Plant Ecophysiology Laboratory

Researchers in the Plant Ecophysiology Laboratory require extremely accurate plant tissue dry weight measurements. This is achieved by measuring the samples with a Mettler AE260 electronic balance and reading the RS232 output data directly into PC applications, including Lotus 123 and Quattro Pro, that record and analyze this data. The SoftwareWedge for DOS Standard version (DOSWedge), by automating the data collection, insures that no errors occur though inaccurate manual data entry of the scale readings. The researchers had previously used Lotus Measure (National Instruments) for data acquisition but found DOSWedge to be a more powerful and versatile solution. (Lotus Measure does not support all versions of Lotus nor the Windows version, nor any other PC application.) The researchers also commented that they had found the utilities provided free with DOSWedge very useful. They often used ComShow, the RS232 debug program, to diagnose serial communications with their numerous laboratory instruments.