Leica Application
Suite
System Requirements V3.6.0
Leica Application Suite
System Requirements
Includes computer specifications for other Leica Industry Division Software
Abstract
This document describes the microscopes, cameras and accessories that are supported by this version of LAS
and defines the computer system requirements. You should read this document before installing your copy of
this software.
Also included in this document are computer systems specifications for use with some other current Leica
Industry Division software products. Please refer to the software product specifications for hardware supported
by these products and not this document.
All reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that this publication is correct and complete, but should any user
be in doubt about any detail, clarification may be sought from Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd, or their
accredited representative. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not
be construed as a commitment by Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd. Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd
accepts no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.
Copyright © 2010 Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd
All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any form, or communicated to a third party without prior written permission of Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd.
Due to a policy of continuous development, we reserve the right to change specifications without notice.
Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows, the Windows logo, the Windows 2000 logo, the Windows XP logo, the Windows Vista logo and the Windows 7 logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Date: April 2010
Issue: 19
Printed in UK
Table of Contents
1 Supported Microscopes, Cameras and Accessories 1
1.1 DM Microscopes .................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Stereo- and Macroscopes .................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Cameras .................................................................................................................................................... 3
2 Computer System (PC) Specification 4
2.1 Software Products using this Specification ...................................................................................... 4
2.2 Processor ................................................................................................................................................. 4
2.3 Interfaces ................................................................................................................................................. 5
2.4 Operating System ................................................................................................................................... 5
2.5 Other Components .................................................................................................................................. 6
2.6 Notebook Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 6
3 LAS Power Mosaic Supported Components 7
3.1 Summary................................................................................................................................................... 7
3.2 PC Requirements .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Microscopes supported ........................................................................................................................ 7
3.4 DFC Cameras Supported by Power Mosaic ...................................................................................... 7
3.5 Oasis-Blue Power Mosaic Kit .............................................................................................................. 8
3.6 Motorized Stage with Stepper Motors ............................................................................................... 8
3.7 Motorized Focus ..................................................................................................................................... 8
3.8 Encoder Option ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.9 OASIS-4i Upgrade Kit ............................................................................................................................. 8
4 Factors that may reduce performance 10
1 Supported Microscopes, Cameras and Accessories
The following Leica microscopes and digital cameras are supported.
For other Leica Industry division software products please refer to the software product specifications for supported hardware and not this section.
For LAS Power Mosaic, please see Section 3 for supported equipment.
1.1 DM Microscopes
DM1000, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000 B/M, 4500 B, 4500 P, 5000 B, 5500 B, 6000 B/M
DMI4000 B, 5000 M and 6000 B
DM500, DM750, DM750 P
FSC, FSM
CTR 4000-6500
Accessories for DM
Scanning stages
External light source EL6000
External filter wheels
TIRF module
Motorized duo documentation tube
Oasis-blue XYZ controller
1.2 Stereo- and Macroscopes
DVM2000
DVM3000 and DVM5000 (for firmware update only)
LED illumination LED3000 RL (ring light)
KL1500 LED Plus
LED illuminations LED5000 CXI (coax) and LED3000 NVI (near vertical)
Manual stereomicroscopes M50, M60 and M80
M205A, fully motorized stereomicroscope with 20.5:1 zoom range
M205FA, fully motorized fluorescence stereomicroscope with 20.5:1 zoom range
M165FC, manual fluorescence stereomicroscope with coded filter wheel, zoom and iris and 16.5:1 zoom range
M125, manual stereomicroscope with 12.5:1 zoom range
M-Series Long / Short Motor Focus Columns (10450258 and 10450050)
M-Series Long / Short Focus Columns (10450257 and 10450022)
FluoCombiTM attachment for fluorescence stereomicroscope with coded objective positions
Fluorescence objective revolver with coded objective positions
Coded Stereo Zooms M165C and M205C
LED illumination for VZ series (10450433 and 10450432)
LED illumination LED5000 MCI, LED5000 HDI and LED5000 RL-80/48
LAS System Requirements Page 1
USB interface for new manual focus drive coarse/fine
MZ-Series Long / Short Motor Focus Columns (10446041 and 10446176)
MZ 16A and MZ 16FA
Z 6 APOA and Z 16 APOA
IsoProTM motorized XY stage
Configuration of new footswitch
Configuration of UMC
MZ 16F, MZ 16
MZ 12.5
MZ10 F
MZ 9.5, MZ 7.5, MZ 6
MS 5
S6D
S8 APO
Z6 APO, Z16 APO
VZ85, VZ85 R, VZ85 C, VZ85 RC, VZ105, VZ105 C, VZ15 M
EZ4 D (NOT Windows Vista, Windows 7)
MacrofluoTM
Fluocombi / Revolving nosepiece
Support by USB for TL RCI and IsoProTM motorized XY stage
Support for USB / RS 232 serial adapter (Art. No. 11532295)
Transmitted light base for Stereo Microscopes TL RCITM
External light sources (Photonic CLS 150XD, CLS 150LS, Schott KL 2005 LCD, EL6000)
Oasis-blue XY controller (not Power Mosaic)
LAS System Requirements Page 2
1.3 Cameras
FireWire A (1394a)
FireWire B (1394b)
USB2
DFC280
DFC295
IC80 HD
DFC290
DFC290 HD
ICC50
DFC320
DFC310 FX
DFC300 FX
DFC345 FX
DFC340 FX
DFC360 FX
DFC350 FX
DFC400
DFC420
DFC425
DFC420 C
DFC425 C
DFC480
DFC495
DFC490
DVM2000
IC D
IC 3D
DFC500
Support for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7
This release supports the following Leica Digital Cameras on a Windows PC meeting the requirements detailed in Section 2:
NOT Supported
LAS does not support the following:
Matrox Meteor 2 or Leutron frame grabbers
Leica EC3
Leica DFC300, DFC300F, DFC350F
Leica DC100, DC150, DC160, DC180, DC200, DC250, DC300, DC300F, DC300FX, DC350F, DC350FX, DC480, DC500
LAS System Requirements Page 3
2 Computer System (PC) Specification
2.1 Software Products using this Specification
PC Specification for LAS software
This PC specification is targeted at Leica LAS software V3 or higher.
The minimum recommended PC specification is described below. Lower specifications may limit the performance and some features of LAS.
If using Windows Vista or Windows 7, a Windows experience index of 3.5 is required for simple acquisition and 4.5 or higher where multiple images are being processed.
Other Leica Software using this PC Specification
This PC specification also applies to the following software products with the restrictions mentioned:
Leica Servers - only with Windows XP and Vista 32-bit
Leica QWin - only with Windows XP and Vista 32-bit
Leica Materials Workstation - only with Windows XP and Vista 32-bit
Leica Stereo Explorer – only with Windows XP 32-bit
For all other software products, please refer to their individual specifications.
Leica LAS EZ software
LAS EZ does not require a Firewire interface. Minimum RAM of 1Gb combined with the other specification details as follows is acceptable. Not for use with Windows 7.
Leica DFC Twain software
The PC specification will depend on the requirements of the host software application and the suppliers own specifications for their software should be followed. The specification following is typical.
2.2 Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo with nominal CPU clock > 2GHz or Intel Pentium 4 32-bit (x86) Processor with nominal CPU clock of > 3.0GHz and including at least:
Leica IM – only with Windows XP 32-bit
2MbL2 cache 800 Mhz FSB
2GB or higher of system RAM is strongly recommended. Where application is limited to LAS Core and Windows XP, 1GB may be acceptable. For processing large image stacks, 4GB is useful. For use with DFC500 RAM must be less than 4GB.
Hard Drive: 80GB or higher, SATA 7200 rpm, 8MB cache, NTFS
Display and Graphics - 19 or greater size monitor, one or two monitors, set to screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 or 1600 x 1200 or 1280 1024
Graphics card minimum parameters:
128Mb Ram minimum for single screen or 256Mb Ram for dual screen 128-bit memory bus width 32 bits operation Support for Direct X Version 9c or Direct X Version 10 for Windows Vista or Windows 7. PCI Express
LAS System Requirements Page 4
It is vital that the manufacturer's latest graphics drivers are installed for LAS to display images and
Manufacturer
Model
Ports
Chipset
Leica Article Nr
1394b
I O I
FWB-PCI 02
2-port 1394b PCI-64
Texas Instruments
11 600 274
Zenkuman
PFW-85
2-port 1394b PCI-32
Texas Instruments
36 000 191
I O I
FWB-PCIE
1X21B
3-port 1394b PCI
Express
Agere
12 730 210
1394a
LaCie
107355
3+1 port 1394a PCI-32
VIA
12730183
the user interface correctly and particularly for use with the LAS 3D Viewer and LAS MultiTime –
Movie modules. Obtain these from the PC or graphics board manufacturer, not Microsoft Corp.
2.3 Interfaces
Leica DFC Cameras
Depending on the type of camera, a powered 1394a 6-pin or 1394b 9-pin FireWire OHCI port is
required for use with Leica DFC cameras. As FireWire interface boards from some manufacturers
have issues with non-Leica drivers, we recommend the use of the FireWire boards in the list below.
Please note that you will also need the FireWire-b-b cable 12730186, if both camera and PC have a
1394b or FireWire-b connector.
The following cards are recommended:
The recommended minimum graphics adaptors are the Radeon X800, ATI Fire GL V7200or a recent NVidia Quadro graphics adaptor using the PCI Express bus or later models.
For Dual Screen operation, Windows 7 is recommended.
‘Integrated’ graphics cards may have reduced performance and are not recommended. Use of system or shared memory by the graphic card will impair performance. Some annotation and measurement overlays may not perform as expected.
All DFC cameras are supplied with a suitable FireWire cable.
For non-powered 4-pin (iLink) or 6-pin FireWire ports, the Laptop power kit 12730188 is needed.
Other Leica Cameras and EZ4 D
USB2 port is required for the EZ4 D, IC80 HD or ICC50.
Microscopes
USB2 interface ports are needed for the microscope and other external device control.
One or two serial interface ports for older generation microscopes.
Dongles
A USB port is required for each application in use at the same time:
Leica QWin and Materials Workstation – one combined
Stereo Explorer
Optional for Leica LAS dongle.
2.4 Operating System
LAS System Requirements Page 5
Supported versions of Windows are:
Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, 32 or 64-bit
Windows Vista Business with service pack 2, 32 or 64-bit
Windows XP Professional Edition with service pack 2 or 3 is required. 32 bit only
Installation is as an Administrator. The User Account determines normal operation of LAS. Windows 4Gb RAM required for 64-bit unless DFC500 is used.
Multi-lingual support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean require Windows 7 Ultimate or Vista Ultimate.
Note that a back-up device and a back-up strategy for images and databases is essential. The user must ensure that regular and reliable back up of important files is performed.
Windows Media Player must be installed or LAS will not grab images.
The Windows Hardware Detection Service must not be disabled or LAS will not start.
Windows 2000 is not supported.
2.5 Other Components
Keyboard and PC Mouse with wheel. The wheel should also act as a third button.
DVD-ROM compatible drive is required to install the LAS software.
400W PSU if all options are installed.
Full-height card slots for optional interface boards e.g. Oasis. The slot next to the Oasis board needs to be free or at least the next board must have low profile components.
Approximately 2 Gbytes of disk space for a full installation and an additional free space of 10Gbytes
for efficient operation. Further space is required for data and image storage, which depends on the
application and frequency of use. The free space must be checked regularly.
2.6 Notebook Recommendations
Notebooks and Laptops are normally designed for power saving rather than performance and so it is
necessary to be careful in identifying suitable configurations. The true ‘desktop replacements’ using
desktop components in a movable but very heavy box should be compared with the Desktop
specification above.
Some Notebooks have automatic power saving features. Please be aware that LAS cannot control these and if they become activated, the performance of LAS will be very poor as will other programs.
Notebooks cannot be fitted with the Oasis XYZ control board so cannot be used with LAS Power Mosaic, LAS Cleanliness Expert, LAS QWin etc when a motorised stage or focus are to be used and are connected to an Oasis XYZ control board.
Otherwise the recommended processor is the Intel Core 2 Duo with speed greater than 2.0GHz. As Notebook configured processors use a slower memory bus and slower hard-drives, the overall performance is not as good as the Desktop equivalents.
The smaller screen size of Laptops may not be comfortable for use with high-resolution images. Make sure that the vertical resolution is at least 1k because many Notebooks have lower vertical resolution that limits the image size and panel display.
For Notebooks it is important to ensure that the display does not use an ‘integrated’ graphics
controller. This will severely restrict live image performance. A dedicated and modern graphics
controller is needed such as NVidia Quadro NVS 160M or later.
LAS System Requirements Page 6
3 LAS Power Mosaic Supported Components
12 730 181
LAS Power Mosaic
12 730 182
LAS Power Mosaic Plus
12 730 193
Oasis-blue XYZ kit for Power Mosaic
12 730 194
Upgrade kit for Oasis-4i XYZ for Power Mosaic
12 730 195
Oasis-blue Encoder kit for Power Mosaic
12 730 196
Märzhäuser Scanning Stage, 130x85mm, 2mm with Encoders
12 730 197
Märzhäuser Scanning Stage, 130x85mm, 2mm
12 730 198
Stage insert for one slide for SCAN 130 x 85
12 730 199
Stage insert for four slides for SCAN 130 x 85
10 450 219
Oasis-blue XY kit for Power Mosaic and IsoPro stage
10 450 218
IsoPro 6x4" motorized XY-stage V2
3.1 Summary
Note – LAS Power Mosaic and LAS Power Mosaic Plus do not support motorised focus with Stereomicroscopes.
3.2 PC Requirements
Due to the large image data handled by Power Mosaic, a very fast PC is required with at least 2Gb RAM. The hard-drive must be very fast and very large.
3.3 Microscopes supported
DM 5500 B, 6000 B/M
DM 4000 M - With addition of external focus motor
Generic microscopes with motor stage and motor focus
In combination with IsoProTM stage - Macroscopes (Z16APOA, Z6APOA, Z16APO, Z16APO) or any Leica current stereomicroscope.
3.4 DFC Cameras Supported by Power Mosaic
Please note ONLY the cameras mentioned are supported for Power Mosaic.
Turboscan and standard scan mode
DFC400, DFC300FX, DFC310FX, DFC350FX, DFC360FX - Require trigger cable included with Oasisblue kit
Standard scan only – limited performance
DFC290, DFC295, DFC420, DFC425 - Do not use a trigger cable.
The Set Shading feature sometimes fails with these cameras, please contact Di.Support for advice.
LAS System Requirements Page 7
3.5 Oasis-Blue Power Mosaic Kit
10 450 219 Oasis-blue XY kit for Power Mosaic and IsoPro stage is required for use with the Leica IsoPro V2 stage.
12 730 193 Oasis-blue Controller board and Cable Kit for stepper stages includes:
XY Cable with Märzhäuser Round Connectors
Z axis and DFC Trigger Cable split cable
Smart Move or Joystick I/F Cable
MIC Box Pass-Thru (cable / ribbon cable / plate)
Focus adapter for Märzhäuser /DM6000/ Prior focus drive
3.6 Motorized Stage with Stepper Motors
The current Märzhäuser ‘Scan’ series for DM4-6K and for DMI can be used. For the upright stands, the following are recommended:
12 730 196 Märzhäuser Scanning Stage, 100x80mm, 2mm with Encoders
Requires 12 730 195 Oasis-blue Encoder kit for Power Mosaic
12 730 197 Märzhäuser Scanning Stage, 100x80mm, 2mm
At least one stage insert is also required:
12 730 198 Stage insert for one slide for SCAN 130 x 85
12 730 199 Stage insert for four slides for SCAN 130 x 85
The Smart Move controls the stage and focus - the focus knob on the microscope stand is disabled.
11 505 180 Smart Move for DM/DMI Series
10 450 218 IsoPro 6x4" motorized xy-stage V2 – note this stage is the new V2 stage that includes encoders.
3.7 Motorized Focus
DM5500-6000 use internal focus motor
Driven by Oasis using CTR MIC control cable with Z breakout.
DM4000 use external Märzhäuser focus drive
Included with 11 101 938 DM4000 M stand
3.8 Encoder Option
12 730 195 Oasis-blue Encoder kit for Power Mosaic
Used where best accuracy is required with high-mag objectives
Daughter board that fits on the Oasis-Blue board
Modified XY Cable for Encoder Inputs
Requires 12 730 196 Märzhäuser Scanning Stage, 100x80mm, 2mm with Encoders
3.9 OASIS-4i Upgrade Kit
Enables customers with previous generation Oasis boards to upgrade
Assumes that the microscopes and stage control is already functioning
LAS System Requirements Page 8
12 730 194 Kit includes
OASIS-DC1 daughter board
DFC Camera Trigger Cable
Does not include Smart Move kit.
Note – Oasis-4i will require a license code to be supplied, please contact DI.Support for this.
LAS System Requirements Page 9
4 Factors that may reduce performance
The following is a non-exclusive list of PC components that may degrade the performance of LAS. It is strongly recommended that the performance of LAS with a specific PC is tested to be acceptable before committing to its use.
LAS is for Windows-PC based computers only and is not available for Apple Mac computers.
Integrated graphics, AGP graphics, graphics that share CPU memory, using a mobile graphic device
Display on dual monitors with low performance graphics card
Use of displays with less than 1024 vertical resolution
Less than 400 Mbytes free RAM before LAS starts (700Mbyte is required for LAS MultiFocus and LAS MultiStep, 1Gb for LAS Power Mosaic). With Windows Vista or Windows 7 2Gb or more RAM is essential.
Other programs running at the same time as LAS
Using a Celeron processor or any processor other than the recommended Pentium or Core-duo range
Using Althlon processors
Using any power saving on the system
Using ‘sleep’ mode ‘hibernation’, auto power down modes
Windows versions other than those recommended
Personally constructed PCs or operating systems
An environment that is an upgrade of the original manufacture-installed operating system
Multi-boot environments
Shadow or Animated cursors and UI graphics
There is no expectation that the use of hyper threading, will give a performance gain
Saving images on a remote / server PC
LAS System Requirements Page 10
Leica Microsystems (Switzerland) Ltd. Telephone: +44 1223 411411
Stereo and Macroscope Systems Fax: +44 1223 210692
CH 9435 Heerbrugg Hotline: +44 1223 401824
Switzerland di.support@leica-microsystems.com
www.microscopy-imaging.com
LAS System Requirements Page 11
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