Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 21:34:02 +0000
Subject: Sun NUM LOK; Carbon in silicates; letter
From: johnf@ice
Status: O

To SX-50 users, a few items:

1) Of possible interest to those with Sun IPX stations, re the number pad
at the right side of the extended keyboard: I have never known how to use
the keypad in any other mode than the non numerical mode, i.e. using each
key for defined tasks (what a great thing!!). For enterring numbers from
the keyboard, the lack of access to the "NUM LOK" key to toggle back and
forth has been a pain. I had asked Andy Davis plus our local UNIX gurus,
but no one had an answer. Until yesterday, when my daughter (4.5 yrs) had
me distracted and I
had hit "NUM LOK" while the curser was not in any window, in the gray
background (~desktop). In that location, you can toggle back and forth from

NUM LOK to non-NUM LOK! Just set it for which ever mode you want, go to the
window (local or c-shell) and type. To change back, go back to the desktop,
toggle, and that's it.

2) Has anyone had experience with Quantiview/PAP in analysis of minor
amounts (<3-4 wt%) of carbon in C-coated silicates? The counts from the
~.03 micron C layer apparently are assumed to come from the 1-2 micron
excitation volume and
with an absorption correction factor of ~6, a small C count rate quickly
yields a noticeable C content (e.g. olivine and quartz show ~2 wt% Carbon).
I imagine an offline recalculation will be necessary. I'd appreciate any
suggestions.

3) 17 users from 12 labs have signed the letter to Cameca. The letter has
been revised based upon feedback from users who felt the tone of the letter
was too negative. Hopefully now it makes it clear that the users group
wants to work together with Cameca, and that our point of unity is mutual
assistance amongst users (and this clearly benefits Cameca). Please read it
over and if you have not already, consider adding your name to the list.
Send it asap to Tom Hulsebosch (hulse@elepaio.soest.hawaii.edu).

=============================
Mr. Claude Conty
Marketing Director
Cameca Instruments
103, Boulevard Saint-Denis
BP-6, 92403 Courbevoie
Cedex, France

Dear Mr. Conty,

The purpose of this letter is to notify Cameca of the formation of a
Western Hemisphere SX-50 Users Group and to share with you the results of
an initial meeting in San Francisco on December 6. The primary mission of
our group is for mutual assistance (e.g., sharing information like methods
developed and solutions to common problems). We hope to work with Cameca
for the greatest benefit to all current and future SX-50 owners.

This letter has two aspects: the main aspect, we hope, is to point out
some of the things that we as a users group can do through mutual
assistance. A second aspect, which some of our users feel strongly about,
concerns some problems they have had with their instruments and service
from Cameca Inc. We feel it is important to air these problems, hopefully
not to start on a negative note but rather to get them out in the open and
resolved satisfactorily. We will all benefit from this.

First off, what can we as a users group do?

First we could serve as a "clearinghouse" for transmitting ideas
between users and Cameca, in 1) compiling suggestions from members for
improvements in the software, 2) compiling bug reports, and 3) suggestions
for hardware modifications. The Internet "Super Highway" is an ideal
vehicle for this.

Second, we can assist Cameca in spreading news, fixes, upgrade
details, etc. to the users quickly and effectively. We would hope that
Cameca would also have Internet access sometime in the not too distant
future.

Third, users will be able to share information about analytical
techniques, maintenance, standards, peripherals (printers etc.), upgrades.
It would particularly be helpful for new SX50 users. One suggestion is to
poll the users about manuals that many of us have already written for users
at our own sites. Another has also been to make some training videotapes,
which some of us have the technical skills to do.

Fourth, we could help poll the members about ideas for periodic
training sessions. Already we've heard some comments about the need for
some image analysis/processing training sessions. We understand that the
European Cameca Users Group (CAMUS) has periodic users' meetings
coordinated with Cameca with some training, and perhaps we could work
toward something like that.

Fifth, we could share "success" stories (it would be nice to hear some
of the great things about the SX50), like tricky analytical problems
(resolving interferences, etc.), new materials analyzed, awards users have
received, neat imaging, etc.

These are some of the initial ideas of what we could work on. We would
certainly welcome working together with Cameca in this endeavor. And Cameca
would certainly benefit, particularly in having a users group providing
potential (U.S., Canadian, etc.) SX50 buyers an additional resource.

And now for something completely different. Besides laying out what we
can accomplish, we'd like to document some bothersome problems that some
of us have experienced. Others of us may have been fortunate enough not
have had the same severe level of problems, but nevertheless agree that
there are some improvements that Cameca should consider. We should
emphasize initially that the SX-50 electron microprobe is an excellent
machine. Like all sophisticated instruments, it has occasional problems.

Some of us have experienced extended downtime due to a lack of prompt
and knowledgeable response to our request for help. (One example has been
the Univ. of Hawaii which has had ongoing beam stability problems.) This
is extremely frustrating. Cameca does not enjoy a uniformly good reputation
for service in North America. We have heard that this has been a major
factor in some recent lost sales. We know that Cameca would like to improve
its service reputation and has recently hired a new service engineer,
which could alleviate problems with response time for west coast SX-50
owners. Many of us feel that another solution, which we understand existed
in the past, might be to have engineers off the platform in Courbevoie
rotate here to service our SX50s. If Cameca decided to take this course of
action, it would receive a warm welcome from our group.

This raises another concern that some of us have, which is the
perception that there is a communications problem between Cameca Inc
(U.S./Canada) and Cameca (France). While internal corporate operations are
none of our business, it is our business to have prompt and knowledgeable
service, and not to feel that we have gotten lost in some trans-Atlantic
mix-up.

We have a few suggestions for service improvements, such as providing
owners with a schedule for routine maintenance similar to the one given to
new car buyers. A clock that logs "HV Hours On" would be very useful for
determining maintenance intervals for some components. This is especially
important for those of us that cannot afford a full- service contract.
Some of our group members have learned of a few precautionary measures
after costly repairs.

Another concern is the lack of a demo SX-50 in Stamford. While a demo
machine is no panacea, parts could be tested before they are shipped (some
of us have received defective parts from Stamford) and parts from it could
be borrowed when they are not otherwise available in Stamford (an
all-too-common problem). We are sure there would be many other benefits to
Cameca of having an SX-50 in Stamford, including a controlled environment
for demonstrations.

Software. Many of us purchased a Cameca microprobe because of its
advanced software. However, when we started using the software, we
experienced problems; two recent examples are numerous "core dumps" while
using Quantiview, and movement of the stage to random positions during
automated (xyz) acquisitions. Initially, we were told that those problems
were unique to our individual labs. We soon began to speak to each other
and discovered that many of us had the same problems. We recognize that
Cameca has finite manpower with regard to fixing bugs in addition to
developing new and exciting products. With the help of our group, we hope
to assist Cameca in streamlining the debugging process.

Quantiview is potentially a powerful software product but still has
some bugs. Some of us have documented those bugs to Cameca (and now, as an
organized users group, we will try to do so in a more consistent manner).
We have been told that new releases of the software would address these
problems. Although some bugs have been fixed, some remain and some new
ones were created. There are several different versions of the software in
circulation, but there is little or no communication from Cameca to the
owners about these new releases unless we complain.

Some of us have heard rumors that Cameca is developing a new
microprobe with completely different software and acquisition hardware.
While we are not requesting the release of sensitive information, we would
like the chance to prepare for future upgrade paths at the earliest
opportunity. For example, should we be budgeting for extended RAM? We are
not surprised that some of our DEC users are buying independent software
that appears superior to Cameca software in some regards. We think this
might be due to a lack of communication between user's requirements and
desires and the software engineers in France.

We would appreciate a realistic timetable for future releases of Cameca
software. Is there a list of the planned modifications? We would like to be
involved in providing input to Cameca by furnishing a consensus (of our
members) of what are the most important fixes and modifications in the
future. We also hope that Cameca will consider providing more resources to
deal with the apparent/perceived overload in the software department.

We hope this letter will initiate a frank dialogue between our users
group and Cameca. We hope it is received in the spirit with which it is
sent, of a desire to work together to improve the SX50, for the benefit of
all. We look forward to receiving your response, which should be sent to
Mike Garcia (Univ. of Hawaii). He will distribute it to the other group
members.

Sincerely,

Mike Garcia, U. Hawaii
Tom Hulsebosch, U. Hawaii
Brian Patrick, UC-Santa Barbara
Roger Nielsen, Oregon State
Mike Drake, U. Arizona
Chris, Capobianco, U. Arizona
John Shervais, U. So. Carolina
John Fournelle, U. Wisconsin
John Valley, U. Wisconsin
Peter Schiffman, UC-Davis
Abhijit Basu, Indiana U.
Ed Vicenzi, Princeton
Alexandra Navrotsky, Princeton
Michael Whitehead, CF Minerals
Ray Guillemette, Texas A&M
Will Lamb, Texas A&M
Ian Steele, U. of Chicago
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