Lab just bought two used Varian 3900 GC units, no software

[adb0009]

My PI just bought two Varian 3900 GC units from the surplus warehouse on our campus. They seemingly work fine, but the problem is we were unable to get any software, manuals, or anything else they may need. From some internet research I gather that we need a software program called "Star Chromatography Workstation." I am unable to find this software anywhere. I am also unable to find any user manuals. We have also contacted Agilent about this problem and their response was that they do not have any manuals for these units and the quote for the software was outrageous! We are all newbs when it comes to GC systems as we are more of a biochemistry/molecular biology kind of lab, but we are very interested in using GC for some particular applications. Any help with locating reasonably priced software or manuals for these would be greatly appreciated!

[varossf]

Please elaborate on "reasonably priced" as that means to me a normal price for OpenLAB EZChrom with 2 3900 drivers on a single workstation. BTW where are you based?

[Peter Apps]

You can run the GCs from their front panels, you only need software for the data. Several years ago there was a package called Peak Simple that was basic and cheap - try Googling it.

If you have nobody in the lab who knows how to run a GC your learning curve is going to be painfully flat, and you are going to waste a lot of time struggling to do things that a chromatographer can get up and running quickly, and then train people on. Think seriously about hiring someone on a temp post, or maybe you can work a deal with an analytical lab that has someone with the requisite skills.

Peter

[marlenl]

Hi,

I can send it to You by mail.

Regards,
ML

[CE Instruments]

The Varian 3900 is now a Bruker GC , not an Agilent one ! Star was an old software version even for Varian and Galaxie was the replacement. This went to Agilent who have I think discontinued it however Bruker have a version which due to the commercial deal is now called Compass. You can try Bruker and look at Compass or buy a low cost data system like Clarity.
A simple google search brings up gobookie.net that claims free download of manuals.
If not PM me via the ceinstruments web site and I can send you the pdfs.