Starting Data Acquisition
After launching, LabHelper runs a speed test and checks for the presence of the Lab-NB, DAQCard-1200, -16XE-50, or PCI-1200 and software drivers. It assumes the FIRST board it finds is the one you want to use.
If the drivers are missing
or if no internal board is found, a warning message appears (shown at right).
You can quit or proceed with either a simulated A-D converter (the 'Test mode' button) or a Remote Measurement Systems ADC-1 or a Data Electronics DataTaker. In the latter case the program assumes the ADC-1 or DataTaker is connected to the computer's modem port (you can change this from the A-D menu).
To proceed with ADC-1 or DataTaker setup, click the 'external A-D' button and select which device to use, at which point the sign-on message and logo (a nice [?] picture of a warthog) will appear.
If you have an internal A-D board, the sign-on message and logo appear after the speed check without additional user input.
An icon of the A-D converter in use will appear in the upper left corner of the window (and subsequently in other parts of the program):
When the sign-on
message and logo are on-screen, you can access the menu or the help screens
(found under the Apple menu or, in OS 8 or later, in the 'help' menu).
To move to the next step, click the mouse once. The logo will disappear
and the window for selecting recording
modes will appear in its place. From here you can select the
mode and number of channels you want, or choose a pre-recorded setup file.
If you click the setup file button, a standard file selection dialog appears,
showing available setup files. After selecting one of these, you are
routed directly to the Display Setup
window .
FILE NAME AND
COMMENTS If you selected Oscilloscope, Oscilloscope
plus chart, or Multichannel oscilloscope mode, after you exit the Display Setup window you will be presented
with a standard Mac dialog requesting a file root name. Saved oscilloscope
screens will have a name consisting of the root (e.g., 'bird data') plus
a suffix corresponding to the sequence number of the file (e.g., 'bird data
1', 'bird data 2', 'bird data 3', etc.). You will be warned if the
first file in the sequence already exists.
After the file root is selected, the program presents a window for entering a comment string (which can have up to 32,000 characters) and data for gas exchange calculations (body mass, air flow rate, barometric pressure, etc.). Edit these as necessary (they usually can be ignored for oscilloscope data), then click the 'Selection OK' button.
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