Updating Software? A pre-chaos checklist…

A few years after your shiny new system is installed, you’ll inevitably look at it just like you look at a car. What was once running flawlessly now has a few bugs, some dust, is slower and generally worn in. So, at some point you’ll decide it’s time for an upgrade. This may consist of new or updated hardware, probably a PC and software, but for now let’s assume all we are going to do is patch the software.

Most software packages depend on a licensing scheme in order to run an update. If you have uManager, this won’t be a problem, but most commonly I work with MetaMorph and Elements, so I’ll be covering those exclusively.

What version do I have?

If you have Meta and you want to check your version and it’s capabilities, you can either call the office, or check the software update site here.

If you have Nikon Elements, you can view your info by selecting the Elements program folder from the start menu, then clicking “Hasp Info”. Here’s what my hasp info looked like:

If this was a consumer key, it would show an update expiration date (the date at which, once passed, new versions need to be purchased) and list the modules you own.

Once you’ve decided on upgrade options etc, it’s time to look at what devices are installed on your system. I like to categorize devices based on how they communicate with the computer, as this is the primary factor in determining compatibility problems.

• Serial, or USB to Serial devices and triggered devices  – Serial devices will be connected via a 9-Pin cable, and will use a COM port on the computer. You can check COM ports using windows device manager. USB falls into two general categories – Serial Emulators or direct drivers. USB to Serial Emulated devices simply create a fake serial port at the device side, so when you plug the device in and power it, you’ll see a new COM port appear in your ports list under windows device manager. Some systems, like the Sutter 10-3, use a driver which allows you to select either VCP (Virtual Com Port) or driver-only. Triggered devices use TTL signaling to communicate, and typically are connected via BNC cables to either another device or a custom board on the PC, so this could mean life is easy or hard, depending on what you have.

• USB Driver Devices – Any device which, once loaded, appears in the windows device manager under it’s own category, uses a direct driver. A good example would be a Ti-E microscope. You’ll find the scope appear under “Imaging Devices”. While generally speaking, USB connected devices are straightforward to work with, it would be prudent to confirm that the firmware of the device, and the driver version for the device, are both compatible with the new version of software you’ll be installing.

• PCI/PCIe Card Devices – Cameras usually fall into this category more than anything else, but there are devices such as an Andor Revolution Laser Combiner, or a Mosaic Illumination system, that also require the use of a card installed in the computer. For these devices it’s important to check firmware and driver support for your software upgrade, and it’s extremely important to consider the card type, it’s height requirements, and it’s connector (like PCI vs. PCie x16 etc) when purchasing a new computer.

Once you’ve collected the above info for each device which is run through your imaging software, you can go through a straightforward checklist of the required communication items for that device. Keep in mind that for most software companies, they build a driver for a given instrument at a single point in time, and don’t update that driver until there is a good reason to do so. Version changes between the software, firmware, and drivers may cause problems, so we’ll investigate this entire chain for our devices:

1. What is the version number of the software you’ll be upgrading to?
2. For that version of software, what are the driver versions required for your devices? In Meta, you can view the Supported Hardware page, to check the minimum version for your device. Nikon has a support document, which can be found on the download site (enter any username, and your Hasp ID for the password), under “Device/Camera/Firmware Documents, or just click this link after logging in.
3. If your device driver needs to be upgraded, does the firmware in your device need an upgrade as well? This can be investigated by contacting the device manufacturer.
4. Is either the device manufacturer, or the software developer, aware of known major bugs or issues with the versions you’ll be upgrading to? Normally there are always a few bugs, the question is whether or not they’ll be a problem for your work.
5. If you are considering moving from an x32 to an x64 system, make sure to check for 100% support in x64, I’ll be writing more on this on a separate post, as it’s a constant problem for me right now.

Armed with the answers to the above questions, you’ll be well prepared to perform an upgrade on your instrument! As always, you may wish to do this yourself, or pay your local sales rep to take on this headache. As a general rule software upgrades are a lot of work, and provide a chance to break an otherwise functional system, so service and sales reps are understandably wary of upgrades. You can help your rep a lot by bring this info to them at the beginning of the upgrade process (or at least providing the version #’s and device types on your system).

This process will obviously take some time to complete, but it’s a very small investment to reduce the chance of the system going down due to a half-update, or performing the update only to find some major bug which will render the system unusable! You’ll never guess how I learned to be wary of this…:-) Ultimately, software updates can provide new capability, fix bugs on the device or software side, and are an important aspect to the overall maintenance of an instrument. With proper planning, the operation can go from chaos to an enjoyable experience.

– Austin