Date: Tue, 24 Jan 95 16:12:21 CST
Subject: reports from SX50 users meetings
From:

Status: OR



Greetings SX50 users!



Here are reports from the 2 users meetings that occurred in late 1994,

as

well as an update based on recent conversations between myself and Andy

Davis and Sam Pindrys.



Also we have a new member from Berkeley, CA.



1. SX50 meeting at Geological Society of America Meeting 10/25/94



On October 25, 14 Cameca electron microprobe users got together for a

meeting in the lounge of the Seattle Hilton. Sam and Florence Pindry of

Cameca, USA hosted the meeting. In attendance were: Marti Raudsepp, UBC;

Brian Patrick, UCSB; John Shervais, South Carolina; Sarah Roeske and Tim

Fagan, UC Davis; Linc Hollister and Cam Davidson, Princeton; Jim Myers,

Wyoming; Roger Neilson and Mike Schaeffer, Oregon; Dave London, Oklahoma;

Mike Drake, Arizona; Peggy Snow, Los Alamos; and Jinny Sisson, Rice. Many

items were discussed ranging from logistical questions on how to best

remove algae from the cooling lines to praise on the improved response to

users. West Coast users expressed a desire to have a technician located

locally. Sam said one is being trained and soon they will decide where he

will be located. Others were pleased that many of the maintenance issues

that were expressed at the first meeting in AGU Fall 93 had been resolved.

One point made was that often Cameca USA does not have many parts on hand

(especially the expensive ones) as they have to purchase them from France

and then resell them to us. All users were glad to see the e-mail link up

with the Connecticut office. There was a request for a similar link with

the headquarters in France. Some users wondered if Cameca could keep us

posted on a list of repairs being done to instruments around the country.

This was suggested by users as a means to establish what may go wrong and

how to solve the problem or prevent it. This idea was not received

enthusiastically as (1) not all users will experience the same problems,

and (2) it would be difficult to put out as they don't routinely keep a

file of problems. There was a long discussion for SX50 users who are in

the process of upgrading from DEC systems over the advantages of the

PC-based versus SUN-based computer systems. There was a desire to get

recommendations from Cameca for both the minimum computer requirements as

well as a top of the line set-up. The group then had small discussions

among themselves until hunger or other meetings called them away.

--Jinny Sisson (Rice)



2. SX50 meeting at American Geophysical Union meeting 12/6/94



A small group of users met Dec 6 at the AGU meeting and tried to hear

each other over the noise and hubbub of the Cadillac Bar. Mike Garcia

(Hawaii), Kelly Russell (U. British Columbia) and John Fournelle

(Wisconsin) meet with Andrew Davis of Cameca Inc. Much of the discussion

covered similar topics to those raised and discussed at the GSA meeting.

Users agreed that they have seen noticeable improvement in service and

response from Cameca.

-- Cameca assured us that there will be a west coast engineer in place in

the

second half of 1995, although they cannot yet say with certainty who it

will be.

-- Support for DEC-based systems: Cameca indicates that it will facilitate



the upgrade of DEC-based SX50s to Sun workstations [offering

'great deals' on combined computer and probe {e.g., Fast BSE} upgrades]

-- Replacement parts: 2 questions were the delay time, and quality

assurance. Andy indicated that Cameca intends to have on hand most boards

and parts. Cameca has had an SX50 electronic simulator since 1992 and tests



faulty and repaired boards on it. (Are boards from France also checked, or

sent on without checking?)

-- Reports of and fixes of software bugs and hardware problems: 2 things

here were users' request for more direct communication with the software

engineers in France, and some mechanism for communication of problems

observed/corrected by engineers to users. Re the first, Andy indicated that

Cameca France will soon be online for email, but that his preferred route

for

software problems would be thru him. Re the second, Andy deferred to the

engineers [see below].

-- Andy raised something that we all can appreciate: a long needed change

in the phone system at Cameca to give users an easier time, with voice

mail provision [should be in place very soon]

One additional thing raised was how to best use the Internet to serve

our users group, in particular having something like a newsgroup that would

function more as a repository of info (vs an automated mail-forwarding

system [listserve]), with FAQ (frequently asked questions) for users

about common problems.

--John Fournelle (Wisconsin)



3. Update as of 1/24/95

-- Andy informs us that there will be a software release for Open Windows

for Sun-based SX50s in the summer of 1995; this will give SX50s the

some of the same "feel" as the new SX100 software to the extent that the

hardware is not different.

-- There is a small technical manual for the Fast BSE detector that may not

have been distributed to all users with that option. Contact Sam if you do

not have it and would like one.

-- Sam expressed much interest in using internet for spreading technical

info;

in particular, he expressed interest in "publishing" electronically an

occasional "technical bulletin" to make users aware of significant problems

that may have been encountered and possible fixes (e.g. High voltage flash

that may affect PHA boards). He also strongly supported users creating some

kind of "bulletin board" to report bugs and problems which other users

could

read and comment on whether they have seen similar problems; this would

then be helpful for the engineers to sort out "isolated, one of a kind"

problems

from ones possibly endemic of many/most machines.



= Regarding the developing of archives and FTP sites for SX50 users;

Mike Comerford (Ohio State) has gone over the past year's messages and

archived them into different folders and is in the process of

setting up a WWW (World Wide Web) site there for the users group.

Once that is worked out, we could also put the archives,

bulletin boards, etc. in the 2 FTP sites that users in Alaska and UK have

offered, for users not able to access the WWW site. Or so the theory

goes...

--John Fournelle



4. New SX50(51) user (machine on order!) to add to the users group list:

John Donovan U.C. Berkeley jdonovan@garnet.berkeley.edu



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