New stimulus computer

BIC Platforms & Tools MEG
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We have now switched to a new stimulus computer. It’s dual boot Windows 11 (AtlasOS) & Ubuntu 24. The goal will be to mainly use Ubuntu with real-time kernel, but for now it’s set up and fully tested on the Windows side.

Here are some recommendation and reminders for users.

  1. Power: Some idiosyncrasies of the old computer are no longer relevant, e.g. USB port and sleep issues. In general, please just put the computer to sleep when leaving, and avoid powering off the monitors (other than the patient camera screen).
  2. Background apps: Avoid having any unnecessary programs running during tasks, e.g. Chrome especially, or Matlab if running a PsychoPy task.
  3. Monitors: For tasks where visual timing is important, it is recommended to turn off the second monitor. Our system seems to behave very well with both enabled, but in principle, it could affect timing and is still recommended to run with only the projector and its mirror screen.
  4. Sound volume: We’re now using the mixer as a USB sound card since the SNR is better than the motherboard output, and quality and timing appears the same. But note that the volume is louder through that connection. Test and adjust the main mixer volume knob accordingly. Different tasks/labs also have different volumes, so it is always recommended to have a quick sound/volume check task and to run it once the participant has the ear buds in; also to make sure they put the buds in properly and can hear in both ears. At a minimum, ALWAYS verify the volume knob position before starting.
  5. Drives: The main drive in Windows is now C:, with the same folder structure as before, e.g. C:\Documents\Protocols, C:\Documents\Digitization and C:\Toolboxes. On the old system it was D:\Documents. There is a D drive in the new one too, which for now is just a backup from the old computer. Please only use C:.
  6. The script to copy the digitization files to the acquisition computer was renamed but is still on the desktop: “Copy head points to Acq”
  7. Projector settings: To adjust manually, use LabMaestro linked on the desktop > Configure Hardware > ProPixx or DataPixx3 in the left panel for different settings.
  8. Parallel port: the hardware address changed and must be updated in scripts (done for all active studies) to: hexadecimal ‘4FF8’.

Computer specs if someone is curious:
Intel Core Ultra 5 245K, ASRock B860M-X motherboard, 32 GB RAM, RAID1 SSDs, but same GPU as before: GeForce GTX 1650 Super.