The Quarto just got a hardware upgrade to enable easier integration with external lab equipment and sensors. Previously, GPIO lines were connected to the Quarto with a screwless push-button terminal block. This meant that the GPIO lines had to be hand connected to external components and any changes to the wiring required disconnecting and reconnecting the wires in the terminal block.

Starting with 7.2 revision and higher hardware, this terminal block has been replaced with the socketed Eurostyle terminal block. This socket can be connected to a traditional screw terminal¹ (included with the Quarto), but as it is removable, you can have multiple screw terminals, each wired to different equipment and connect to the Quarto as needed.

Additionally, instead of using a screw-terminal, you can connect the terminal socket to a PCB-solderable terminal block² to enable plugging in a custom PCB into the GPIO lines of the Quarto. This custom board could be an adapter board to connect a safety interlock to the Quarto, or an adapter to a D-sub to connect to other equipment. Or a simple break-out board to connect GPIO lines to SMAs.

I'm excited to announce that the Quarto now has a CE mark! Its been a long time coming, and a lot of testing and paperwork, but every Quarto now sold will have a CE mark. FCC and IC testing has been updated as well. Technical details on the compliance page.

qNimble is excited to announce that Autex will be the exclusive distributor of the Quarto in Japan. Autex has been selling electro-optical solutions to academic, government, and commercial laboratories for over 35 years. With a broad product portfolio ranging covering optics, electronics and everything in between, qNimble is pleased to work together with Autex to bring the Quarto to Japan.

For sales in the Japan, please see Autex's Quarto page, or you can contact Autex. For technical questions or sales outside of the Japan, please contact qNimble.

Excited to announce the release of version 1.8 of the board software package for the Quarto which bundles a new library to enable threading with the Quarto. This means you can run multiple functions at the same time. Take a look at Threading Example for details, or try running some of the examples in the Arduino IDE.

The latest firmware on the Quarto can now use an external trigger to start ADC data acquisitions. With this functionality, ADC acqusitions can be 'on-demand' based on a trigger signal and do not have to be periodic. The trigger signal can also be driven by the Quarto so the Quarto can drive when to acquire ADC data. More details on how this functionality works in the new application note ADC Timing.

To enable this functionality, in the Arduino IDE, go to Boards Manager and install the latest (1.7.x or higher) version of "qNimble iMXRT Boards by qNimble". Then simply run

useExtADCClock(true);

in the setup() section of your code. More documention on how to use this functionality at Software Functions / External Clocks. Also check out the example UseExternalADCClock and OnDemandADCTrigger in the Arduino IDE under File, Examples, Examples for Quarto, Clocks.

If you aren't sure what firmware version of the Quarto you have, open the DeviceInfo example under Testing:

And when you run it, the output on the Serial Monitor should look something like:

Quarto Device Information
SN: 123
Device ID: qN-101.5.1
Firmware Revision: 1.29.45

If you see a firmware revision lower than 1.32.X, you will need to upgrade your firmware to use this feature. Please contact qNimble about upgrading your firmware.

The latest firmware on the Quarto can now sync its clock to an external 10 MHz clock reference. This enables the Quarto's ADC reading and DAC updates as well as internal timers to all run synchronously with the rest of your experiment. The input 10 MHz reference must be within a few kHz of 10 MHz, otherwise the Quarto will revert to using its internal reference.

To enable this functionality, in the Arduino IDE, go to Boards Manager and install the latest (1.7.x or higher) version of "qNimble iMXRT Boards by qNimble". Then simply run

useExtClock(true);

in the setup() section of your code. More documention on how to use this functionality at Software Functions / External Clocks. Also check out the example UseExternalClock in the Arduino IDE under File, Examples, Examples for Quarto, Clocks.

If you aren't sure what firmware version of the Quarto you have, open the DeviceInfo example under Testing:

And when you run it, the output on the Serial Monitor should look something like:

Quarto Device Information
SN: 123
Device ID: qN-101.5.1
Firmware Revision: 1.29.45

If you see a firmware revision lower than 1.30.X, you will need to upgrade your firmware to use this feature. Please contact qNimble about upgrading your firmware.

Bethel University's Atomic, Molecular and Optical lab used a Quarto in their experiment to lock a laser to a two photon transition of Rb-85 with the Quarto acting as both a Lock-In amplifier and tunable servo. The lab wrote up a very nice application note about the setup. Some highlights about the Quarto:

Overall, our lab has had a very positive experience using the qNimble Quarto. The Arduino code was easy to learn, and the ability to send serial commands to the Quarto provided a seamless interface with the experiment. The technical support offered by qNimble was invaluable, including answering emails with questions and tips and pointing us to helpful online forums. We are very grateful for their assistance and are benefitting from adding the Quarto to our laboratory apparatus.

The qNimble Quarto is a flexible data acquisition and experiment control device. Low latency & jitter, high-resolution A2Ds & D2As, a high sampling rate, and a facile user interface make the Quarto a high-performance tool for any laboratory.

You can read the full application note here.

Excited to announce the release of version 1.5 of the board software package for the Quarto. The Quarto now supports using either of its two serial communication ports and adds the new qCommand library to make it very easy to change variables on the Quarto with text commands over the comm port. See the Serial Commands for Dynamic Control example for a full description. Or take a look at the Lock-In Amplifier example to see it in a real-world example. Also with this release are more Examples in the Arduino IDE for using and interacting with the Quarto.

If you aren't sure what version of package you have, go to Boards Manager in the Arduino IDE and filter for 'qN' and it should show what version you have installed. If you see something like 1.4.0, as shown below, click on upgrade.

In partnership with Vescent, this spring, qNimble raffled off a free Quarto. We are pleased to announce the winner of the raffle is...:

**Shankar Menon in Hannes Bernien's lab at the University of Chicago! **

We can't wait to see what you will do with is Shankar.

Thanks to everyone who entered the raffle, and if you want get a Quarto in a more deterministic fashion, please click here.

With the release of the latest 1.4.x of the board software package for the Quarto, the new and better port selection comes out of beta and the Quarto has much better crash detection. Now if you program the Quarto in a way that it crashes or can no longer response to USB, the device will automatically reboot into the bootloader where you can troubleshoot what went wrong and upload new code. See the Troubleshooting Guide for more details.