3.8 Computer Preparation
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Installation Planning Guide
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3.8 Computer Preparation
MERCURY-VX NMR spectrometers are operated using a Sun Microsystems computer,
which may have been purchased from Varian or separately. In either case, certain
preparations are required. Some of these preparations were outlined previously in the
section “Electrical Outlets.” The following sections contain additional considerations.
Magnetic Field Precautions for Computers and Peripherals
The spectrometer host computer system and storage media (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks,
streaming magnetic tape cartridges) must be located at a sufficient distance from the
magnet that the magnetic field cannot damage the data. For a Sun workstation, this
specification is less than 5 gauss. The distances at which this gauss level is present are
different for each kind of magnet and must be taken into account when planning the room
size. See the field plots in
Chapter 5, “Stray Magnetic Fields,” on page 35
for typical
distances at which various gauss levels exist for particular magnets, but be aware that these
distances vary somewhat for each magnet and should be checked after a magnet is installed.
Configuring the Sun Computer
The MERCURY-VX system uses a Sun SPARCstation as a host computer. This computer
must have a minimum of 32 megabytes (MB) of RAM or more. One or more hard disks
(internal and/or external) can be present, with a minimum total disk space of 1 gigabyte
(GB).
Graphics can be “plain” or the GX version (the GX version provides higher performance).
Graphics higher than GX (i.e., GXplus, GS, GT) are not supported by Varian software.
Varian has not performed a full evaluation of higher lever graphics boards and cannot
guarantee complete compatibility.
Purchasing Software Media
Sun computers, whether purchased from Sun or from Varian, include the UNIX “right-to-
use” license. In general, they do not have the operating system media included; that is, a
CD-ROM containing the relevant version of Solaris.
Media is separately purchased. One copy of the media on hand for the installation is
required, and this media must be for the relevant version of Solaris. You may purchase the
CD-ROM from Varian, you may purchase it from Sun through “SunExpress” (phone 1-800-
USA4SUN), or you may borrow the CD-ROM from another computer (this is completely
legal because of your right-to-use license).
Installing Sun and VNMR Software
Sun Solaris operating system software, as discussed below, is shipped on a CD-ROM and
must be installed locally from a locally-mounted CD-ROM drive. You must have a CD-
ROM drive available for installation of Solaris—a CD-ROM drive is not automatically
included with the computer or with a spectrometer purchase.
Varian VNMR software is provided on a CD-ROM, and instructions are provided for
installing it locally. To install VNMR software, you must have a CD-ROM drive available,
either directly connected to the computer (locally-mounted) or connected to another
computer on the network (remotely-mounted).
