Okolab

Okolab Microscope Incubators and Gas Controllers

Summary:	Controls Okolab incubators and gas controllers
Author:	Okolab srl
License:	BSD
Platforms:	Windows 32-bit and 64-bit
Since version:	1.4.23_20151018 / 1.4.15 (legacy)
Peripheral device discovery:	Supported

Compatible devices

Any Okolab device. This means all control units present in our catalog list from January 2017 until current date (January 2022).

Installation

Okolab control units have a port named USB, usually on the rear of the unit. USB port type can be different based on the control unit: Mini-USB, Micro-USB, USB type C. Connect the control unit USB port to the PC USB port, selecting the proper USB cable. Windows PC should detect the device as a Virtual COM port (COMnn). If this is not the case, Drivers can be downloaded from here.

Configuration

1. Open the Hardware Configuration Wizard from the Tools menu.
2. Select desired configuration (new or existing) and press the bottom-right Next button.
3. Add Okolab device to the current configuration double-clicking on it or clicking the Add button when selected.
4. Select the right COM Port or select Auto and press OK.

Usage

Properties

For every Device added to the Configuration, some managed properties are shown in the Device/Property Browser list (Tools menu). Okolab devices properties are listed only if Show other devices checkbox is enabled. Any writeable property is listed as a white row and can be changed clicking on it and then clicking enter (eg. H301-T Unit-BL Set Point).

Live mode

If live is enabled, any value acquired from Okolab devices is automatically refreshed in the Metadata tab.

Logging

To log data acquired from Okolab devices, an experiment must be started (Tools -> Multi-Dimensional Acquisition). Data are logged in the metadata.txt file if Separate images files is selected or in the image file itself if Image stack file is selected.

Support

• Okolab website
• Online Support
• Email Support

Legacy version

Driver version distributed with Micro-Manager 1.4.15 has limited support for the control units. Only some devices are supported.

Compatible devices

• Microscope Incubators
  • Bold Line Cage Incubator (H201)
  • Bold Line Top Stage Incubator (H301)

• Bold Line Gas Controllers
  • CO2 Unit-BL
  • CO2-O2 Unit-BL [0-10;1-18]
  • CO2-O2 Unit-BL [0-20;1-95]
  • CO2-O2 Unit-BL [0-10;0-1]

• Humidity controllers
  • HM-ACTIVE

Installation

Connect the port named USB on the rear of the Unit to the PC USB port, using a standard mini-USB cable. Please consider that you may need an USB Male-to Male cable, depending on the hardware revision of your control unit.

To use this adapter, you must manually install OKO-Control Server software which can be downloaded here. The installation is straightforward, default settings can be used.

Configuration

1. Open the Hardware Configuration Wizard from the Tools menu.
2. Select desired configuration (new or existing) and press the bottom-right Next button.
3. Add OKO Control Server device to the current configuration double-clicking on it or clicking the Add button when selected.
4. Check the right COM Port number, opening Windows Control Panel and choosing first System then Device Manager then Ports (COM & LPT). There should be an entry like USB serial Port (COMX), where X is the COM Port number assigned. A good way to double-check is to remove the Okolab USB cable from the PC, as this Port should not be listed anymore.
5. Add the needed Okolab devices to the Micro-Manager configuration, writing the whole COM string into Value field of Property COM Port (eg. COM1).

Usage

See current version

Click here to search for Okolab on the Micro-Manager mailing list archive.