User:Steven J. Koch/Notebook/Kochlab/2009/07/14/More oscilloscope computer

Steve Koch 16:26, 14 July 2009 (EDT): kept getting error -200329 when trying to use the 6052E board on kochlab-03. I found one site which said there may have been a power issue with their SXCI chassis. I am not using an SXCI, but because this machine did "fizzle" a few weeks ago, power is a likely issue. Thus, I'm switching from kochlab-03 to kochlab-04. http://ni.lithium.com/ni/board/message?board.id=250&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=42558

Steve Koch 16:39, 14 July 2009 (EDT): Fuck: same error in the kochlab-04 computer. I think this must indicate that the board is broken.


 * http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/14132 New M-series board
 * http://cgi.ebay.com/National-Instruments-NI-PCI-6052E-16-Bit-DAQ-333-kS-s_W0QQitemZ190321368615QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c50099e27&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|293%3A1|294%3A50 used Ebay board / same E-series board.

Trying out Larry's software on kochlab-04

 * Fuck this doesn't work either. I guess just not enough memory?  I believe kochlab-03 had 512 MB and kochlab-04 has 352 RAM.  LV is only using 97 MB, but it is using 99% of the CPU.

Problem is due to slow display / acquisition on crappy computers
Steve Koch 17:31, 14 July 2009 (EDT): I think I have isolated the problem and it's because the computer is too slow, and I think the camera is filling up and then this breaks something (without the camera actually giving an error). To show this, I set the exposure to a longer time (1 second) at which rate I know the camera will be the limiting factor, and the program does not hang. Of course, this is not convenient. I don't recall whether there is a function for delaying between frames. That would help. here are possible fixes:
 * Get a better computer (this is the best option)
 * see if acquisition / display loop can run a bunch faster (possible)
 * delay the camera: this is the worst option, because you'd like many frames a second for the live display to be useful.
 * Use a different camera
 * This has the benefit of also probably not having a fan on the camera.

Speedier loop

 * Deleting the histogram option seems to be enough to fix the issue? It's still slow, but apparently can keep up.

Calling the program, "Live Feed Speed Hack for Kochlab-04" As far as I can see, this will work for now. It sucks that it's slow, but it's probably better than having to share it on kochlab-daq2 during acquisition.