Difference between revisions of "MAS PC specifications email template"

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MAS should run without difficulty on any modern PC, but note the following:
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MAS should run without difficulty on any modern PC that has a standard PCI slot and can run Ubuntu 10.04.  In particular, MAS now supports 64-bit and multi-core machines.  We have run MAS on fairly weak machines (1 GHz single core w/ 1GB RAM), but during detector characterization phases users will probably prefer a much more powerful desktop machine with lots of speed and graphics support.
  
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- a 32-bit processor is sufficient, and even if the PC has a 64-bit processor we will have to run it in legacy 32-bit mode.
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Note also that MCE data can take up quite a bit of disk space; 1024 channels of 400 Hz will pile up at 1.6 MB/s.  If your data rate is comparable to this then your system should have at least 500 GB of space for MCE data.
  
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- although multi-core/multi-CPU processors are probably not going to cause us any trouble, this remains untested.
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Again, each MCE requires a PCI slot for the fibre-optic interface board!  Some new motherboards do not have standard PCI slots, as PCI-express is becoming more popular.  One alternative to on-board PCI slots is to use a PCI adapter.  Users have reported good results with such hardware.  One such successful configuration is:
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* PCIe to PCI Adapter: StarTech PCI Express to PCI Adapter Card Model PEX1PCI1
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* StarTech PEX16RISER PCI Express Riser Card - x16 Left Slot Adapter
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* GIGABYTE GA-H81M-DS2V LGA 1150 Motherboard.
  
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- there must be a free PCI slot for the fibre-optic card that communicates with the MCE. 
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[[Category:MAS]]
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Any processor speed greater than 1 GHz or so should run without difficulty, and it is probably possible to go even lower in speed if necessary.  We regularly run with 1 GB of RAM and something like 500 GB of hard disk space.  The hard drive(s) can be SATA or IDE.  Since we use a modern linux OS (2.6 series kernel) it is fine to use USB devices (mice, keyboards, hard drives...) in the system.
 

Latest revision as of 16:25, 30 August 2016

MAS should run without difficulty on any modern PC that has a standard PCI slot and can run Ubuntu 10.04. In particular, MAS now supports 64-bit and multi-core machines. We have run MAS on fairly weak machines (1 GHz single core w/ 1GB RAM), but during detector characterization phases users will probably prefer a much more powerful desktop machine with lots of speed and graphics support.

Note also that MCE data can take up quite a bit of disk space; 1024 channels of 400 Hz will pile up at 1.6 MB/s. If your data rate is comparable to this then your system should have at least 500 GB of space for MCE data.

Again, each MCE requires a PCI slot for the fibre-optic interface board! Some new motherboards do not have standard PCI slots, as PCI-express is becoming more popular. One alternative to on-board PCI slots is to use a PCI adapter. Users have reported good results with such hardware. One such successful configuration is:

  • PCIe to PCI Adapter: StarTech PCI Express to PCI Adapter Card Model PEX1PCI1
  • StarTech PEX16RISER PCI Express Riser Card - x16 Left Slot Adapter
  • GIGABYTE GA-H81M-DS2V LGA 1150 Motherboard.
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