DNA Sequencing Software

[Strimkind]

This was something new I found recently on an old beast full height 1GB external SCSI Hard drive (from 1992).

ABI Prism DNA Sequencing Software from 1994-1995 era.

I am copying the system and contents over to a CF card so I have a backup in case the ancient drive dies. It is painfully slow to transfer 100MB.

I have tried to boot the sequencing software but it cannot detect a math co-processor in a 5300c. I am assuming it only runs on a 68k mac with a full 68040 installed. Unfortunately the only 2 macs I have with a Math Coprocessor are a IIfx and an untested SE/30. I have never owned a mac with a full 040 in it .

I am thinking of trying an emulator on my mini and see if I can convince the software to work. I am interested to see what they used back in '95 for that kind of thing.

 

[luddite]

Sounds neat, but what does it use for input? I'm guessing you can't just stick a swab in the floppy drive ;-)

 

[Strimkind]

I'm not sure yet what it uses for input. I am still researching the program and trying to get it to run. It still states that it is looking for a Math Coprocessor and yet it is the PowerPC version of the software. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't the PowerPC come with a Math Coprocessor built-in?

 

[netfreak]

If it is 68K only, they probably used Quadras to run it or something... May explain why it won't run on a PPC.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

The last time I did sequencing, we did it by hand by reading the gel out by eye, and that was around 12 years ago. I imagine this program is more for splicing sequences together that have already been hand-interpreted, or a local version of a tool like this, which I used to prep stuff for publication.

 

[Redjack]

Ooh, something I can be useful for. I work in a biology lab and we always need to sequence DNA.

ABI Prism sequencing uses capillary sequencing techniques. Basically you need a $20K-40K machine that is an automated sequencer which reads DNA samples; THAT is the input (along with DNA samples of course). The software serves for you to interpret .seq files from the ABI Prism sequencer and/or for the machine to interface with the software to read the raw data as it comes off the machine.

Essentially the human genome was sequenced in this way. Alot more went into it than that but that's the long and short of it. Hope it was helpful!

 

[LCGuy]

Give SoftwareFPU a go...it'll be a lot slower than running it on a Mac with a real FPU, but it'll work.

 

[returningmacuser]

Actually, PowerFPU, the PPC version of SoftwareFPU, has been released as freeware. It's still slow, but much faster than SoftwareFPU.

Edit: PowerFPU can be found on this page.