ESPRIT 2.6 is out, Compatibility ?

[sckuehn]

We installed a new Bruker 730M EDS this fall, replacing a 12-year old 5030 that failed last winter.

Bruker shipped it with the new ESPRIT 2.6 on a thumb drive. That same version is now up on the brukersupport website for general download.

The 2.6 Esprit is giving initialization errors with PFE. I have the 32-bit version installed on Windows 11. PFE and Bruker share the same computer. I tested using the 32-bit 2.5 version client DLL as that's the newest in the PFE DropBox folder. Is there a newer 2.6 version of the DLL available?

I might also try testing with matching older Esprit and DLL versions. It seems that some thought the 32-bit version of Esprit 2.3 was one of the more reliable ones. Is that what people still prefer right now?

Thanks. - Steve

[John Donovan]

Can we get a bit more information:

1. What is the initialization error you are seeing?

2. What version Probe for EPMA are you using?

3. Are you using the Bruker Esprit v. 2.6 API DLL? 

You need to get the v. 2.6 of the Bruker.API.Esprit.dll from Bruker and rename it to RtiFcClient.dll and copy it to the Probe for EPMA application folder.

4. Did you install the 32 bit Bruker Esprit? 

You'll need to uncheck the Install 64 bit Esprit checkbox during the Esprit installation.

[sckuehn]

1) ERROR in BrukerEDSSpectraInit : File not found: RTIFCCLIENT.DLL
 - Both the EDS and Bruker imaging are turned on in the ini, and both pop up separate error boxes. Only the DLL error logs to the main window.

2) PFE 13.9.1

3) No, using the 2.5 DLL - Have inquiries out about 2.6

32-bit instance of 2.5 version Bruker.API.Esprit.dll copied as RTIFCCLIENT.DLL to C:\Program Files (x86)\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA - doubly verified

4) Esprit 2.6.0.1021  17-Jan-2024  32-bit

PFE and Bruker are on running together on the same computer which is directly connected to the SCU box.

Configs:

EDSSpectraInterfacePresent=1   ; non-zero EDS spectrum interface feature available (Thermo, Bruker, etc)
EDSSpectraInterfaceType=2   ; 0 = Demo, 1 = JEOL MEC, 2 = Bruker, 3 = Oxford, 4 = Unused, 5 = Thermo NSS, 6 = JEOL

EDS_IPAddress="127.0.0.1"   ; NSS server
EDS_ServicePort="6476"       ; not used yet  THIS MATCHES THE BRUKER COMMUNICATION SERVER NUMBER
EDS_ServerName="Local server"   ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginName="edx"       ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginPassword="edx"       ; used by Bruker only

ImageInterfacePresent=1   ; DEFAULT 1
ImageInterfaceType=9   ; 0=Demo, 1=Unused, 2=Unused, 3=Unused, 4=JEOL, 5=SX100, 6=SX100 Video, 7=JEOL video, 8=JEOL MEC, 9=Bruker, 10=Thermo

[John Donovan]

1) ERROR in BrukerEDSSpectraInit : File not found: RTIFCCLIENT.DLL
 - Both the EDS and Bruker imaging are turned on in the ini, and both pop up separate error boxes. Only the DLL error logs to the main window.

2) PFE 13.9.1

3) No, using the 2.5 DLL - Have inquiries out about 2.6

32-bit instance of 2.5 version Bruker.API.Esprit.dll copied as RTIFCCLIENT.DLL to C:\Program Files (x86)\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA - doubly verified

4) Esprit 2.6.0.1021  17-Jan-2024  32-bit

PFE and Bruker are on running together on the same computer which is directly connected to the SCU box.

Configs:

EDSSpectraInterfacePresent=1   ; non-zero EDS spectrum interface feature available (Thermo, Bruker, etc)
EDSSpectraInterfaceType=2   ; 0 = Demo, 1 = JEOL MEC, 2 = Bruker, 3 = Oxford, 4 = Unused, 5 = Thermo NSS, 6 = JEOL

EDS_IPAddress="127.0.0.1"   ; NSS server
EDS_ServicePort="6476"       ; not used yet  THIS MATCHES THE BRUKER COMMUNICATION SERVER NUMBER
EDS_ServerName="Local server"   ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginName="edx"       ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginPassword="edx"       ; used by Bruker only

ImageInterfacePresent=1   ; DEFAULT 1
ImageInterfaceType=9   ; 0=Demo, 1=Unused, 2=Unused, 3=Unused, 4=JEOL, 5=SX100, 6=SX100 Video, 7=JEOL video, 8=JEOL MEC, 9=Bruker, 10=Thermo

Please update to the current PFE and then start PFE and check the Output | DebugMode menu and send me the log window output when trying to connect to Esprit.

Please note that the "ERROR in BrukerEDSSpectraInit : File not found: RTIFCCLIENT.DLL" can be caused by any subsequent calls that this RtiFcClient.dll makes, even if the dll itself is in the proper location.

So it would be best for you to test with the v. 2.6 Esprit API dll before continuing with any further testing.

[John Donovan]

If you are using a newer Bruker Esprit EDS system (v. 2.3 and higher) with Probe for EPMA for integrated WDS and EDS analysis, you should update your Probe for EPMA software. We recently fixed a couple problems including one where Bruker had renamed some quant method files in recent versions of Esprit, which can cause problems when trying to obtain net intensities from the Bruker Quantax server.

On the renamed Bruker quant methods, people would see an error from Bruker saying "Error in Execution" when attempting to obtain net intensities for quantification, which isn't too helpful! But working with Matt Taylor at Bruker we were able to track this down to the fact that Bruker had changed the names of the quant method we were using.  We so changed the default Bruker quant method to "Default", so that quant method will be compatible with all versions of Esprit.

We also found that PFE was not handling the Bruker get/set throughput RCL commands properly. These are utilized when using the Get/Set throughput and max energy buttons in the Acquisition Options dialog in Probe for EPMA.  The max energy get/set is working fine, but the throughput commands were not.  In fact they were exactly reversed in order when we tried to "get" the actual throughputs!

The problem was in the PFE initialization code, but also in the Probewin.ini file, for those that might at one time have edited their Probewin.ini files for these parameters (by the way, we also updated the User's Reference manual on these keywords).

Basically we had listed the throughput keywords in descending order, but they actually need to be entered in ascending order like this:

MaxThroughputArraySize = 4
MaxThroughputArrayValue1 = 60
MaxThroughputArrayValue2 = 90
MaxThroughputArrayValue3 = 130
MaxThroughputArrayValue4 = 275

in the [hardware] section of the Probewin.ini file.

Note the default (no entries in the Probewin.ini file) in PFE is to assume only the 4 throughput values listed above.  If your Bruker system can go to higher throughputs, you'll need to edit the Probewin.ini file as seen here, for example:

MaxThroughputArraySize = 6
MaxThroughputArrayValue1 = 60
MaxThroughputArrayValue2 = 90
MaxThroughputArrayValue3 = 130
MaxThroughputArrayValue4 = 275
MaxThroughputArrayValue5 = 400
MaxThroughputArrayValue6 = 600

So, if you haven't specified Bruker throughput values in your Probewin.ini file, you can just go ahead and update Probe for EPMA and all should be good.

By the way, if the Get/Set buttons in your Acquisition Options dialog are grayed out, you will need to set this keyword in the [hardware] section of your Probewin.ini file:

EDSMaxEnergyThroughputPresent=1        ; indicate EDS detector get/set max energy and pulse processing

to enable them.  And if anyone needs help with any of these changes, just let us know.