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Introduction to MinIT
MinIT™ (MinION Mk1B IT) is the IT solution to running a MinION™ without the requirement for any additional processing power or software.
Stand-alone MinIT. The MinIT is a small-footprint IT solution to your sequencing requirements when running a MinION Mk1B.
The MinIT, MinION Mk1B and peripheral screen. The basic set-up of the MinIT, MinION Mk1B and peripheral screen can used to co-ordinate a sequencing experiment. -
Hardware introduction
The MinIT can self-sufficiently manage all the processing needs that the MinION Mk1B's basecaller needs to basecall an entire assay's sequence output, in real-time, over the lifetime of the experiment.
The MinIT contains various IT data trafficking capabilities, such as:
- 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless radios - for connection to the internet and as an option to connect to your wireless-enabled device
- Ethernet (RJ45) port - this enables a wired link to a router for internet or network connection
- USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports - these enable connection of the MinION Mk1B and a Solid-State Device (SSD) for data storageThe onboard 8 GB RAM facilitates large file and data manipulation, which is appreciable when a single 72 hour sequencing experiment can generate 100 GB of .fast5 and FASTQ files.
The MinIT contains an onboard SSD of 512 GB, and this is suitable for storage of the .fast5 and FASTQ files, before off-loading to a long-term storage solution.
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Software introduction
Along with optimised hardware, the software required for all stages of a sequencing assay comes uploaded and installed on the MinIT.
These include:
- MinKNOW - Graphical User-Interface (GUI), Core utilities and Guppy (basecaller)
- Bream - Protocol loaderFor more information on the software on MinIT, see the MinIT, MinKNOW and Data Analysis technical documents.
To connect to the device, download the software 'MinKNOW Stand Alone GUI' for your operating system on the Software Downloads page.
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EPI2ME introduction
EPI2ME is a product of Metrichor Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oxford Nanopore Technologies. EPI2ME provides bioinformatic analysis services that allow the user to take basecalled data and discern biologically relevant information using bioinformatics.
For more information on EPI2ME, please see the EPI2ME Technical Document
A local software version of EPI2ME comes installed on MinIT and, provided that there is a internet connection - (see Hardware introduction) - basecalled data can be analysed in real-time in the cloud. A special configuration of the MinIT is required to co-ordinate real-time analysis; for this the an Ethernet cable (Cat5 or above) should be inserted into the MinIT and wired into a router or network to provide internet access. The wireless (Wi-Fi) radio of the peripheral screen should be used to link the MinIT through a Wi-Fi connection (through its ID on the underside of the MinIT - as cited later in this document). This ensures the MinION can be configured through the peripheral screen, using the MinKNOW GUI and the internet can be accessed through the wired ethernet connection to the cloud.