The hardware used for measurements can be configured using the Hardware form accessed from the Hardware/Configure menu of the main program window. On the left-hand side of this form there is a list of the Hardware configurations stored in the main configuration file of the system (Lap_sys.ini). The name of the current hardware configuration is highlighted on the list and additionally specified in the form caption. On this form one can view all hardware configurations specified in the list, change the configuration by picking another from the list, and finally, create a new hardware configuration and add it to the list. Clicking any configuration on the list displays all settings stored in this configuration. All changes made on this form have to be saved to be affective. The configuration highlighted on the list when the form is closed is assumed to be the current one. When the hardware configuration is changed the system has to be re-initialised. This action informs the main program about the hardware currently used for the measurements and passes all configuration settings to the equipment.
The system (including hardware) configuration file (Lap_sys.ini) is a text file having a standard Windows initialisation file structure. It can be edited by using a text editor although this is not advised unless the user is familiar with both the Laplace software and the operation of Windows initialisation files. Basically, the Lap_sys.ini file describes parameters of the system, which should not be accessible for a user during day-to-day measurements (see the chapter Vital files of the system for more details). Normally one can make all necessary modifications in the Lap_sys.ini file with a use of controls on the Main and Hardware forms. However, there are a few additional settings of the hardware possible to configure directly in the Lap_sys.ini file (see the following chapter).