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Getting Started with Metron-PX
Computers,
Cameras, and E-Mail programs for use with Metron-PX
We are often asked for recommendations for computers,
digital cameras, and other items to be used with EponaTech Metron. So, we wrote this document to collect all
of our thoughts in one place.
There are lots of possibilities, and they are changing
all the time. Please do your own research as to the latest
and greatest items available.
I. Computers
Metron will run on any PC running Windows-95
or later. We do not have a version available
for the Mac.
While Metron will run on any PC operating
system, if you have a choice, we suggest Windows 2000 or Windows
XP. These are the latest operating systems, and
they provide somewhat better support for Metron (as well as other
programs). However, if
you are running Windows 98 or
Windows ME, that’s fine too.
While almost any PC will be sufficient for Metron,
an important thing to think about is getting one with a good display
resolution. We recommend at least 1024x768 pixels, and
if you can run at a higher resolution (like 1280 X 1024) that’s
even better. Obviously,
since Metron deals with images, we want a good display for looking
at images. You’ll also need things that virtually
every PC has: a CD drive, a big disk
(probably only 25 MB required for Metron unless you plan
to have lots of images stored), enough RAM (probably you should
have at least 64 MB, but probably 32 MB will be OK).
Though not required, you will perhaps want to
have two more things:
1) A
color printer (good ink-jet printers are under $200 these days),
and
2) A
modem and a way to connect to the internet
If you need to print hardcopy of photos and radiographs
and you want them to look really super, then you want to get a
color laser printer – but these are still expensive –
perhaps $1000 or so.
You will need to decide if you want a Desktop
or a Laptop computer.
Laptops are great for mobility, but they always cost more
than a desktop.
Desktop computers are less expensive than laptops. You’ll spend less money and get a better
machine if it’s a desktop.
Some users of Metron have assumed that they should have
a laptop – but that’s not really true, you can just
take your digital camera with you on the road, and later put the
images into your desktop computer back at home or at the office. Although a laptop is sometimes great for showing
something directly to someone, it often will work just as well
to have a desktop at home and a color printer and then you can
either deliver hardcopy printouts to the person, or you can e-mail
images and/or reports to them.
We are partial to Dell computers, but again,
any PC will do. What is
nice about Dell is that they have a good website ( www.dell.com
) and you can choose options and see what each little change will
cost and what you’ll get.
Once you’re done and order the system, they ship it
to you – usually you get it in about a week.
II. Cameras
Digital cameras are great because you can instantly
see the image, and you can have it in Metron within a minute after
you've taken it. However,
a conventional camera will also work just fine, but you'll have
to wait a bit before you have the image.
Conventional Cameras
If you use a conventional camera, then you have
two choices in order to
get the images in digital format:
A) You can get a scanner to scan the photographs. If you want to also be able to scan radiographs,
you have to make sure
that you get a scanner that can do transparencies. Many scanners do transparencies but only small ones -- meant for
slides or other small things.
You'll want a scanner that can do at least an 8x10"radiograph. Note that rather than trying to find a transparency
adaptor for your scanner, you could photograph the radiograph
off a lightbox, then use a conventional scanner on the resulting
photograph. Most scanners can do 300 DPI or higher resolution,
which is more than enough for use with Metron.
B) You can have your film developed by a service
which can send your pictures in digital format.
We know that at our local supermarket, we can have film
developed and we can request them sent back on a CD.
We have heard that major drug store chains (e.g. Walgreens)
now offer such developing services.
There are also internet-oriented services that will develop
your film, and then let you download digital images via the web,
or will send you a CD. Examples are www.shutterfly.com and www.photoworks.com
Digital Cameras
There are a bunch of digital cameras out now
from many manufacturers. At
this time (April, 2002) the prices and feature tradeoff can be
roughly summarized like this:
A) "High End" Cameras cost about $400
to $600 and can take pictures that can have up to 1600x1200 pixel
resolution. These cameras also typically have 3X optical
zoom.
B) "Low End" Cameras cost about $200
to $300 and can take pictures that can have up to 1150x800 pixel
resolution. These cameras may be lacking an optical zoom
capability.
Digital cameras use different types of memory
to store images. We prefer
the use of "Compact Flash", and we think these are the
most prevalent. In contrast, some cameras use floppy disks,
or "memory stick" (Sony),
or "Smart Media" cards, or other.
We generally
believe that "Low End” cameras are fine for taking
pictures of the hoof for use in Metron.
They can also be used to photograph radiographs that are
on a lightbox. However,
if you are going to do radiographs "seriously" it might
be best to go for a "High End" camera. This is especially true if, besides using Metron,
you also want to have enough resolution in the radiographic image
to be able to look for pathologies and other things.
One more thing about Digital Cameras: There is one digital camera made by Nikon which
has a swivel in its mid-section so you can be pointing it in one
direction while looking at the view-finder from another direction. This is outstanding for shooting “lateral
hoof” and “frontal hoof” photos!!
Otherwise, with any other camera, if you want to get things
centered well in the frame, you have to lie down on your belly
to look through the view finder when taking these shots!
III. Other Software
It often very helpful to have software to do
manipulate your images prior to bringing them into
Metron. It is handy to be able to crop, rotate, perhaps
adjust he contrast, and so forth.
There are many programs available that do this. Often, a digital camera will come with such
a program. Otherwise,
we have used a nice program called ‘PolyView’ which
only cost $30 and can be downloaded from www.polybytes.com .
IV. E-Mail Programs
Metron has an e-mail capability built right into
it. This is very convenient for sending marked
up images, our text reports, and other information to your friends,
colleagues, or clients. Of
course, you could always export images out of Metron and into
files, and then use your favorite e-mail program to send them
as attachments, but that takes more fiddling around.
Unfortunately, some systems in use for e-mail
are “proprietary” and the Metron mailing system cannot
access them. A popular example is AOL. If you use AOL to connect to the internet and
to send e-mail, you will not be able to use the
e-mail features in Metron. Sorry. Please complain to AOL that they should open
their system to 3rd-party software developers by supporting
the standard SMTP protocol!
While we’re on the subject of AOL, we are
not the only people that cannot “talk” via AOL.
In fact, there is a whole company ( www.enetbot.com
) whose sole product is a software product to allow a connection
through AOL. Indeed,
if you buy their product (which is only $19) and configure it
properly, then Metron will be able to send e-mail through an AOL
connection! However, we
don’t yet endorse this approach unless you feel comfortable
setting things up and configuring a bunch of stuff – we found
it a little too hard for us to feel comfortable recommending it
just yet.
Metron can also not talk to Juno,
nor to web-based mail systems like hotmail or yahoo.
The recommended choice for an E-Mail program
to work with Metron is Outlook Express.
Also recommended are Eudora, or Netscape Mail.
To be technical, the first choice for Metron is any e-mail
program that uses the MAPI protocol.
Outlook Express comes for free with many PCs these days
and is one of the most widely used e-mail programs.
V. Other Things You'll Want
1) A Light Box - If you don't have one already. Taking pictures of radiographs placed on a light box in a dark room works well. In fact, we think it works better than a scanner
with transparency capability,
2) An AC adaptor - If you are going to take lots
of pictures of radiographs, you'll want to have the camera plugged
in to AC so you don't have to worry about running out of batteries.
Save the batteries for when you're outside shooting a horse's
feet.
3) A "Compact Flash Reader" - this
is a little device that plugs into your PC and lets you upload
images from the Compact Flash into your computer.
These are worth it because:
3.1
They only cost $70 or so
3.2 They are hundreds of times faster than using
a serial cable
3.3
The camera is not involved, so you don't have to be running down
the batteries just to upload images (like you do with the cable
interface alternative).
4) Extra set of batteries and a battery charger. All digital cameras really chew through batteries
quickly. Its a bummer
to be at the horse ready to take pictures just after a trimming,
and you're out of juice! So
its very important to have the second set of batteries ready to
go.
5) You'll want to have "scale markers"
to place in your images. We
now sell a “Hardware Kit” which contains scale markers
for photos. You can find
information on this on our web-site. Or you can make them yourself.
