DriftDemo: works fine.
AlphaImageDemo: gray screen, crash.
Restart, PsychDebugWindowConfiguration, AlphaImageDemo: “MATLAB has encountered an internal error and needs to close.”
Restart, KbDemo: Parts 1 - 3 work fine, then crash.
Restart, PsychDebugWindowConfiguration, KbDemo: Parts 1 - 3 work fine, then “MATLAB has encountered an internal error and needs to close.” Ideas appreciated!
I cannot really tell you why this works (I believe I got the idea from @mariokleiner in an old help post), but for some reason, recent macOS versions will only properly display images if I tell Psychtoolbox to use its old text renderer. Skipping sync tests is also usually helpful. Add either or both of these to the top of your script, before you open a screen, and see if it works for you:
Screen(‘Preference’, ‘SkipSyncTests’, 1);
Screen(‘Preference’, ‘TextRenderer’, 0);
1 Like
Thanks for this; too. It works!
The SkipSyncTests however, makes the machine completely unfit for timed visual stimulation and also should not have any bearing on avoiding crashes or such.
Ofc. neither should the TextRenderer selection. Using the unsupported legacy text renderer is also unsupported and will cause degraded text drawing and text placement in some cases.
We did have a fix in PTB about 6 months ago for new OSX text rendering bugs, but that should be part of current PTB 3.0.17. Maybe running cd(PsychtoolboxRoot); SetupPsychtoolbox; again to make sure no errors happened during installation/upgrade, or that none of those disc permissions for Matlab are missing?
This is another one of those random macOS operating system bugs. My Catalina 10.15.7 test machine does not show any of these problems.
Thanks for this, Mario
I, too, am running Catalina 10.15.7 and PTB 3.0.17 and have had no trouble with either. However, I watched the student in question execute SetupPsychtoolbox while he was sharing his screen, remotely. No serious errors were reported. Immediately following SetupPsychtoolbox (PTB 3.0.17), he tried Screen(‘Preference’, ‘SkipSyncTests’, 1), which is necessary for running PTB while screensharing. Immediately thereafter, he ran the sequence of Demos and obtained the results described in my “Yet more catalina weirdness” post. I do not know specifically which version of hardware and software he was running.
js
PS Apple released yet another update to catalina today. at some point, my machine will automatically install it. (university policy.) should be fun! 
Apologies if this is a breach of protocol (let me know) but I have (or rather, one of my students has) encountered an even more insidious problem, using Catalina. The DownloadPsychtoolbox routine causes MATLAB to crash. I will supply a screenshot below. Any ideas would be appreciated.
I’d need an authentication token, so i can bill your license. And the complete output if your student presses that “Show Report” button in that crash reporter dialog box, and full system specs - Matlab version, macOS version, type and model of graphics card, is GStreamer installed and what version? Is XQuartz installed? Is HomeBrew installed? Maybe also run with “diary on” to create a diary.txt file of all PTB output. Also i assume this also happens if screen sharing is disabled? Btw. running SetupPsychtoolbox might be enough to diagnose further, no need to run DownloadPsychtoolbox again, as it made it through the download part.
Looks like another crash related to text rendering setup. Apples pile of shit is a gift that keeps giving…
-mario
Hi Mario
The authentication token: You’ll have to remind me how to get this. In an earlier posting, I provided the new license key, but I guess the token is something different.
A quick Google search failed to turn up instructions for how to determine whether GStreamer had been installed and what version. I would like to provide those instructions to my student, who probably doesn’t know how to do it, either. Same thing for XQuartz and HomeBrew, whatever they are.
js
The function PsychPaidSupportAndServices turns your license key and order id on the invoice you got into a one-time authentication token. If you would post the license key here directly, anybody could abuse it for their purpose.
“help GStreamer” and “help DrawTextPlugin” give the background info on GStreamer, XQuartz, HomeBrew. Given that they all ship libraries related to supporting our text rendering and the crash seemed to happen around text rendering setup, i wonder if any of these somehow interferes, instead of helping? Could be some other bug though. The most important info is the crash report from Matlab, ie. pressing that “Show Report” button and providing that output. macOS had multiple bugs around that lately, but so far the one system it worked - and works here for me - is Catalina, only older macOS versions were affected, and that issue was fixed with a workaround for the macOS bugs in PTB.
-mario
ok. here is the token
LYA99QQC-2021216171744:6d20580a69d7c4c663c050f4be05199accaf5ad2b81ffbf1aadcca71a79c7c11
The student says he rebooted his computer, tried DownloadPsychtoolbox again, and everything worked.
Another student. Exact same symptoms but rebooting didn’t help. She is running MATLAB_R2020b and MacOS 10.15.4. This is the output of “Show Report.”
MATLAB crash file:/Users/nisharana/matlab_crash_dump.529-1:
abort() detected at 2021-02-17 13:19:17 +0000
Configuration:
Crash Decoding : Disabled - No sandbox or build area path
Crash Mode : continue (default)
Default Encoding : UTF-8
Deployed : false
Graphics Driver : Unknown hardware
Java Version : Java 1.8.0_202-b08 with Oracle Corporation Java HotSpot™ 64-Bit Server VM mixed mode
MATLAB Architecture : maci64
MATLAB Entitlement ID : 1562109
MATLAB Root : /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app
MATLAB Version : 9.9.0.1570001 (R2020b) Update 4
OpenGL : hardware
Operating System : Mac OS Version 10.15.4 (Build 19E287)
Process ID : 529
Processor ID : x86 Family 6 Model 61 Stepping 4, GenuineIntel
Session Key : d1d92fe4-373c-44ca-ae35-f6f216884b82
Window System : Quartz
Fault Count: 1
Abnormal termination:
abort()
Current Thread: ‘PTB mainthread’ id 0x7000023ad000
Register State (from fault):
RAX = 0000000002000209 RBX = 0000000000000000
RCX = 00007000023a6538 RDX = 00007000023a69a0
RSP = 00007000023a6538 RBP = 00007000023a6580
RSI = 0000000000000001 RDI = 0000000000000006
R8 = 00007000023a65a0 R9 = 0000000000000000
R10 = 00000000000000b2 R11 = 0000000000000246
R12 = 00000000000000b2 R13 = 00007000023a69a0
R14 = 0000000000000001 R15 = 0000000000000006
RIP = 0000000116552ebe RFL = 0000000000000246
CS = 0000000000000007 FS = 0000000000000000 GS = 0000000000000000
Stack Trace (from fault):
[ 0] 0x00000001129ee9e9 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwfl.dylib+00006633 _ZN10foundation4core4diag15stacktrace_base7captureERKNS1_14thread_contextEm+00000057
[ 1] 0x00000001129f42fa /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwfl.dylib+00029434 _ZN10foundation4core4test17terminate_handledERKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS2_11char_traitsIcEENS2_9allocatorIcEEEE+00011546
[ 2] 0x00000001129f1325 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwfl.dylib+00017189 _ZN10foundation4core4diag13terminate_logEPKcPK17__darwin_ucontext+00000149
[ 3] 0x00000001182e0d8b /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00560523 _Z19mnPrintErrorMessageRKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS_11char_traitsIcEENS_9allocatorIcEEEE+00012427
[ 4] 0x00000001182de81d /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00550941 _Z19mnPrintErrorMessageRKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS_11char_traitsIcEENS_9allocatorIcEEEE+00002845
[ 5] 0x00000001182e3949 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00571721 _Z19mnPrintErrorMessageRKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS_11char_traitsIcEENS_9allocatorIcEEEE+00023625
[ 6] 0x00000001182dd99c /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00547228 _Z22mnInstallCrashHandlersv+00000348
[ 7] 0x00007fff6b82d5fd /usr/lib/system/libsystem_platform.dylib+00013821 _sigtramp+00000029
[ 8] 0xaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa +00000000
[ 9] 0x000000011657c54f +00000000
[ 10] 0x0000000116579bd2 +00000000
[ 11] 0x000000011650edf5 +00000000
[ 12] 0x0000000116579e0b +00000000
[ 13] 0x0000000116579bf7 +00000000
[ 14] 0x00000001164ff458 +00000000
[ 15] 0x00000001165278ba +00000000
[ 16] 0x0000000116533f04 +00000000
[ 17] 0x00000001164fefbc +00000000
[ 18] 0x0000000116502d3b +00000000
[ 19] 0x000000011650ce58 +00000000
[ 20] 0x00007fff6b61fd8a /usr/lib/system/libdyld.dylib+00023946 dlopen+00000171
[ 21] 0x0000000190a5d3d3 /Applications/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexmaci64+00811987 PsychLoadTextRendererPlugin+00000339
[ 22] 0x0000000190a5df1f /Applications/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexmaci64+00814879 PsychDrawUnicodeText+00000255
[ 23] 0x0000000190a5e4d0 /Applications/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexmaci64+00816336 SCREENDrawText+00000480
[ 24] 0x0000000190aa55cd /Applications/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexmaci64+01107405 mexFunction+00000925
[ 25] 0x0000000118d2e6b7 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmex.dylib+00394935 ZNK18C_DispatchStrategy8dispatchEiPP11mxArray_tagiS2+00000279
[ 26] 0x0000000118d2e5f0 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmex.dylib+00394736 ZNK18C_DispatchStrategy8dispatchEiPP11mxArray_tagiS2+00000080
[ 27] 0x0000000118d2effd /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmex.dylib+00397309 ZNK24SCCompatDispatchStrategy8dispatchEiPP11mxArray_tagiS2+00000061
[ 28] 0x0000000118d2e45c /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmex.dylib+00394332 ZN7Mfh_mex30dispatch_file_with_protectionsEiPP11mxArray_tagiS2+00000428
[ 29] 0x0000000118d12f1f /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmex.dylib+00282399 ZN7Mfh_mex13dispatch_fileEiPP11mxArray_tagiS2+00000159
[ 30] 0x00000001184328de /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_dispatcher.dylib+00665822 ZN8Mfh_file20dispatch_file_commonEMS_FviPP11mxArray_tagiS2_EiS2_iS2+00000142
[ 31] 0x00000001184330fb /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_dispatcher.dylib+00667899 ZN8Mfh_file8dispatchEiPNSt3__110unique_ptrI11mxArray_tagN6matrix6detail17mxDestroy_deleterEEEiPPS2+00000379
[ 32] 0x0000000119424489 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+06591625 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe17LxeDispatcherImpl12apply_handleEPNS0_29DispatcherFunctionHandleTokenEmPNS0_6xvalueEmPKS4_RKNS0_12LxeTypesBaseENS0_9ApplyTypeE+00001337
[ 33] 0x00000001195595ac /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+07857580 ZN9MathWorks3lxe16ans_apply_handleEPvNS_2ts4TypeEPKvS1_S1+00000252
[ 34] 0x00000001194a6cfe /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+07126270 ZN9MathWorks3lxe38cpp_primitive_template_fn_with_contextIXadL_ZNS0_16ans_apply_handleEPvNS_2ts4TypeEPKvS2_S2_EEEEbS2_S4_S6_S2_S2+00000014
[ 35] 0x0000000118f9b0ab /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01835179 ZN9MathWorks3lxe13IrInterpreter17ApplyCppPrimitiveEPN2ir4termES4_RKNS_2ts4TypeES8+00000603
[ 36] 0x0000000118f99daf /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01830319 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe13IrInterpreter31process_application_of_constantEPN2ir4termE+00003951
[ 37] 0x0000000118f97938 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01820984 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe13IrInterpreter13applyConstantEPN2ir4termE+00000072
[ 38] 0x0000000118f930d8 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01802456 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe12IRTreeWalker11getNextIRPCENS0_9irpc_typeE+00000216
[ 39] 0x0000000118f976b7 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01820343 ZN9MathWorks3lxe13IrInterpreter9tree_walkERKNS0_9irpc_typeES4+00000215
[ 40] 0x0000000118f9758c /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+01820044 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe13IrInterpreter9InterpretEv+00000108
[ 41] 0x00000001190e7430 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+03195952 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe15ExecutionDriver9ThreadRunEv+00005520
[ 42] 0x00000001190ebfad /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+03215277 ZN9MathWorks3lxe12IrEngineImpl5ApplyERKN2ir4termEPvS6+00000301
[ 43] 0x000000011931fdf8 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05524984 ZN9MathWorks3lxe17IrEngineDecorator5ApplyERKN2ir4termEPvS6+00000152
[ 44] 0x00000001192b566f /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05088879 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe9Evaluator15ApplyStatementsERKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS2_11char_traitsIcEENS2_9allocatorIcEEEERKN2ir4termERNS0_18IEvaluationContextE+00000495
[ 45] 0x00000001192b9a2b /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05106219 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe9Evaluator17EvalStatementImplERKNSt3__112basic_stringIcNS2_11char_traitsIcEENS2_9allocatorIcEEEERNS0_18IEvaluationContextE+00000331
[ 46] 0x00000001192b9afe /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05106430 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe9Evaluator13EvalStatementERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNS2_11char_traitsIDsEENS2_9allocatorIDsEEEERNS0_18IEvaluationContextE+00000110
[ 47] 0x000000011936b6d2 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05834450 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe9LxeBridge7EvalCmdERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNS2_11char_traitsIDsEENS2_9allocatorIDsEEEEbNS0_10EvalSourceE+00000946
[ 48] 0x000000011936b2d5 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwm_lxe.dylib+05833429 _ZN9MathWorks3lxe9LxeBridge22EvalCmdWithLocalReturnERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNS2_11char_traitsIDsEENS2_9allocatorIDsEEEEPibNS0_10EvalSourceE+00000053
[ 49] 0x00000001181b107a /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00540794 _ZN3iqm14UserEvalPlugin7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tag+00001242
[ 50] 0x000000013b7098ca /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libnativejmi.dylib+00100554 _ZN9nativejmi17JmiUserEvalPlugin7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tag+00000026
[ 51] 0x000000011817cb18 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00326424 _ZN3iqm17DefaultPacketInfo7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tagN7mwboost10shared_ptrINS_22IntermediatePacketInfoEEE+00001400
[ 52] 0x0000000118191c1d /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00412701 _ZN3iqm10ioreadline14EvalPacketInfo7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tagN7mwboost10shared_ptrINS_22IntermediatePacketInfoEEE+00000077
[ 53] 0x0000000118139253 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00049747 _ZN3iqm10DefaultIqm7dequeueERKN7mwboost8optionalIKP15inWorkSpace_tagEEN14cmddistributor11IqmStreamIDERKNS1_9function2IN6mlutil14cmddistributor17inExecutionStatusERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNSF_11char_traitsIDsEENSF_9allocatorIDsEEEES5_EE+00004115
[ 54] 0x0000000118c910b1 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwbridge.dylib+00057521 _Z10ioReadLinebP7__sFILERKN7mwboost8optionalIKP15inWorkSpace_tagEEbRbRKNS1_9function2IN6mlutil14cmddistributor17inExecutionStatusERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNSE_11char_traitsIDsEENSE_9allocatorIDsEEEES5_EE+00000209
[ 55] 0x0000000118c988b2 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwbridge.dylib+00088242 _Z22mnGetCommandLineBufferbRbN7mwboost8optionalIKP15inWorkSpace_tagEEbRKNS0_9function2IN6mlutil14cmddistributor17inExecutionStatusERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNSA_11char_traitsIDsEENSA_9allocatorIDsEEEES4_EE+00000274
[ 56] 0x0000000118c98e05 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwbridge.dylib+00089605 _Z8mnParserv+00000357
[ 57] 0x000000011829ee2c /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00290348 _ZN3mcr7runtime13initializeIqmERKN6mlutil10contextmgr5McrIDE+00002156
[ 58] 0x0000000118268175 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00065909 _ZN14cmddistributor15PackagedTaskIIP13getTypeStringIvEENSt3__112basic_stringIcNS2_11char_traitsIcEENS2_9allocatorIcEEEEv+00000837
[ 59] 0x00000001182680b9 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00065721 _ZN14cmddistributor15PackagedTaskIIP13getTypeStringIvEENSt3__112basic_stringIcNS2_11char_traitsIcEENS2_9allocatorIcEEEEv+00000649
[ 60] 0x00000001181a2822 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00481314 _ZN3iqm18PackagedTaskPlugin7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tag+00000082
[ 61] 0x000000011829c905 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00280837 _Z15mcr_initialize0P11MfileReaderP11PfileReaderPKDsPS4_RKN7mwboost10shared_ptrIN10foundation7msg_svc8eventmgr8EventMgrEEEN6mlutil10contextmgr5MvmIDE+00021749
[ 62] 0x000000011817cb18 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00326424 _ZN3iqm17DefaultPacketInfo7executeEP15inWorkSpace_tagN7mwboost10shared_ptrINS_22IntermediatePacketInfoEEE+00001400
[ 63] 0x000000011814509d /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00098461 _ZN3iqm10DefaultIqm13dequeueHelperEN7mwboost8optionalImEERKNSt3__112basic_stringIDsNS4_11char_traitsIDsEENS4_9allocatorIDsEEEEN6mlutil14cmddistributor13WhenToDequeue13WhenToDequeueERKNS4_8functionIFbRKNS4_5tupleIJSG_NS1_10shared_ptrINS_22IntermediatePacketInfoEEESA_EEEEEE+00001069
[ 64] 0x0000000118139eca /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwiqm.dylib+00052938 _ZN3iqm10DefaultIqm7dequeueEN6mlutil14cmddistributor13WhenToDequeue13WhenToDequeueEN7mwboost8optionalImEE+00000394
[ 65] 0x0000000118286243 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00188995 _ZN3mcr7runtime22InterpreterThreadMulti14process_eventsEv+00000195
[ 66] 0x0000000118286ab8 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00191160 _ZN3mcr7runtime22InterpreterThreadMulti10threadMainENSt3__113packaged_taskIFvvEEE+00000424
[ 67] 0x0000000118287f90 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwmcr.dylib+00196496 _ZN3mcr7runtime22InterpreterThreadMulti10threadMainENSt3__113packaged_taskIFvvEEE+00005760
[ 68] 0x00000001106c9e48 /Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libmwboost_thread.dylib+00007752 _ZN7mwboost6thread21start_thread_noexceptEv+00000296
[ 69] 0x00007fff6b839109 /usr/lib/system/libsystem_pthread.dylib+00024841 _pthread_start+00000148
[ 70] 0x00007fff6b834b8b /usr/lib/system/libsystem_pthread.dylib+00007051 thread_start+00000015
This error was detected while a MEX-file was running. If the MEX-file
is not an official MathWorks function, please examine its source code
for errors. Please consult the External Interfaces Guide for information
on debugging MEX-files.
Addendum: I noticed that “unknown hardware” in the crash report. in fact, the hardware is:
Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 6000
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB
Vendor: Intel
Device ID: 0x1626
Revision ID: 0x0009
Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily1 v4
Displays:
Colour LCD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1440x900 (Widescreen eXtended Graphics Array Plus)
UI Looks like: 1440 x 900
Framebuffer Depth: 24-Bit Colour (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Automatically Adjust Brightness: No
Connection Type: Internal
Ok, this is a duplicate of this one from June last year (macOS 10.15.5):
Cause and solution completely unknown, all debugging attempts failed.
What i would recommend is for your studen to upgrade to the latest macOS 10.15.7 with all Apple updates, then retry. That’s what i’m running on my test machine with R2020b and no known problems, and this is definitely a macOS operating system bug, also reported by other users on forums on the internet, of other software completely unrelated to neuroscience. Nothing we could really do about it. The tell-tale is if you see the abort() detected in the stacktrace, and this snippet:
`` [ 20] 0x00007fff6b61fd8a /usr/lib/system/libdyld.dylib+00023946 dlopen+00000171
[ 21] 0x0000000190a5d3d3 /Applications/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexmaci64+00811987 PsychLoadTextRendererPlugin+00000339``
Ie. a call to dlopen(), and before that, a call to PsychLoadTextRendererPlugin.
All crashes you see with this stack trace are the same unfixable root cause - a macOS bug.
Two other potential workarounds:
-
As explained in
help DrawTextPlugin, rename or delete/Applications/MATLAB_R2020b.app/bin/maci64/libfreetype.6.dylib. Restart Matlab. Unlikely to help, but who knows? -
If text rendering quality/exact text formatting is not important, as i understand this is just for a basic teaching course, not actual data collection, you could also ignore the DownloadPsychtoolbox crash as all important setup steps have completed at time of the crash. PTB should be fully functional apart from the high quality text renderer, which crashes:
delete([PsychtoolboxRoot 'PsychBasic/PsychPlugins/libptbdrawtext_ftgl64.dylib'])
If the plugin is deleted, it can’t be loaded and the load can’t fail with a Matlab crash. Screen() will print some warning message each time a script tries to draw text, and fall back to the old legacy Apple text renderer, which is slower, lower quality, inconsistent in its text layout wrt. the normal case, but probably good enough for pure teaching purposes.
Work time used up on this license: 42 minutes. 18 minutes left for further support incidents.
-mario