Install & Usage instructions

The following are install and usage instructions for the StimOMatic software package that will run on the analysis computer. These instructions assume that you are using a Neuralynx system operated by the Cheetah data acquisition software.

For testing, the demo version of Cheetah can be used. This can be obtained for free from www.neuralynx.com. The demo version contains a demo data file that can be used for replay and to StimOMatic this will look just like a real system.

This version has been tested with Cheetah v5.6.3 and v5.3.1. and Neuralynx Router v1.2.0. Version of the router less than 1.2.0 are not supported nor are any version of Cheetah less than 5.3.1.

Installing StimOMatic

1) Install and run NetComRouter

• download NetComRouter program http://neuralynx.com/software/Router_v120.zip
• run programm by double clicking on Router.exe
• connect to your Cheetah computer (Network -> Connect to server -> IP address)

2) Install and configure Python OpenGL mmap plotter (POMP)

• follow instructions in python\OpenGLPlotting\pomp\docs\INSTALL.md file.

3) Configure Matlab

• startup Matlab
• add directory matlab\ to your matlab path (*File* -> Set Path).
• open setpath_StimOMatic.m and modify basepath so it points to above directory (full path).

Using StimOMatic

• run (in Matlab) >> setpath_StimOMatic
• run (in Matlab) >> StimOMatic
• modify Router IP so that the IP address matches the IP of the computer where Router.exe is running (see 1).
• press Connect button
• select channel from CSC Channels pulldown list, and add it using the + sign.
• select plugin from plugin list on right side of GUI, e.g., Continuous LFP/Spikes plot (OpenGL). Press Add Plugin button.
• optionally: select Yes from RT Ctrl Mode
• optionally: if you plan to control a stimulus presentation system conditionally on the incoming data, don't forget to fill out the PTB Sys IP field (the pCtrlLFP uses this for example).
• press Start data feed

you should see some output like:

Lab 1: 
  pContinuousOpenGL-1-43
Lab 2: 
  pContinuousOpenGL-1-45

This will indicated that the previously selected plugin has the absolute plugin ID 1, and that we want to visualize channels 43 and 45. We need to now configure our OpenGL plugin accordingly:

• go to directory python\OpenGLPlotting\
• open the file 1_start_pContinuousOpenGL.py for editing
• set abs_plugin_ID = 1 and channel_numbers = [43, 45]
• run 1_start_pContinuousOpenGL.py by double clicking the file

Using conditional visual displays

See the INSTALL.md file inside the subdirectory matlab\psychophysics-example for instructions on how to run the display part of StimOMatic.