Tag Archives: augerscan

RBD Software Windows Operating System Compatibility (February 2024)

Posted on by
Reply

Microsoft Windows General Support

All of RBD’s software products (AugerScan/AugerMap for PHI Upgrades, Actuel for the 9103 USB Picoammeter, and CMapp for the microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer) are compatible with the latest version of Microsoft Windows (as of this post, Windows 11).

In general, RBD warranty supports all versions of Windows supported by Microsoft, which are currently Windows 10 and 11. We cannot guarantee support for previous versions, however all our software products are functionally compatible with Windows 7 through 11 with a few exceptions, and we can usually support Windows 7-8.

RBD maintains archives for versions of software compatible with even older operating systems.

Please keep in mind that for any legacy version of RBD software, any newer features and subsequent bug fixes will be missing.

Lifecycle FAQ – Windows | Microsoft Learn

Details for RBD’s Software Applications

PHI / Perkin Elmer System Upgrades (AugerScan and AugerMap)

Minimum Windows Version Recommended: Windows 7

RBD maintains versions of AugerScan and AugerMap that are compatible with Windows XP. We can provide versions that may be compatible with Windows 95 and 98, however driver support may not be possible, depending what interface cards are used in the upgrade.

For RBD 147 Interface Cards in the PCI format, drivers are available for Windows XP, and Windows 7-11 32 and 64 bits.

For RBD 147 Interface Cards in the PCI format, drivers are available for Windows 7-11, 32 and 64 bits.

9103 USB Picoammeter

Minimum Windows Version Recommended: Windows 10

RBD maintains versions of the Actuel application for the 9103 that are compatible with Windows XP. There are no versions available for earlier operating systems.

(The 9103 USB Picoammeter itself is compatible with any operating system supported by the FTDI USB drivers if you chose to code/script your own custom application)

microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer

Minimum Windows Version Recommended: Windows 10

CMapp for the microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer is currently only compatible with Windows 10. While older versions may run on Windows 7 – 8, it is highly recommended that these are not used, as subsequent versions provide much better safety mechanisms for hardware control.

As always, contact RBD here for any questions you may have or versions of software you do not see available on the website.

New AugerScan Feature – Automatic Marking of Multiple Element Peaks

Posted on by
2

A new feature has been added to AugerScan – the option to automatically mark all the peaks of a particular Auger element when marking the primary peak. With this feature you can mark an element’s primary peak and AugerScan will automatically mark the rest of the element’s peaks and select the primary for atomic concentration.

An Example Using Copper (Cu1)

AugerScan
AugerScan – Marking multiple peaks for copper (Cu1)

In the example above, we’ve selected the carbon (C1), oxygen (O1) and copper (Cu1) peaks. AugerScan automatically marked the additional copper peaks (Cu2, Cu3, and Cu4). When performing an atomic concentration calculation, only the Cu1 peak is selected.

You can of course easily change which peaks are selected for atomic concentration by clicking the “Markers” command from the “Edit” menu. You can also remove selected markers from peaks using this dialog.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marker Selection Dialog

To turn this feature on/off, choose the “Options…” command from the “Data” menu, and select/deselect the checkbox labeled “When Marking and Element, Mark all of its Peaks”.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marking all Peaks Option

(This feature was originally developed for CMapp, RBD’s software for the microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer)

AugerScan Version 3.3.1

The latest version of AugerScan is available for download. In addition to this new feature, this release includes some bug fixes and improved compatibility with high-dpi displays and Windows 10.

Running AugerScan and AugerMap on Windows 7 – 10

Posted on by
Reply

AugerScan and AugerMap are “legacy” software applications originally developed for Windows 95 and 98, however they have been and continue to be updated for bug fixes, additional features, and operating system compatibility. Both applications (and the systems they run) are still going strong and support Windows 7 – 10.

While many customers are still content running their RBD-upgraded PHI systems on Windows XP (or 95-98!), Microsoft no longer supports those operating systems, making upgrading the OS or replacing those PCs inevitable. There are a few areas where the transitions is not as smooth as we’d yet like, and those are driver support and the legacy help system.

Drivers

RBD provides drivers for older Windows XP systems as well as drivers that are fully compatible with Windows 7 – 10. However, none of these drivers are currently digitally signed. Depending on your operating system, providing the rights to run unsigned drivers may be necessary upon installing the drivers and/or running the software.

Some of the errors you may encounter are cryptic, such as the following sometimes seen when installing unsigned drivers on Windows 10: “The hash for the file is not present in the specified catalog file”.

Driver Error

Thanks for the clarity, Microsoft!

 

The good news is that you should only have to take care of the issue once, not every time you are running the software. The bad news is the methods are different for each operating system version, and even different for the same exact operating system depending on the date it was installed and the PC BIOS.

For most versions of Windows, disabling driver signature enforcement can be accomplished easily by one of these methods.

For Windows 10 PCs that were installed (not updated) with build 1607 (Anniversary Edition), the Secure Boot feature of the BIOS must be turned off.

Help

The original Help system (largely unchanged since Windows 3.1) was phased out in Windows Vista. The context-sensitive help – also known as “what’s this?” or “right-click” help cannot be replaced (this was the information you would typically see for each field in a dialog box, for example). However, for Windows Vista through 8.1, Microsoft does provide separate downloads for the legacy help system; it’s just no longer installed in the operating system.

You can find most of those files on this Microsoft support page (scroll down to “Resolution”) For security reasons, Microsoft no longer supports this help format at all in Windows 10, and there are no third-party solutions available.

However, we’ve translated most of RBD’s help to HTML for both AugerScan and AugerMap. In each case, simply  unzip the file to a convenient folder and run “index.html” in your browser.