2. Computer System Requirements (Macintosh and PC)

The computer configuration depends on the actual needs of your experiments, e.g. sampling rate and duration of continuous data acquisition. While the recommended computer configuration is sufficient for most patch clamp experiments, the configuration may have to be extended for more demanding experiments. For fast continuous data acquisition it may be necessary to temporarily write data to RAM rather than directly to disk. This option requires a RAM size large enough to accommodate the data in memory. Furthermore, a well equipped computer reduces the time required for data storage, and also makes data analysis more convenient. If you intend to run other programs simultaneously with our data acquisition software, e.g. for photometric measurements, a fast computer can help to avoid timing problems. For external data storage, CD/DVD writer, ZIP disks or optical disks are recommended.

Minimal computer configuration:

Macintosh G4

PC

  • Operating system OS 9
  • 64 MB RAM (or more for high speed-data acquisition via two channels)
  • Harddisk > 1 GB
  • Extended keyboard II
  • 17'' colour monitor
  • two free USB (2.0) ports
  • CD-ROM or Internet connection
  • 450 MHz Pentium III processor
  • 128 MB RAM (or more for high speed-data acquisition via two channels)
  • Harddisk > 1 GB
  • Standard keyboard, mouse
  • Colour monitor 17''
  • Windows 2000, XP
  • Two free USB (2.0) ports
  • CD-ROM or Internet connection
  • Typical computer configuration:

    Macintosh G5

    PC

  • Operating system OS X 3.9 or higher
  • 128 MB RAM (or more for high speed-data acquisition via two channels)
  • Harddisk > 20 GB
  • Extended keyboard II
  • 19'' colour monitor
  • two free USB (2.0) ports
  • DVD-ROM/DVD-Writer or Internet connection
  • Pentium 4 processor
  • 512 MB RAM (or more for high speed-data acquisition via two channels)
  • Harddisk > 20 GB
  • Standard keyboard, mouse
  • Colour monitor 19''
  • Windows 2000, XP, or Vista
  • two free USB (2.0) ports
  • DVD-ROM/DVD-Writer or Internet connection


  • Additional equipment

    Please note:
    • "Intel Macs" are supported by Patchmaster 2.35 or newer. Please note, that only the green USB dongle is supported by newer Patchmaster/Fitmaster versions. The older Eve 3 dongles cannot be used with these versions. Please contact our Sales department and ask for a dongle exchange.


    • PCI boards (EPC 10 / LIH 1600) supporting the PCI-X slot of Mac G5 computers are available ! The new PCIe (PCI Express) slots are now supported, too ! Please specify upon ordering, if you need a PCI-1600 board for standard PCI, PCI-X, or PCIe.