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Is the price of Acuity a yearly license?
No. The price of Acuity is the complete one-time purchase price, which includes all bug-fix updates.
Acuity 3.1 was a free upgrade from previous versions for all Acuity users.
Starting with Acuity 4.0, major new versions will be charged-for as per normal upgrade policy, however bug-fix updates will always be free for your currently licensed version.
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Which database servers work with Acuity, AcuityXpress, DataXpress, and MetaXpress?
These programs will run on any of the following database servers:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- Oracle 9ir2
- Oracle 10gr1
They will not run on MySQL, PostgreSQL or any other database.
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Does Acuity, AcuityXpress or MetaXpress require SQL Server 2000 to be installed?
For full multi-user functionality (i.e., more than one user connected to the database simultaneously over a LAN or TCP/IP connection) you must buy and install Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or Oracle (9ir2 or 10gr1).
However, for a single user running the database and client software on the same computer, the software installer includes Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE), which is a free, less powerful version of SQL Server 2000. MSDE is functionally identical to SQL Server 2000, but MSDE limits throughput and performance when simultaneous connections to the database are made. For a multi-license site, MDC recommends a full version of SQL Server 2000 or Oracle.
Databases created with MSDE are upgraded automatically if you install SQL Server 2000 on a computer with an existing MSDE installation.
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Are Acuity calculations performed on my local computer or on the server?
Calculations are performed at the client, i.e., on the local computer. The only operations performed on the server are microarray import, database querying and dataset saving.
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Do Acuity data sets have a size limitation?
Is there a limit to the number of substances allowed in each microarray?
Is there a limit to the number of columns in a dataset table?
No. The only limitations are those of your computer, such as RAM memory and hard disk space.
However, the number of data columns per microarray (e.g., GPR columns) is limited to 1024.
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Does Acuity run on Windows NT 4.0?
We recommend Windows 2000 or XP for Acuity, but Acuity does run on Windows NT. The problem with NT is that it does not support USB, and the hardware protection key (dongle) for Acuity requires USB.
You can still run Acuity on an Windows NT 4.0 computer if:
- Your NT machine is on a network;
- You have another computer on the same network running Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP.
Install the USB network hardware protection key on one of these other computers on the network, and Acuity will run on your NT machine.
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Nature magazine and others require that microarray data conform to the Minimal Information About A Microarray Experiment (MIAME) standard. How can I use GenePix or Acuity to prepare my data in MAGE-ML format for submission?
GenePix Pro 5.0 and Acuity 3.0 both support microarray (GenePix Results File) export in MAGE-ML format. Once your data is in MAGE-ML format, you can upload it directly to the ArrayXpress database at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI).
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Can non-Axon microarray files be imported into Acuity?
Yes.
Acuity can import any non-GPR microarray data file that satisfies the following conditions:
- The data are organized into tab-delimited columns.
- There is a row of titles for each column.
- One of the columns is labeled "ID" and contains the unique identifiers for each substance.
- All the data rows are contiguous.
- The data are from a single microarray.
So, for example, Acuity can import an Affymetrix CHP file exported from MAS, that contains data from one microarray.
For information on the process, read How do I import data files from non-Axon software (that are not in GPR format) into Acuity?
