I am writing to let the community know that the USB-1208FS device (as well as the USB-1408FS and USB-1608FS) is (are) no longer available from MCC (or rather Digilent who bought MCC (which appears to be a subsidiary of National Instruments)). Only the “Plus” versions of these devices are available. The last order date for the USB-1208FS was October 31, 2022. (Note that the digital I/O only USB-1024LS is still available.)
I had been using this device with PTB for collecting hand movement data in an EEG experiment over the past decade. Unfortunately, my device was “misplaced” in a collaborator’s laboratory during the pandemic. I ordered a new USB-1208FS in August but it was back-ordered until November. MCC offered a USB-1208FS-Plus sooner instead. I said sure not knowing it was incompatible with PTB. When I realized my mistake in January (given a number of delays in getting the experiment going), it was too late to order the older USB-1208FS. Luckily the the sales rep felt sorry for me and found one lying around that he “gifted” me. (There are a few used available on eBay though too… if you are looking for one.)
This leaves me with a USB-1208FS-Plus that I cannot use. I would be happy to “gift” it to Mario or one of the other PTB programmers if they need one to update the PTB for compatibility with it. Just let me know.
There are essentially no other PTB developers doing such work. “Gifting” me such a device would be a starter, but insufficient, as we are past the point of me providing free work for thank you notes. See this GitHub issue from 15th October 2021 for how to proceed if you want this solved, and my conditions for working on it:
That said: If you donate your device to me, support for it could be something to add as part of a next Mathworks contract cycle 2023-2024 if there is such a thing, so conceivable that would add support by the end of 2023 or early 2024, but no guarantees. If it is not paid for somehow, it will not happen.
Or somebody does all the work, and provides a high quality pull request with test results from all operating systems. In that case that person would only have to pay for my time for code review if it isn’t the most trivial pull request imaginable.
Yes, I had read the August 2021 thread about your conditions for working on making PTB day compatible with the USB-1208FS-Plus. I understand completely about not wanting to do free work and was not suggesting that.
Currently, I myself have no need for making PTB daq compatible with the USB-1208FS-Plus since the legacy setup I have is working fine. But nonetheless I find myself with a USB-1208FS-Plus that I am not using and feel indebted enough to the PTB community to offer it for future development. If you would like it, email me your mailing address.