dIGITAL PAN ON LAPTOP

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Tom Zaccaria
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:09 am

dIGITAL PAN ON LAPTOP

Post by Tom Zaccaria » Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:26 am

Any reason we can't install a GenDex digital pan with OpenDental on a laptop running W7 Pro 64 bit?
Sales guy is saying it must be a desktop with two ethernet ports. We can get a ethernet to USB adapter for the laptop.
Will this work? Am I getting the ole sales pitch here?
We current use OD in all our ops on laptops for digital x-rays with no problems.

drtmz

teethdood
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:39 am
Location: Visalia, CA
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Re: dIGITAL PAN ON LAPTOP

Post by teethdood » Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:29 pm

I can't say for certain with Gendex, but generally Pan/Ceph/CBCT machines nowadays have 2 ethernet ports. Here's a rough drawing

Pan/Ceph/CBCT---------------------------------Desktop/Laptop
| |
| |
| |
| |
network---------------------------------------------network

Essentially you need a direct connection between the Pan/Ceph/CBCT machine to the desktop/laptop and the 2nd ethernet card is for your general network. You can probably get around that 2nd ethernet card by using your wifi connection, but it's frowned upon. The direct connection is a must for 3-in-1 machines because of the massive amount of CBCT data being transmitted, but Pan/Ceph really shouldn't need a direct connection.

So if you're strictly buying a digital Pan with no upgrade path, you shouldn't need a 2nd ethernet card, just plug it directly into your network. If however you're buying an upgradeable pan, then the 2nd ethernet port is built into the machine and you must have a 2nd ethernet port (work-around possibly being the wifi acting as your 2nd ethernet connection.)

Edit: my drawing didn't work out so well. The second vertical line should be for the Desktop/Laptop to the network
Second edit: Some machines are very specific with which ethernet cards they can talk to. For example, my machine must be connected to an Intel 1000 Pro ethernet card. That's probably why your sales rep wants you to connect it to a desktop where it's easy to install a specific ethernet card.
Philip H. Doan, DDS
http://www.kaweahdental.com/

Tom Zaccaria
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:09 am

Re: dIGITAL PAN ON LAPTOP

Post by Tom Zaccaria » Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:29 pm

I understand that the Pan gets connected to the desktop or laptop and the desktop or laptop gets connected to the network. I have all that setup.
But will a new laptop be sufficient for this connection? They are telling me no. Laptops usually only have one ethernet connection. But I purchased an ethernet to USB converter cable.
Will this work?

drtmz

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