(This is an old version referring to the DOS based system, there will be an update for the Windows version)
Not counting archive medium or (color) printer the hardware required is under $5000
Base Pentium computer with 8 mbyte, large hard disk,
B/W card and monitor, DOS 6.2, mouse,
SVGA card and appropriate monitor .......... $2000-3000 Labmaster,
16 to 64 channels, cables, etc .... $1435-2000
The necessary computer is a fairly standard 386, 486 or Pentium PC using the AT and/or PCI bus. The laboratory connection is via the Labmaster card, either the older Labmaster DMA or the newer Labmaster AD, which provides the analog to digital convertor for EEG input, analog output for stimulus control, and parallel digital I/O for response and event interface. The system operates in a dual monitor mode utilizing the standard monochrome display adapter for the command interface and the SVGA for color display of signals and maps. The extended VGA mode of 800 by 600 by 256 colors is used for map display. Presently our software supports a limited number of SVGA cards including: the Tecmar VGA/AD, any SVGA using the Tseng ET4000 chip ( this includes the Diamond Speed Star, the Sigma Legend and several other boards), and the ATI Ultra Pro (supplied with Gateway 486 systems) . A monitor that can handle the 800 by 600 SVGA mode is required, such as the NEC multisynchs or the CrystalScan. Enough disk capacity is needed to store continuous EEG for the length required by your experimental design. This usually means having a fairly large area dedicated to EEG/EP data. Generally it is useful to have enough space to collect additional data before archiving or processing. Around 50 mBytes is necessary for DOS and programs, etc. Generally 100 mbyte or bigger disk should be obtained. The faster the disk drive the better.
The EEG is collected into a standard DOS file and thus can be copied to any standard DOS media. This could be a Bernoulli cartridge, tape cartridge, or optical disk. Collection can also be directly to removable storage depending on speed, channels, epoch length, etc (e.g., one sleep lab collects 14 hour 16 channel data directly to optical media). Additional system memory is needed to effectively run DOS and memory managers. The usual 4 mbyte ram supplied with most 386 or 486 configurations is adequate but 8 megs is better, also 8 megs are almost mandatory for running Windows these days. The computer requires two displays: one is the standard monochrome display adapter and the second is the extended VGA color display. Our software is written specifically for the SVGA's mentioned above.
The software has been tested on 386, 486 and Pentium systems from several manufacturers including Dell, Compaq, and Gateway. The only problem that has been occasionally encountered is difficulty with running the dual monitor configuration, some motherboards do not seem to properly support this mode, even though it is supposed to be an AT and DOS standard. Several labs are using systems from Gateway.
The current requirement is one of the SVGA boards mentioned above, most have a 800x600 by 256 color as well as 1024x780 by 16 color modes. We use the 800 by 600 by 8 bit mode. Any board that supports the VESA Bios standard is useable or any board based on the ET4000 chip set. Although other Super VGA boards also have these extended modes the software has presently been written for the manner in which these boards implement these modes. A multichannel display can look very cramped on a 14 or 15 inch monitor. The extended VGA mode and our anti-aliased display looks particularly good on one of the better 17 inch monitors. These run about $700-800.
EEGSYS (DOS version) supports only two A/D boards, the older Labmaster DMA or the new Labmaster AD (Advanced Design). Any one getting a new system should plan to use the newer board.
Labmaster Advanced Design.
This is an updated version of the previous board, with a faster ADC and FIFO memory buffering and using a 16 bit bus interface. Similar to above you need the base board for 16 channels (813538 or 813548) $1435, and the 64 channel ADC multiplexor (813542 $494) for more channels. This comes complete with cables and screw terminal board. See the attached sheets for more details on part numbers, etc.
Digital Distributors also sells Labmaster and related components:
Digital Distributors 408-479-5432, 800-227-0349
2808 Soquel Ave Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Dennis Robertson at Digital Distributors has been particularly helpful and is familiar with our system. The LabMaster AD prices are from him.
(Note: The new Windows version will use a newer, yet to be determined A/D board. We will probably work out some patches to allow using the newer board with the DOS version)
Long-term storage is needed with device drivers that allow transparent access to programs through calls to MS-DOS. Both optical Write-Once-Read-Many discs and magnetic tapes appear to offer satisfactory performance. The main hard disk will hold the operating system, the EEG collection and analysis programs and a database of analyzed results; a separate subdirectory will be used for the acquisition of experimental data. Following the initial analysis of data, it will be transferred to an archival storage medium which may vary in type among the laboratories. There are many storage devices now avaiable like Iomega's Zip and Jaz drives or other optical disks, DAT, and even CDR (Recordable CD)
Any printer that is supported by HALO will work with our software.A couple of inexpensive units seemed acceptable (although both are quite slow). Basically seven-color units, they can be coerced into providing more colors by dithering. An alternative is to save the color screen to a disk file and convert to TIFF or PCX format for importing to a Windows based slide program and then use any color printer witha Windows supported driver. EEGSYS includes a utility to save and convert the screen the dump.
(This is very out of date!!!!)
he following are needed to run EEGSYS:
DOS 6.2 $100 ** usually supplied with PC
PC-File (Buttonware) $79 ** (Version 5 at least, Version 7 now available)
The following are needed to recompile and rebuild the programs:
Microsoft C Compiler V7 $309 ** Visual C++ is the current MicroSoft release
FFT Subroutine Package $99 (J.W. Hartwell 919-732-7951)
vLIB Menu and window package for C
(Prices are only approximate.