Grand designs
6 days ago
I'm a geochemist. My main interest is in-situ mass spectrometry, but I have a soft spot in my heart for thermodynamics, poetry, drillers, trees, bicycles, and cosmochemistry.
Squid 2, the sequel to the blockbuster SHRIMP data reduction package known as Squid, has just been released to the public. Surf, don’t walk, to sourceforge to get the latest isoplot and squid 2.
Posted by C W Magee at 9:25 PM
Labels: Geochronological goodness
7 comments:
ooh goodie ... do you know if the new version works on new Macs and/or Office 2007 (the previous version did not)
nevermind ... shoulda read the PDF before asking... says: "Isoplot 3 not compatible w/ Excel 2007. Please wait for release of Isoplot 4."
Sorry, if you want to experiment with the new "youngest detrital zircon" function, you'll need excel '03.
yeah, I recently got a new home computer and was upgraded at work ... traded some e-mails w/ Ken about Isoplot not working ... apparently the newest Excel isn't compatible with tons of existing add-ins and macros, which seems idiotic but not surprising
Ken was installing an Isoplot that he referred to as 3.7 (if I remember correctly) along with SQUID2. SQ2 may have installed smoothly at GA, but our slightly more heterogeneous PCs at the ANU were recalcitrant. Ken had to do some coding on-the-fly in order to get it to work on what should have been relatively simple operating systems (e.g., WinXP, Excel '03 on Dells). SQ2 does work on Macs, but only if two conditions are satisfied: 1) You run a Windows emulator (e.g., bootcamp) and 2) Ken personally installs it for you.
I've successfully installed the sourceforge download at home on my Dell running '03, but I haven't actually tried using it yet.
There have been installation problems since day one, even at GA, but it seems to get better with time (i.e. once you've tried to install SQ2 100 times, it starts getting easier!). Lots of problems with Isoplot too, especially on PCs that have heard of Isoplot before.
Have told Ken for 18 months that installation problems are the biggest single obstacle to SQ2 uptake, but he doesn't take it seriously, because he very rarely sees these problems! Hopefully his RSES experience will help in that regard.
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