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Automated Multiple Development with CAMAG AMD 2 – now controlled by visionCATS

Chromatographic separation of complex samples is a challenging task for every laboratory, particularly when the components span a wide polarity range. The AMD (Automated Multiple Development) offers a convenient and most efficient solution. It employs stepwise elution over increasing solvent migration distances with a gradient that can be designed according to the requirements of the sample.

Typical applications for AMD analysis are lipid analysis, routine analysis of drinking water, pigment formulations with a complex composition, and resins as well as heavy petroleum products, just to name a few.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

Release Number: 2.5.18072.1
Release Date: 2018-02-22

Customer Support: For more information or support, please visit our website or email us at support@camag.com

Introduction

This document contains the release notes for visionCATS version 2.5. The following sections describe the release in detail and provide late-breaking or other information that supplements the main documentation.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

Installation

See the installation instructions for full details.

IMPORTANT: You must completely uninstall any previous “developer release” or “early access” version of this product before installing this release.

IMPORTANT: When upgrading from visionCATS 2.3 (with or without SP1), the installer will end with a message “Please (re)install .Net Framework 4.6.1 or greater.” on machines having the .NET Framework 4.7 (either manually installed, via Windows Update or by default on Windows 10 Creators Update). This error can be safely ignored.

Manifest

This release consists of the following items:

Release notes
Drivers
Instrument Firmware
visionCATS installer
Example Files and Template Files (you may import them after installation

System Requirements

Recommended:
3rd gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i5 (i5-3xxx) or equivalent
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon R9 270
8 GB RAM
Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise) 64-bit
True color 32bits, Full HD (or higher) monitor resolution with a Windows Aero theme enabled
1 TB Hard Drive (frequent user)
Mouse with a scroll wheel and 3 buttons

Minimum:
3rd gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i3 (i3-3xxx) or equivalent
Nvidia GeForce GT 750M or Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580
4 GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
True color 32bits, 1280 x 1024 monitor resolution with a Windows Aero theme enabled
500 GB Hard Drive (occasional user)
Mouse or touchpad with 2 buttons

This version has been tested and released on Win7 64bit and Win10 64bit (see “Known issues” for detailed information).

For “server only” installation: This version has been tested and released on Windows Server 2012 R2 (domain controller excluded).

What’s new in visionCATS 2.5?

• Improved search in Explorer
• New concentration unit type choices in evaluation
• Analysis and Comparison Profile Wavelength view
• Peak detection in Comparison Profile
• HPTLC log in report
• Open as
• Notifications on analysis progress
• Profile viewer with docking or multi windows
• visionCATS Diagnostics

Known Problems and Workarounds

Issue: After re-installing with different server and instrument service ports, no instrument service are available.
WORKAROUND: Restart the service visionCATS Server.

Issue: The camera is not recognized anymore after the PC was in sleep or hibernate mode.
WORKAROUND: Some USB3 controllers have some issues with the camera, like the Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller. Restart the machine to resolve the problem, and disable sleep mode to prevent the problem from occurring again.

Issue: Blue screen when capture image with TLC Visualizer on a Windows 10
WORKAROUND: Go to Power Options/Choose what the power button does/Change settings that are currently available/Shutdown settings and disable the option “Turn on fast startup”

Issue: A click on the OK button of the message box appearing when an error occurs during a step execution, while the instrument is already executing a step of another analysis, causes an error to occur in the step currently in progress.
WORKAROUND: When the error message appears, click on the OK button before starting the execution of the other step.

Issue: The import of winCATS methods won’t import steps of instruments not supported in visionCATS, and some winCATS specific parameters will be ignored.
REASON: winCATS and visionCATS don’t exactly support the same set of instruments, and for each instrument, the exact same set of parameters
WORKAROUND: After having imported some winCATS methods, visionCATS will inform the user when some steps are ignored. In all cases, please review the imported methods.

Issue: After changing of the Visualizer, a Visualizer cannot be executed in an analysis already having images
REASON: Only one Visualizer can be used in an analysis
WORKAROUND: Redo the analysis

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, an already opened analysis with a Visualizer step waiting for execution, or Visualizer Manual control or OQ may behave strangely (using the old camera, bad image corrections…)
WORKAROUND: Before changing of a camera, close all analyses with the next step as Visualizer and Visualizer views

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, the Visualizer icon in the toolbox isn’t marked as having a bad Diagnostic
WORKAROUND: Restart the client

Issue: While using two Visualizers on a single PC, one or both cameras aren’t detected, or the camera of one Visualizer seems to be connected to the other.
WORKAROUND: We strongly suggest to use only one Visualizer per Instrument Service (PC)

Issue: No image appears in Data or in Comparison after the initial installation of visionCATS on the PC
WORKAROUND: Restart Windows

Issue: Sequence table doesn’t allow to drag and drop a multi-selection
WORKAROUND: Before clicking for drag and during the drag, hold SHIFT key for dragging a multi-selection

Issue: Application crashes after clicking on an image or opening a comparison
WORKAROUND: Update your graphic driver to the latest version

Issue: After installation, no visionCATS is installed. Also, the SQL Server service may not want to start.
WORKAROUND: Change the name of the user which installs the application, so that the username is different from PC and domain name

Issue: Instruments aren’t responding correctly
WORKAROUND: Check if you have an Intel(R) Active Management Technology – SOL COM port on your machine, and disable the corresponding COM port in visionCATS/General Settings

Issue: When using offline help, the display of some pages is very slow
REASON: the page requests an online resource that is not accessible, causing the slow down
WORKAROUND: use the online help when possible. If not possible, try using Chrome or Firefox (instead of Internet Explorer), where the slow down occurs less often.

Issue: visionCATS fails in Scanner/Scanner 3 Diagnostics if the Positioning-Test is started in the same session.
REASON: Scanner data of the new test cannot be stored for later processing. This does not invalidate the test results of the previous run.
WORKAROUND: Close the current Scanner Instrument Tab and reopen it. Attention: just switching between the Tabs inside the Instrument Tab will not prevent the failure. You need to close the Instrument Tab.

Issue: When installing visionCATS’ client on machines with Windows of different language (different code page), or restoring a backup on a machine with Windows of another language (code page), all passwords are corrupted.
REASON: Passwords are encrypted using the code page of the local machine (client).
WORKAROUND: All visionCATS machines of a system (clients and server) should have the same Windows code page.

The HPTLC Method Library: A visionCATS feature supporting your herbal drug and food analyses. Cannabis analysis is a new example.

As reported in the CAMAGflash August 2015, USP had published the latest version of the Dietary Supplement Compendium (DSC). For HPTLC users worldwide this was a milestone since heretofore unpublished information essential to many HPTLC users was outlined in two general chapters ‹203› and ‹1064›. These chapters clarified and sanctioned the technique and defined and explained the parameters required to run standardized HPTLC.

CAMAG’s software visionCATS provides a Method Library with procedures that are in full compliance with chapter ‹203›. All methods that have been added to the DSC are in the library. Other inclusions are methods of identification from the European Pharmacopoeia and the HPTLC Association. Methods developed by CAMAG are in the library as well. Further methods will be added as they become available.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

visionCATS now comes with a fully configurable reporting system, automated System Suitability Testing, and many more useful features

Are you already customizing your own HPTLC software solution?

Having an HPTLC report fitting your own needs or bringing your corporate design into scientific reports, has always been a top customer request. With the release of visionCATS 2.4 we decided to give you the key to defining the content and the form of your HPTLC reports. With the help available in our tutorials, you only have to design and apply your own templates to give your reports a customized touch.

Additionally, this new visionCATS version contains several features, which increase the automation level in the data evaluation, aiding you in your HPTLC data analysis. Since the beginning of the visionCATS project, we at CAMAG have always worked toward the same objective: make HPTLC analyses easy!

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

Release Number: 2.4.17207.2
Release Date: 2017-29-06

Customer Support: For more information or support, please visit our website or email us at support@camag.com

Introduction

This document contains the release notes for visionCATS version 2.4. The following sections describe the release in detail and provide late-breaking or other information that supplements the main documentation.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

Installation

See the installation instructions for full details.

IMPORTANT: You must completely uninstall any previous “developer release” or “early access” version of this product before installing this release.

IMPORTANT: When upgrading from visionCATS 2.3 (with or without SP1), the installer will end with a message “Please (re)install .Net Framework 4.6.1 or greater.” on machines having the .NET Framework 4.7 (either manually installed, via Windows Update or by default on Windows 10 Creators Update). This error can be safely ignored.

Manifest

This release consists of the following items:

Release notes
Drivers
Instrument Firmware
visionCATS installer
Example Files and Template Files (you may import them after installation)

Minimum System Requirements

CPU: 3rd gen (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i3 (i3-3xxx) or equivalent
System Memory: 4000MB
Free Disk Space (for the server installation): 100GB on the visionCATS Server
Graphic card (for each client installation): Nvidia GeForce GT 750M or Intel Iris Pro Graphics 580
Monitor: True color 32bits, 1280 x 1024 monitor resolution with a Windows Aero theme enabled
Input: Mouse or touchpad with 2 buttons
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (or ultimate) 64-bit or Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise) 64-bit or Windows Server 2012 R2 (visionCATS server only)
Networking: Internet access (only required to access the online documentation and the Method Library items)

This version has been tested and released on Win7 64bit and Win10 64bit (see “Known issues” for detailed information).

For “server only” installation: This version has been tested and released on Windows Server 2012 R2 (domain controller excluded)

What’s new in visionCATS 2.4?

• New reporting system, ability to configure the global styles and to define custom report templates for analysis and comparisons
• Automatic SST detection and check
• In evaluation: Reproducibility support, limit test support, and track profile subtraction in evaluation integration
• New “Remarks” tab in analysis
• Manual detector mode and partial scan support for Scanner 3 and Scanner 4 steps
• New “Server only” option available when installing visionCATS
• ADC 2 manual control support
• Major performance improvements on large visionCATS installations

Known Problems and Workarounds

Issue: After resinstalling with different server and instrument service ports, no instrument service are available.
WORKAROUND: Restart the service visionCATS Server.

Issue: The camera is not recognized anymore after the PC was in sleep or hibernate mode.
WORKAROUND: Some USB3 controllers have some issues with the camera, like the Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller. Restart the machine to resolve the problem, and disable sleep mode to prevent the problem from occurring again.

Issue: Blue screen when capture image with TLC Visualizer on a Windows 10
WORKAROUND: Go to Power Options/Choose what the power button does/Change settings that are currently available/Shutdown settings and disable the option “Turn on fast startup”

Issue: A click on the OK button of the message box appearing when an error occurs during a step execution, while the instrument is already executing a step of another analysis, causes an error to occurr in the step currently in progress.
WORKAROUND: When the error message appears, click on the OK button before starting the execution of the other step.

Issue: Profiles viewer stops responding when two or more viewers are visible at the same time (docking or multi windows)
WORKAROUND: Close the corresponding analysis of the blocked viewer, and reopen it without another profiles viewer being visible.

Issue: The import of winCATS methods won’t import steps of instruments not supported in visionCATS, and some winCATS specific parameters will be ignored
REASON: winCATS and visionCATS don’t exactly support the same set of instruments, and for each instrument, the exact same set of parameters
WORKAROUND: After having imported some winCATS methods, visionCATS will inform the user when some steps are ignored. In all cases, please review the imported methods.

Issue: After changing of the Visualizer, a Visualizer cannot be executed in an analysis already having images
REASON: Only one Visualizer can be used in an analysis
WORKAROUND: Redo the analysis

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, an already opened analysis with a Visualizer step waiting for execution, or Visualizer Manual control or OQ may behave strangely (using the old camera, bad image corrections…)
WORKAROUND: Before changing of a camera, close all analyses with the next step as Visualizer and Visualizer views

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, the Visualizer icon in the toolbox isn’t marked as having a bad Diagnostic
WORKAROUND: Restart the client

Issue: While using two Visualizers on a single PC, one or both cameras aren’t detected, or the camera of one Visualizer seems to be connected to the other.
WORKAROUND: We strongly suggest to use only one Visualizer per Instrument Service (PC)

Issue: No image appears in Data or in Comparison after the initial installation of visionCATS on the PC
WORKAROUND: Restart Windows

Issue: Sequence table doesn’t allow to drag and drop a multi-selection
WORKAROUND: Before clicking for drag and during the drag, hold SHIFT key for dragging a multi-selection

Issue: Application crashes after clicking on an image or opening a comparison
WORKAROUND: Update your graphic driver to the latest version

Issue: After installation, no visionCATS is installed. Also, the SQLServer service may not want to start.
WORKAROUND: Change the name of the user which installs the application, so that the username is different from PC and domain name

Issue: Instruments aren’t responding correctly
WORKAROUND: Check if you have an Intel(R) Active Management Technology – SOL COM port on your machine, and disable the corresponding COM port in visionCATS/General Settings

Issue: visionCATS displays “Out of memory” with only around 1.2GB of 4GB memory used by visionCATS, on a 32-bit system
WORKAROUND: use a 64-bit system

Issue: When using offline help, the display of some pages is very slow
REASON: the page requests an online resource that is not accessible, causing the slow down
WORKAROUND: use the online help when possible. If not possible, try using Chrome or Firefox (instead of Internet Explorer), where the slow down occurs less often.

Issue: visionCATS  fails in Scanner/Scanner 3 Diagnostics if the Positioning-Test is started  in the same session. 
REASON: Scanner data of the new test can not be stored for later processing. This does not invalidate the test results of the previous run.
WORKAROUND: Close the current Scanner Instrument Tab and reopen it. Attention: just switching between the Tabs inside the Instrument Tab will not prevent the failure. You need to close the Instrument Tab.

Issue: When installing visionCATS’s client on machines with Windows of different language (different code page), or restoring a backup on a machine with Windows of another language (code page), all passwords are corrupeted.
REASON: Passwords are encrypted using the code page of the local machine (client).
WORKAROUND: All visionCATS machines of a system (clients and server) should have the same Windows code page.

New application notes providing insight to the versatility of HPTLC

CAMAG has been supporting customers with high quality HPTLC applications for many years to demonstrate the versatility of HPTLC and ensure the acceptance of the method. To promote its use and to extend the knowledge exchange between laboratories, scientists from industry, universities and governmental bodies are invited to develop new methods in our laboratory. This will allow HPTLC to be used in new application fields, introducing methods to scientists from a greater variety of research areas.

Please join us in early July in Berlin for the International Symposium on High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography (www.hptlc.com), a perfect chance to learn more about recent developments in this analytical field! The symposium provides an ideal platform for knowledge exchange between scientists from academia, government and industry.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

CAMAG Derivatizer – New spraying device for the automated derivatization of TLC/HPTLC plates

The possibility of convenient postchromatographic derivatization is an inherent strong point of TLC/HPTLC.

For the transfer of liquid reagents, one can choose between spraying or dipping. Spraying is simple and quick, but, on the other hand, generates substantial amounts of toxic fumes. Also, especially with manual spraying, it is very difficult to achieve a homogeneous reagent distribution across the plate. Particularly for quantitative evaluation, dipping is advantageous, but there is the expense of a significantly larger consumption of reagent.

With the new CAMAG Derivatizer reagent transfer by spraying is automated and therefore no longer user dependent. Results are reproducible, quantifiable, and user safety is no longer a concern due to trapping of the toxic fumes by the instrument.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

International Symposium for High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography, Berlin, Germany, 4–8 July 2017

CAMAG is one of several major sponsors of the 23^rd International Symposium for High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography. The symposium provides an ideal platform for exchange between participating scientists from academia, government and industry.

All areas of HPTLC will be covered with experts holding presentations in fields like pharmaceuticals, herbals, food, environmental products and in the medical field. Papers are presented on e.g. theoretical aspects of the methodology, on method development, method validation, on hyphenated techniques, as well as quantitative and qualitative applications.

A number of world renowned experts in the field of HPTLC will participate and an amazing number of young researchers will present their latest work in this field. Meet you all there.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.

Release Number: 2.3.17006.1 (2.3 SP1)
Release Date: 2017-01-09

Customer Support: For more information or support, please email us at support@camag.com

Introduction

This document contains the release notes for visionCATS version 2.3 SP1. The following sections describe the release in detail and provide late-breaking or other information that supplements the main documentation.

Installation and Upgrade Notes

Installation

See the installation instructions for full details.

IMPORTANT: You must completely uninstall any previous “developer release” or “early access” version of this product before installing this release.

Manifest

This release consists of the following items:

Release notes
Drivers
Instrument Firmware
visionCATS installer
Example Files and Template Files (you may import them after installation)

Minimum System Requirements

System Memory: 4000 MB
Free Disk Space: 100 GB
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (or ultimate) 64-bit, Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise) 64-bit, or Windows Server 2012 R2 (visionCATS server only)
Networking: Internet access (only required to access the online documentation and the Method Library items)

This version has been tested and released on Win7 64bit and Win10 64bit (see “Known issues” for detailed information).

For “server only” installation: This version has been tested and released on Windows Server 2012 R2 (domain controller excluded)

What’s new in visionCATS 2.3?

• TLC Visualizer 2 support
• Derivatizer support (documentation)
• SST is now display track profiles, SST is also possible with TLC Scanner 3/4 data
• Instrument could have a nickname (for easier selection), and unconnected could be hidden

What’s new in visionCATS 2.3 SP1?

• Updated visionCATS Packages (individual options aren’t selectable anymore)
• Improved Request Key UI
• Corrected license issue with Method Library
• Correction for AMD2

Known Problems and Workarounds

Issue: After reinstalling with different server and instrument service ports, no instrument service are available.
WORKAROUND: Restart the service visionCATS Server.

Issue: The camera is not recognized anymore after the PC was in sleep or hibernate mode.
WORKAROUND: Some USB3 controllers have some issues with the camera, like the Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller. Restart the machine to resolve the problem, and disable sleep mode to prevent the problem from occurring again.

Issue: Blue screen when capture image with TLC Visualizer on a Windows 10
WORKAROUND: Go to Power Options/Choose what the power button does/Change settings that are currently available/Shutdown settings and disable the option “Turn on fast startup”

Issue: A click on the OK button of the message box appearing when an error occurs during a step execution, while the instrument is already executing a step of another analysis, causes an error to occur in the step currently in progress.
WORKAROUND: When the error message appears, click on the OK button before starting the execution of the other step.

Issue: Profiles viewer stops responding when two or more viewers are visible at the same time (docking or multi windows)
WORKAROUND: Close the corresponding analysis of the blocked viewer, and reopen it without another profiles viewer being visible.

Issue: The import of winCATS methods won’t import steps of instruments not supported in visionCATS, and some winCATS specific parameters will be ignored
REASON: winCATS and visionCATS don’t exactly support the same set of instruments, and for each instrument, the exact same set of parameters
WORKAROUND: After having imported some winCATS methods, visionCATS will inform the user when some steps are ignored. In all cases, please review the imported methods.

Issue: After changing of the Visualizer, a Visualizer cannot be executed in an analysis already having images
REASON: Only one Visualizer can be used in an analysis
WORKAROUND: Redo the analysis

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, an already opened analysis with a Visualizer step waiting for execution, or Visualizer Manual control or OQ may behave strangely (using the old camera, bad image corrections…)
WORKAROUND: Before changing of a camera, close all analyses with the next step as Visualizer and Visualizer views

Issue: After changing of the camera for a Visualizer, the Visualizer icon in the toolbox isn’t marked as having a bad Diagnostic
WORKAROUND: Restart the client

Issue: While using two Visualizers on a single PC, one or both cameras aren’t detected, or the camera of one Visualizer seems to be connected to the other.
WORKAROUND: We strongly suggest using only one Visualizer per Instrument Service (PC)

Issue: No image appears in Data or in Comparison after the initial installation of visionCATS on the PC
WORKAROUND: Restart Windows

Issue: Sequence table doesn’t allow to drag and drop a multi-selection
WORKAROUND: Before clicking for drag and during the drag, hold SHIFT key for dragging a multi-selection

Issue: Application crashes after clicking on an image or opening a comparison
WORKAROUND: Update your graphic driver to the latest version

Issue: After installation, no visionCATS is installed. Also, the SQL Server service may not want to start.
WORKAROUND: Change the name of the user which installs the application, so that the username is different from PC and domain name

Issue: Instruments aren’t responding correctly
WORKAROUND: Check if you have an Intel(R) Active Management Technology – SOL COM port on your machine, and disable the corresponding COM port in visionCATS/General Settings

Issue: visionCATS displays “Out of memory” with only around 1.2 GB of 4 GB memory used by visionCATS, on a 32-bit system
WORKAROUND: use a 64-bit system

Issue: When using offline help, the display of some pages is very slow
REASON: the page requests an online resource that is not accessible, causing the slow down
WORKAROUND: use the online help when possible. If not possible, try using Chrome or Firefox (instead of Internet Explorer), where the slow down occurs less often.

Issue: visionCATS fails in Scanner/Scanner 3 Diagnostics if the Positioning-Test is started in the same session. 
REASON: Scanner data of the new test cannot be stored for later processing. This does not invalidate the test results of the previous run.
WORKAROUND: Close the current Scanner Instrument Tab and reopen it. Attention: just switching between the Tabs inside the Instrument Tab will not prevent the failure. You need to close the Instrument Tab.

New: CAMAG TLC Visualizer 2 – Professional imaging and documentation system for TLC/HPTLC chromatograms with USB 3.0 for easy PC connection and rapid data transfer

Unlike other techniques, with Planar Chromatography analytical work can be visualized directly as colored images for unquestioned verification of the final results. Since its launch in 2008, the CAMAG TLC Visualizer has become a major element of TLC/HPTLC instrumentation. Based on this successful experience, CAMAG launched the second generation of its professional imaging and documentation device. Combined with the powerful data processing algorithms implemented in visionCATS 2.3, the CAMAG TLC Visualizer 2 will offer the best results for all your documentation purposes, and even more for your complex qualitative analyses and image-based evaluations.

To read the complete CAMAGflash, please download the PDF below.