More info about MacDiff
Mac Diff is a programme for analysis and display of X-ray powder diffractogrammes on Apple Macintosh platforms. It is designed as a complement to the XRD applications distributed by Philips or Siemens and it is equipped with a GUI to facilitate user-friendly and interactive processing of XRD profiles. It offers conventional XRD profile-correction processes (e.g. outliers, smoothing, divergence, alpha2-stripping) and supports qualtiative and quantitative phase analysis. Moreover, by its programmable peak analysis (recording of intensities, peak areas, half widths, etc.) it offers an automated analysis of entire series of diffractogrammes. By means of peak fits the contributions of coinciding lines can be calculated. The user has at his disposal the capability of continuous measurement checks and the possibility to perform corrections as well (e.g. by manual or computed background adaptations). For peak indication the user has the option to employ variable peak data sets. High resolution hardcopies of the diffractogrammes can be produced. The standard single-scan formats (Philips-ADP or some Siemens-RAW, ASCII) are identified automatically. Data and plots can be exported to most of the available table-processing or vector-graphics programmes. The applications of MacDiff range from routine analysis in sedimentology, especially clay minerals, over analysis of X-ray diffractogrammes of all types of rocks and minerals all the way to phase analysis of various crystalline substances. MacDiff is freeware and is available to everyone free of charge. It may be copied and distributed without restrictions for non-profit and non-commercial use. All rights reserved. Usage at your own risk. To use MacDiff successfully, please read the manual available in English or German language. If you want to look into changes since last versions read the MacDiff Release Notes. A short explanation to resolve a Peak Fit analysis in MacDiff is given in German language. MacDiff was continuously developed from 1991 to 2001. Since appearance of Mac OS X MacDIff's development was discontinued but it works in the Mac OS Classic mode. For all newer Leopard or Snow Leopard Macs as well as for Windows PCs MacDiff works in the SheepShaver Virtual Machine. |
Example screenshots: Analysis of Quartz (101) peak |
Peak database dialog (shown here: Alpha Quartz) |
Comparison of the measured profile with line graphs showing reflections as available in a peak database. Here: Detection of corundum. |
Peak fit analysis of kaolinite (1) and chlorite (2) (3.58 and 3.54Å). Profile function (blue): Pseudo Voigt (split). Black: curve in common (envelope), grey: residuum curve, red: original data. Background removed. The peak data display shows the data of the 2nd peak (chlorite) |
Three self updating windows for displaying and handling peak identify, report data and advanced peak info listings. They can be opened constantly. |
Contacting the Author: Dr. Rainer Petschick Institut für Geowissenschaften Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Altenhöferallee 1 60438 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel. 069-798 40192 e-mail: Petschick@em.uni-frankfurt.de |
MacDiff runs on a PowerMacintosh with 8 MB RAM minimum. However, 16 MB with colour monitor is recommended. RAM requirements are 3.5 MB minimum. Hard disk requirements are between 2 and 8 MB memory. All Mac OS-systems older than 8.0 require the extension 'appearance extension' as well as the console 'appearance CDEV', which is available for downloading (name: 'Appearance Lib'). Minimum system: Power Macintosh or first generation PPC-PowerBook (PPC 601) with 14" colour monitor (minimum 256 colours), system 7.1.2 Optimal system (required in particular for profile fit): Power Macintosh or latest generation PPC-PowerBook (604c or G3) with 32 MB RAM minimum, 17 to 21" colour monitor (16 mio. colors), system 8.x |
Developement (discontinued 2000) The software was developed in the Visual Interactive Programming BASIC-environment of Mainstay (Web site no longer available). The code was converted to ANSI-C and compiled by CodeWarrior (today: Freescale). |
Input - Output You can read the following diffractogram files:
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List of some features:
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Acknowledgements: For all their critical remarks and for their help to improve MacDiff, many thanks to ... H. Bartl (Frankfurt, Germany)H. Barwood (Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A.)M. Beck (Golden, Colorado, U.S.A.)B. Bookhagen (Potsdam, Germany)G. Bormann (Kiel, Germany)J. Brugger (Basel, Switzerland)F. Butt (Oslo, Norway)B. Diekmann (Potsdam, Germany)P. Covert (Seattle, U.S.A.)H. Cynn (Livermore, California, U.S.A.)W. Ehrmann (Halle, Germany)R. Ferrell (Oslo, Norway / Zürich, Switzerland / Batton Rouge, U.S.A.)R. Ferreiro Mählmann (Basel, Switzerland)F. Gingele (Warnemünde, Germany)F. Girod (Lausanne, Switzerland)H. Gorter (Eindhoven, The Netherlands)H. Grobe (Bremerhaven, Germany)U. Gronemann (BEB, Germany)E. Hagen (Norway)B. Haskell (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.)M. Herzog (Kronberg, Germany)A. Kern (Frankfurt, Germany)H. Kollmann (Frankfurt, Germany)H. Krumm (Frankfurt, Germany)S. Krumm (Erlangen, Germany)G. Kuhn (Bremerhaven, Germany)V. Kuhnert (Giessen, Germany)H. LaViers (acpub.duke.edu)Chao R. Li (U.S.A.)B. Luckie (Mainstay, U.S.A.)A. Menegatti (Zürich, Switzerland)L. Morse (Pocatello, Idaho, U.S.A.)J. Nakken (Oslo, Norway)R. Oberhänsli (Potsdam, Germany)H. Ortner (Innsbruck, Austria)T. Pletsch (Hanover, Germany)J. Rössler (Frankfurt, Germany)Thanks for your 'peak fit' help and for your manual translation, Jochen!M. Schrier (Berkeley, U.S.A.)M. Schmith (Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.A.)H. Stanjek (Munich, Germany)I. Steyer (Frankfurt, Germany)M. Sturzenegger (Switzerland)P. Talbot (Queensland, Australia)M. Underwood (Columbia, Missouri, U.S.A.)C. Vogt (Bremen, Germany)L. Warr (Heidelberg, Germany)J. Warren (Mitcham, Australia)... and to all other users of MacDiff!Rainer Petschick |