BIO RAD PTC-200 Operation Manual page 85

DNA Engine Operations Manual
If the right or left block of a dual-block Alpha unit has been selected, an A or B will
appear after the address number (e.g., 7-3A for the right-hand block in a Dual Alpha
unit loaded into quadrant 3 of a DNA Engine Tetrad at address 7. See figure 12-1 for
a diagram of the layout of quadrants in the DNA Engine Tetrad cycler).
Press «Cancel» at any time to abandon the selection process and display the Main
Menu again.
When the desired block is identified in the LCD window, press «Proceed». When you
have worked through the screens that set up the protocol's temperature control
method, the protocol will begin running.
The protocol's runtime screen will appear on the controller's LCD window. The LCD
window of the instrument holding the active block will continue to show whatever
screen it was displaying before the protocol began running.
Press «Block» to display the Main Menu on the controller again. Repeat the proce-
dure to run protocols on other networked blocks. Press «Block» on the controller to
progressively display the runtime screens of all networked blocks that are running
protocols.
While protocols are running, other DNA Engine cycler functions (Edit, Enter, Files,
etc.) can be accessed on any individual instrument in the network, from that instru-
ment's front panel.
Networking Instruments with a Computer
For users who wish to write their own software interface for computer control of Bio-
Rad DNA Engine® line thermal cyclers, including the DNA Engine (PTC-0200),
Bio-Rad provides a set of ASCII commands, or Remote Command Sets, for com-
munication with the cyclers. These may be downloaded from www.bio-rad.com, or
obtained from Bio-Rad Technical Support.A computer-controlled network can be
connected via IEEE-488 cables or RS-232 (serial) cables. In either case, the com-
puter acts as the controller of the network and uses the driver software to
communicate with the networked instruments.
Establishing Communication Using the Remote Interfaces
The DNA Engine remote control interface is based on the IEEE-488.2 standard. The
GPIB interface is fully compatible with both this standard and the IEEE-488.1 hard-
ware standard.
The serial remote interface uses an identical command set which includes the IEEE-
488.2 required common commands. On a DNA Engine, multiple commands or
queries may be contained in one message as long as they are separated by semi-
colons. Corresponding responses to any queries will be returned in a single
message, also separated by semicolons.
9-4 Tech Support: 1-800-4BIORAD • 1-800-424-6723 • www.bio-rad.com