EBME Forums Forums Free discussion Free discussion Linux on Medical Equipment

Can anybody name any medical equipment which uses Linux as the operating system?

I can't name any, but it's certainly an interesting idea... although as long as equipment companies can charge customers an arm and a leg for their kit, there's not going to be a great deal of cost saving by eliminating the price of a copy of Window$... I suspect the interfacing wouldn't be too much of a problem, as I believe the i386 PC platform is pretty standard in medical kit now but I am sure someone could name some kit running on bizarre platforms I know nowt about!

Plus there's the added hassle of teaching Windows-savvy end users the vagaries of a Linux GUI... mind you there was a time when post-DOS software running on Windows utilised a bespoke GUI and people were generally able to get on with it, so maybe it wouldn't be too hard. Not being a regular Linux user I am unaware which GUI's are available now, I am sure someone will have something pretty close to Windows available. That said the GUI with my version of Red Hat (8.2?) is reasonably close in feel n function...

Windows, with all its instabilities,still is being used in medical equipment-extensively at that!
I don't get it!

Welch Allyn’s Acuity central monitoring system. Uses Solaris (UNIX) on SunSPARC Hardware.

http://www.monitoring.welchallyn.com/products/systems/

I can only suggest that as I mentioned, everyone has been brainwashed by M$!

There is some movement toward Linux by government departments etc who are looking to save a few bob, but most people are going to be sceptical for a while to come yet. Joe public (and a lot of non-tech health workers) trust Microsoft products, and believe that Windows is a standard part of a computer system, and as long as they believe that we'll be lumped with it... that said, getting my devils advocate hat on, Windows still isn't as evil as a lot of the Linux community like to make out! Unstable, at times yes (tho I suspect a lot of this can be to do with poor hardware setup), but still a pretty useful piece of software...

We have an electro-physiology cariac mapping system that runs on Linux. It used to run on Unix but the company upgraded their product and wanted to use cheaper standard PCs but did not trust Windows - also it was easier to convert from Unix to Linux.
This is the first Linux based medical equipment that I have seen.
I do know of an ECG machine that runs Windows95 and a selling point is that the users ca get to the Windows and use it instead of a PC, and install what?
Robert

RoJo - that's so bored cardiac techs can play Solitaire on it at night

add to that the odd virus....

Its frightening Huw, but good old Bill Gates is laughing all the way to the Bank !! T.

I think he owns the bank.