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Frequently Asked Questions for PCD-300 series |
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*Operating Environment
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| Q. What operating environment does the PCD-300 require? |
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| A. The recommended operating environment varies according to the number of units to be used. |
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CPU
When using only 1 unit
Pentium III 300MHz or higher is required; 700Mhz or higher is recommended.
When using 2 or more units in combination
Pentium III 600MHz is required; 700MHz or higher is recommended.
OS
Windows 98
(including Second Edition), or
Windows Me, or
Windows 2000 (Professional), or
Windows XP
Memory
When using 1 unit, 128Mbytes or more is required;
256Mbytes or more is recommended.
When using 2 or more units in combination, 192Mbytes or more is required;
256Mbytes or more is recommended.
Hard Disk
Minimum 10Mbytes available
Display
Resolution: 1024 x 768 dots (minimum)
High color (16 bits or higher)
Interface
USB
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| Q. What happens if the operating environment does not satisfy the above requirements? |
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| A. If CPU performance and/or memory capacity are below the required levels, data transfer by USB may lag and cause errors during measurement. |
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| Q. Will the PCD-300 run on Windows 95? |
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| A. Usage may be possible but is not guaranteed. (See below, under "USB.") |
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| Q. Will the PCD-300 run on Windows NT? |
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| A. No, at present the system does not support Windows NT. |
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*System Hardware
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 operate by battery? |
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| A. Yes, if the power jack is compatible. |
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used in a vehicle? |
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| A. Yes, if steps are taken to connect the system to the cigarette lighter socket, etc.; usage is limited to 12V power supplies only. |
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used with a commercially available USB cable? |
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| A. Yes. |
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| Q. Is it necessary to use the synchronizing cable? |
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| A. Only when 2 or more PCD-300s are used in combination. |
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| Q. Is it OK to stack a laptop computer directly on top of the PCD-300? |
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| A. The PCD-300 can support up to 2kg without problem, so long as the weight is not concentrated at the center. |
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used for measuring more than 17 channels? |
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| A. The hardware can support measurement of more than 17 channels, but the standard software does not. Sample programs are included in the system package. The user may either use those programs as reference and create the required software, or KYOWA is available to provide related services at extra cost. |
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*Measurement Functions
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| Q. What types of strain gage transducers are available? |
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| A. KYOWA offers a broad lineup of strain gage transducers for measuring force, load, acceleration and torque. |
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| Q. What does the ''balance adjustment'' function do? |
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| A. The strain gage and resistors that comprise a Wheatstone bridge are often out of sync, resulting in imbalance in initial output. The balance adjustment function causes the measuring instrument to offset any imbalance, to permit achievement of the proper measuring range. |
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used with sensors other than strain gages or strain gage transducers? |
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| A. Yes, so long as the sensors form a temperature?measuring resistor or other bridge, and bridge resistance is between 120 W and 1kW. |
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*Standard Software
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used with a display featuring resolution below 1024 x 768 dots? |
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| A. No. A display of inadequately high resolution cannot show all the control parameters. |
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| Q. Is it possible to run another application simultaneously? |
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| A. No. Simultaneous running with another application may adversely affect the normal measurement operation of the PCD-300A. |
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| Q. Can the PCD-300 be used simultaneously with other USB equipment? |
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| A. Use of a USB keyboard, mouse or other slow speed equipment is no problem. Simultaneous use of USB equipment for transferring data at high speed will prevent the PCD-300 from operating normally. |
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| Q. How can measured data be stored? |
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| A. As measurement data is gathered, it can be continuously transferred to the computer for storage in a designated file. Note that it is not possible to store data acquired during the monitoring mode. |
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| Q. Does the standard software impose any limits on system use? |
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| A. Yes. The maximum number of measurements is 100,000. To achieve measurements beyond that limit, additional application software must be created according to the user's needs. |
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*USB
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| Q. What is USB? |
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| A. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, a bus enabling interconnection of multiple units of equipment through a hub. One major advantage of USB is that it is not necessary to shut down power when connecting equipment. Two speeds are available with USB, 12Mbps and 1.5Mbps (megabits per second), both considerably faster than earlier serial ports typically providing speeds up to only 115.2Kbps. 12Mbps corresponds to a speed of 1.5MBps (megabytes per second), which is roughly 1/7th Fast SCSI, which is the standard speed of hard disks, and approximately 1/13th Ultra SCSI. |
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| Q. Why can't the PCD-300 run on Windows 95? |
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| A. Because Windows 95 does not support USB. The only exception is Windows 95 in the OSR2.1 version; this is provided with a USB Supplement OSR2 update that should enable the PCD-300 to run, although operation is not guaranteed. (Note, however, that the Supplement is not generally available on the market; it must be obtained from the vendor of computers originally sold with OSR2 installed.) Earlier versions of Windows 95 (A or unmarked) are currently not adaptable to USB specification. |
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*Application Software
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| Q. What does the term "application software" refer to? |
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| A. Application software refers to software, separate from the control software provided standard, that enables the PCD-300 to be programmed to the user's specific system requirements. At the current time KYOWA does not have application software on offer. |
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| Q. How can the user make his own application software? |
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A. Application software can be made using the following files in the CD-R included as a standard accessory. LabVIEW, Microsoft Visual C++ and Microsoft Visual Basic are among the usable environments.
USB driver file: pcd300a.sys
DLL file: pcd300a.dll
Control function file: pcd.dll
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