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M95D • today at 5:32 AM • 0 replies • view on HN

I had a functional STA Compact [1] coagulation analyzer until 2022. It ran a customized DOS version on a ITX computer board that was integrated into the analyzer. UI was in text mode and used the keyboard only. It had no mouse. The video in the link shows the UI for a few seconds at the end. We kept it functional as a backup and even used it a few days when the replacement broke down. It was one of the best analyzers I ever used.

The newer version of that anaylzer, STA Compact Max [2] has mostly the same analyzer hardware, but newer ITX board inside. It runs Windows (XP, 7, 10...). Bugs galore.

I know labs that used a Beckman-Coulter HmX hematology analyzer [3] until 2015 or so. That machine is attached to an external MS-DOS computer via a very thick cable and an ISA board. The cable connector looked a bit like a 68-pin SCSI-3. The software used VGA graphics mode.

  [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kti6Zdyp8dQ
  [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJan25vkpEA
  [3] https://www.soriaudio.com/index.php?mid=m_eqp&document_srl=62138152