PsychToolbox v2.54 for OS X?

1
I am currently enrolled in a Computer Programming for Experimental Psychology course where we are using the PTB v2.54 for Windows in our labs. I bought MATLAB (v2008b) so I could work at home and while traveling.

However, it seems that the only OS X build I can find is the later 3.0.8, which has some different syntax and usages (especially in regards to the 'Screen' function) that are really confusing me and making the classwork much more difficult.

So, I'm really hoping to find v2.54 for OS X to make the classroom experience as similar to home as possible. Does anyone happen to know of a mirror for v2.54 for OS X or could someone please host it for me? I would be extremely grateful!

Thanks in advance!
2
Hi Matt

There never was a port of PTB-2 to OS X. When OS X came along, PTB-3 was developed. If you want to program at home, you need to learn PTB-3. Which is a good thing, because PTB-3 is a big improvement.

If you want to make the classroom and home experiences similar, you should convince your professor to switch to PTB-3. It's kind of silly to be teaching obsolete software packages to students!

Todd

--- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, "matt." <matthewsigal@...> wrote:
>
> I am currently enrolled in a Computer Programming for Experimental Psychology course where we are using the PTB v2.54 for Windows in our labs. I bought MATLAB (v2008b) so I could work at home and while traveling.
>
> However, it seems that the only OS X build I can find is the later 3.0.8, which has some different syntax and usages (especially in regards to the 'Screen' function) that are really confusing me and making the classwork much more difficult.
>
> So, I'm really hoping to find v2.54 for OS X to make the classroom experience as similar to home as possible. Does anyone happen to know of a mirror for v2.54 for OS X or could someone please host it for me? I would be extremely grateful!
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
3
I couldn't agree more with Todd!

There is however a special setting that you can add to the top of your script:

Screen('Preference', 'EmulateOldPTB', 1);

In PTB-3, this will try to simulate some of the behaviour of the obsolete PTB-2, mostly the single buffered drawing model and Screen('WaitBlanking'). This may make it easier to run old PTB-2 code in case your professor should prove resistant to common sense.

The emulation is far from perfect and has been last tested multiple years ago. No guarantees it will work and zero support or sympathy from us if it doesn't work.

In any case, make sure you don't learn anything in that course. Unlearning suboptimal approaches and habits is such a hard thing for the brain.

good luck,
-mario

--- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, "todd_horowitz" <toddh@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Matt
>
> There never was a port of PTB-2 to OS X. When OS X came along, PTB-3 was developed. If you want to program at home, you need to learn PTB-3. Which is a good thing, because PTB-3 is a big improvement.
>
> If you want to make the classroom and home experiences similar, you should convince your professor to switch to PTB-3. It's kind of silly to be teaching obsolete software packages to students!
>
> Todd
>
> --- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, "matt." <matthewsigal@> wrote:
> >
> > I am currently enrolled in a Computer Programming for Experimental Psychology course where we are using the PTB v2.54 for Windows in our labs. I bought MATLAB (v2008b) so I could work at home and while traveling.
> >
> > However, it seems that the only OS X build I can find is the later 3.0.8, which has some different syntax and usages (especially in regards to the 'Screen' function) that are really confusing me and making the classwork much more difficult.
> >
> > So, I'm really hoping to find v2.54 for OS X to make the classroom experience as similar to home as possible. Does anyone happen to know of a mirror for v2.54 for OS X or could someone please host it for me? I would be extremely grateful!
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
>
4
Hi Mario and Todd,

Thanks for the advice! I did not realize 2.54 was never ported. I guess I will stick it out with 3.0.8.

I'd be quite happy with the build but, even running the PTB example code, I'm finding weirdness. Could you maybe help?

What I am noticing is that, whenever Screen is called - things go wonky. It takes the computer a while to get to the hardware check (totally black screen), then sometimes the hardware check dialogue does not disappear.

The main issue at present is that I tried running some of the PTB 3.0.8 example code to see if that works proper... and for two out of three of them (the OldNewRecognition and MullerLyerIllusion), the text overlaps on the screen, rendering the experiments incoherent. Do you know why this might be happening?

This is on Matlab 2009b (32 bit mode), running on Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on a 4,1 MacBook (2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, with a Intel GMA X3100 graphics card, 1280 x 800 32-bit color screen).

Any advice would really be appreciated!

Thanks again,

Matt
5
Do a UpdatePsychtoolbox and see if the problem persists. If it is a text rendering problem on Snow Leopard you're just hitting Apple's latest bug in Apple's latest operating system.

The current 'beta' (updated on Monday) should fix that problem by working around Snow Leopards deficiencies.

The black screen and hardwarcheck thingy i don't know. You'd need to show us the Matlab output.

-mario

--- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, "matt." <matthewsigal@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Mario and Todd,
>
> Thanks for the advice! I did not realize 2.54 was never ported. I guess I will stick it out with 3.0.8.
>
> I'd be quite happy with the build but, even running the PTB example code, I'm finding weirdness. Could you maybe help?
>
> What I am noticing is that, whenever Screen is called - things go wonky. It takes the computer a while to get to the hardware check (totally black screen), then sometimes the hardware check dialogue does not disappear.
>
> The main issue at present is that I tried running some of the PTB 3.0.8 example code to see if that works proper... and for two out of three of them (the OldNewRecognition and MullerLyerIllusion), the text overlaps on the screen, rendering the experiments incoherent. Do you know why this might be happening?
>
> This is on Matlab 2009b (32 bit mode), running on Snow Leopard 10.6.1 on a 4,1 MacBook (2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM, with a Intel GMA X3100 graphics card, 1280 x 800 32-bit color screen).
>
> Any advice would really be appreciated!
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Matt
>