Resources

Within the realm of scientific research, there is a push towards commody x86 hardware as a replacement for expensive Unix workstations. Our lab is no different. Although the SGI's are still used for visualization, most of our raw computing has been migrated to Linux. We currently have a Beowulf Cluster built which consists of 4 dual 1.6 Ghz Athlons (one node being the master) with 2-3 GB of RAM that are networked with Gigabit ethernet and routed to the rest of the network via a similiar Athlon based firewall/router/name server. Though all of our in house software now runs on the Cluster, at the current time, the software does not take full advantage of the Beowulf MP lib. Full optimization is planned for the future. Our ultimate goal is to have the ability to do real time tomography at data collection time. At current time, it takes one work day to go from data to a 3-D map on a single processor 1 Ghz Athlon.

We use Apple Macintoshs for the creation and editing of digital documents, including posters, journal articles, and Powerpoint presentations containing Quicktime movies. We also take advantage of the Unix core of OS X, which allows us to run legacy Unix software in a desktop enviroment.

We have several tranmission electron microscopes, including a Phillips CM300-FEG and CM120.