demo of Winlist which looks OK - can anyone reccommend it?

2) We were thinking of using a 20 Mb floptical drive for storage which I
don't remember being discussed in the recent archiving debate. The disks
are cheaper than Bernoulli's; ~$25 which is quite reasonable on a
$-per-Mb basis and the drives are reducing in price. Access times are
~65mS, slow but probably not as slow as tape, and transfer rates are
reasonable. 20 Mb just seems a convenient size for storing cytometry files
- anyone any comments?

Thanks in anticipation!

Nick Viner
Dept. Pathology
Washington University
St. Louis.