Upgrading a the computer hardware on a Leica SP5

[Mitja Remus-Emsermann]

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Hi all,

We have a > 10 year-old windows XP machine hooked up to our trusty Leica
SP5 that is sluggish at best. Without having the patients to wait for my
local Leica rep to give me an answer, I was wondering if it should be
possible to upgrade the computer to a new windows 7 or 10 machine?

Should I be worried about hardware driver availability and the Leica Las
software?

We should be able to spend some money on a newer software version but some
directions would be good. We would like to build the machine ourselves
since we are on the other side of the planet to most people and microscopy
support is usually patchy (plus we are not rich)

Many thanks, Mitja

--

Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

Biology room 538

University of Canterbury

Private Bag 4800

Christchurch, 8140

New Zealand

E: [hidden email]

E: [hidden email]

T: [phone], Ext 95351

M: [phone]

[Martin Koster]

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We got it upgraded to a Win7 workstation a few years ago, but the installation was prepped by Leica (for the drivers). Works fine and definitely not sluggish.

-----Original Message-----
From: Confocal Microscopy List <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Mitja Remus-Emsermann
Sent: Tuesday, 7 August 2018 21:26
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Upgrading a the computer hardware on a Leica SP5

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*****

Hi all,

We have a > 10 year-old windows XP machine hooked up to our trusty Leica
SP5 that is sluggish at best. Without having the patients to wait for my local Leica rep to give me an answer, I was wondering if it should be possible to upgrade the computer to a new windows 7 or 10 machine?

Should I be worried about hardware driver availability and the Leica Las software?

We should be able to spend some money on a newer software version but some directions would be good. We would like to build the machine ourselves since we are on the other side of the planet to most people and microscopy support is usually patchy (plus we are not rich)

Many thanks, Mitja

--

Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

Biology room 538

University of Canterbury

Private Bag 4800

Christchurch, 8140

New Zealand

E: [hidden email]

E: [hidden email]

T: [phone], Ext 95351

M: [phone]
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[Zdenek Svindrych-2]

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Hi Mitja,
we've upgraded our SP5 to a new HP Z440 workstation with Windows 7 64-bit
without much trouble. Our old PC did not drive much hardware, as the main
connection was the optical network cable between the PC and the scanner.
More specifically:

(1) the network card - the old one (fairly long 64-bit PCI card) did not
fit, so we got a PCI Express network card. I picked AT-2911SX/SC, as it
supports long packets (don't forget to copy the extended packet setting, on
top of the TCP/IP settings, from the old machine). Make sure the card
matches your optical cable (1000SX/SC in our case).

(2) the control panel - we had the firmware updated by a Leica tech at some
point in the past, I'm not sure how important that is...

(3) the 8-plex RS-232 card - we were not using it for anything, so I left it
in the old PC. Maybe I had to remove it from the LAS hardware database.

(4) the software - the latest version of LAS AF (still several years old
now, hopefully you're already using it on your old PC) works OK in Win7x64.
I don't remember any specific issues with the installation process (it just
takes long as it updates all firmware inside the scanner). Just don't forget
to copy your old hardware databases (something like "machine.xlhw", you can
see which database you're using at the startup of LAS AF). If you're not
using the last LAS version (I believe it's 2.7.3.9723), I would recommend
upgrading it first, before moving to a new PC.

Good luck!

Best,  zdenek
-- 
Zdenek Svindrych, Ph.D.
Research Associate - Imaging Specialist
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
email: [hidden email]

---------- Původní e-mail ----------
Od: Mitja Remus-Emsermann <[hidden email]>
Komu: [hidden email]
Datum: 7. 8. 2018 15:40:23
Předmět: Upgrading a the computer hardware on a Leica SP5
"*****
To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Hi all,

We have a > 10 year-old windows XP machine hooked up to our trusty Leica
SP5 that is sluggish at best. Without having the patients to wait for my
local Leica rep to give me an answer, I was wondering if it should be
possible to upgrade the computer to a new windows 7 or 10 machine?

Should I be worried about hardware driver availability and the Leica Las
software?

We should be able to spend some money on a newer software version but some
directions would be good. We would like to build the machine ourselves
since we are on the other side of the planet to most people and microscopy
support is usually patchy (plus we are not rich)

Many thanks, Mitja

--

Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

Biology room 538

University of Canterbury

Private Bag 4800

Christchurch, 8140

New Zealand

E: [hidden email]

E: [hidden email]

T: [phone], Ext 95351

M: [phone]
"

[Mitja Remus-Emsermann]

*****
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http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
*****

Thanks everyone for their support and suggestions. I think this might work
for us as well. Let's hope our IT department is playing ball when it comes
to acquisition of the hardware.

Best, Mitja

--

Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

Biology room 538

University of Canterbury

Private Bag 4800

Christchurch, 8140

New Zealand

E: [hidden email]

E: [hidden email]

T: [phone], Ext 95351

M: [phone]


On Thu, Aug 9, 2018 at 2:41 AM <[hidden email]> wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi Mitja,
> we've upgraded our SP5 to a new HP Z440 workstation with Windows 7 64-bit
> without much trouble. Our old PC did not drive much hardware, as the main
> connection was the optical network cable between the PC and the scanner.
> More specifically:
>
> (1) the network card - the old one (fairly long 64-bit PCI card) did not
> fit, so we got a PCI Express network card. I picked AT-2911SX/SC, as it
> supports long packets (don't forget to copy the extended packet setting,
> on
> top of the TCP/IP settings, from the old machine). Make sure the card
> matches your optical cable (1000SX/SC in our case).
>
> (2) the control panel - we had the firmware updated by a Leica tech at
> some
> point in the past, I'm not sure how important that is...
>
> (3) the 8-plex RS-232 card - we were not using it for anything, so I left
> it
> in the old PC. Maybe I had to remove it from the LAS hardware database.
>
> (4) the software - the latest version of LAS AF (still several years old
> now, hopefully you're already using it on your old PC) works OK in
> Win7x64.
> I don't remember any specific issues with the installation process (it
> just
> takes long as it updates all firmware inside the scanner). Just don't
> forget
> to copy your old hardware databases (something like "machine.xlhw", you
> can
> see which database you're using at the startup of LAS AF). If you're not
> using the last LAS version (I believe it's 2.7.3.9723), I would recommend
> upgrading it first, before moving to a new PC.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Best,  zdenek
> --
> Zdenek Svindrych, Ph.D.
> Research Associate - Imaging Specialist
> Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
> Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
> email: [hidden email]
>
> ---------- Původní e-mail ----------
> Od: Mitja Remus-Emsermann <[hidden email]>
> Komu: [hidden email]
> Datum: 7. 8. 2018 15:40:23
> Předmět: Upgrading a the computer hardware on a Leica SP5
> "*****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> Hi all,
>
> We have a > 10 year-old windows XP machine hooked up to our trusty Leica
> SP5 that is sluggish at best. Without having the patients to wait for my
> local Leica rep to give me an answer, I was wondering if it should be
> possible to upgrade the computer to a new windows 7 or 10 machine?
>
> Should I be worried about hardware driver availability and the Leica Las
> software?
>
> We should be able to spend some money on a newer software version but some
> directions would be good. We would like to build the machine ourselves
> since we are on the other side of the planet to most people and microscopy
> support is usually patchy (plus we are not rich)
>
> Many thanks, Mitja
>
> --
>
> Dr. Mitja Remus-Emsermann
>
> Lecturer
>
> School of Biological Sciences
>
> Biology room 538
>
> University of Canterbury
>
> Private Bag 4800
>
> Christchurch, 8140
>
> New Zealand
>
> E: [hidden email]
>
> E: [hidden email]
>
> T: [phone], Ext 95351
>
> M: [phone]
> "
>