UMIST EYE SYSTEM

• single static
• multiple static
• kinetic
• Procedures include full parametric control (eye-screen distance, and stimulus position, size, timing and luminance) of stimuli. Larger monitors or even projection screens (although not ideal for most acuity testing procedures) facilitate larger field testing angles.

Database

• Interactive acuity, colour vision and field test results may be automatically stored and later retrieved using the integral database.

User Control

• Set-up control includes variable screen distance, with/without mirror, logarithmic & standard acuity scales and so on.

Computer Arrangement

The UES lends itself for use by portable Notebook and standard PC ATs. Monitors can be mounted at from 0.35 to 8 metres from the patient - at-a-distance ( behind the patient with a mirror at (say) 3 metres, or in front of the patient at (say) 6 metres); or at-near (0.35 metres plus) for close work as with the colour vision test or field-screening work. Several monitors can be added to a single PC with ease using a suitable splitter. For some practitioners a second monitor for use at near by the operator may be preferred. Strong, mobile monitor arms can be helpful in this situation. Projection screens may also be used.

SOFTWARE CONSTRAINTS

The software is essentially DOS and will run most dependably in that environment. It can be run under Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and Me systems but as they are less reliable this is not recommended for clinical testing. Re-booting the PC is then too much of an inconvenience. I recommend therefore that you run the PC in DOS mode. Windows XP PCs do not have an obvious DOS mode, however it is more reliable and the UMISST EYE System will run under XP with some PCs. Where this is not possible you can create a DOS boot floppy disk, re-boot the PC using that disk and then run the UES from that or another floppy disk. If you want to run the UES from DOS without a floppy on an XP PC you will need to create a dual boot system with DOS (say 6.2) or Windows 98/Me in a separate (lower) partition. Partition Magic enables you to repartition a PC's hard disk without reinstalling XP.

MINIMUM HARDWARE

The UES has been run on the following PC-Compatibles - 80286, 80386 80486, Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium III, Athlon - from 33MHz to 2 GHz machines. In optometric practice speed might make 486 or above preferable but it has been run very successfully on 286s. The more advanced features require a machine with at least 2Mb of memory. A standard 1024x768 monitor and video card with 1Mb of video memory will give you the advantage of acuities down to 6/4 or perhaps even 6/3 compared with just 6/5 with 640x480 VGA. This combination also enables sine wave contrast sensitivity. Some more recent graphics cards - eg from Matrox - may prevent running the software at 1024x768 res but others (eg those with a Dell 1.9GHz Inspiron and Evesham 5714 Voyager notebooks) pose no problems at the time of writing (25-Mar-2003).

SUPPORT

Practitioners using earlier versions of the software should Email Chris at FrenchFamily.info to obtain a recompiled EXE file if they change their PC. The UES contines to run on DOS and Windows 3.1, 95, 98, Me and XP PCs but not (eg) 2000. Unfortunately, due to a bug in Borland's Pascal compiler, when PCs began to exceed 200MHz in the late 1990s, the UES software came up with a runtime error indicating divide by zero. The UES software was immediately modified to circumvent this problem and on request a re-complied Z74_0.EXE file can be sent to registered owners.