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You posed your question as one that concerns hardware; however, our
experiences here (University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center - Flow
Cytometry and Cell Sorting Facility, Jonni S. Moore, Ph.D. - director)
have led us to suspect that the problem might also be a software issue
(ie. system software). We found that our POWER Mac 6100/66, which runs
system 7.5 software, has virtually no problems in data ANALYSIS will not
perform data ACQUISITION. However, the Quadras which have system 7.1 have
no problems with either task. Obviously, with 2 variables (hardware and
system software), I can only speculate as to the real problem since I do
not have all of the possible combinations running in this facility.
I suspect that there is either a problem with the system software or an
incompatibility in microprocessor/hardware (RISC chip architecture vs.
68040 chips). (As an aside, another known problem with running CellQuest
on our POWER Mac - sometimes data that is on a 3.5" disk tends to have I/O
problems when performing data analysis. Fortunately, there is a simple
solution to this...copy your file back to your hard drive; perform your
analysis; and then, recopy your file to your disk.)
Finally, the advice...unless your heart is set upon buying a POWER
Macintosh, I would advise against it unless you receive a legally binding
guarantee from B-D that their software will run on a POWER Mac. :-) You
should note that until B-D releases a POWER PC version of CellQuest,
there is VERY little (perhaps nothing) to gain. You will not really be
able to take advantage of the potential increase in speed offered by the
RISC processor. Frankly, in order to really take advantage of a POWER
PC, you would have to purchase POWER PC versions of all available
software. If you are unwilling to pay the extra $, then you should buy
the highest 680x0 machine that you can find (of course, always remember
to check with B-D first re:compatibility)...plus, the Quadra is not such a
bad machine.
Best of luck to you,
Seong-Joo Jeong
University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center
Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Facility
Philadelphia, PA
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