What system specifications are recommended for running this software?

[fxpena]

Hello,

What system specifications are recommended for running this software? I haven't started to use the software but I want to start soon.

Thanks in advance,
Francisco

[DenisPolygalov]

Simple answer - as fast as you can afford.
Having USB 3.0 port is essential, maybe newer (i.e. USB 3.1) might be even better.
Fast hard disk (7200 rpm with as much cache memory size as you can afford) also needed. Erase all the bloatware / antivirus software if you have it installed.
However, having good PC will not save you from numerus problem with this hardware/software.
First of all there is a possible interoperation glitch between FX3 SDK from cypress.com (software you need in order to program the DAQ board) and Windows. It looks like following: you install SDK and flash firmware into your DAQ board. Then re-connect/re-boot and try to use freshly programmed DAQ board as Miniscope by connecting it to the PC used for firmware flashing… The board is not recognized as “Miniscope”. You try to connect to any other PC – it works OK. Erasing/re-installing FX3 SDK/USB drivers won’t help. Only re-installing Windows helps. I did USB packet capture on “good” and “bad” PCs and it shows difference in timing… so I gave up.
Another issue you better to prepare to is that the DAQ software is quite unstable – it can stop working any time showing you “red screen of death”. The reasons for that are: low quality USB cable, too long or damaged coaxial (DAQ board - Miniscope) cable and most often – absence of appropriate handling of video source acquisition/release in the DAQ software’s code. The software is written around OpenCV library which doesn’t have such handling implemented due to other reasons…
P.S. I’m not blaming the authors, because “no guaranty or fitness for particular purpose”. This is just description of the current situation.

[daharoni]

Hi Francisco,
We generally running all our Miniscope recordings with either MacBook Pros (running Bootcamp) or a Microsoft Book 2. We have heard some people running into issues with lower end laptops as well as computers running Windows 8. You also need to have a USB3.0 port available and we recommend saving data directly to an SSD.

DenisPolygalov makes some relevant points as well but I have not run into his issues of flashing the firmware onto the DAQ boards. In addition, now most people get their Miniscope DAQ PCBs from LabMaker.org which already come configured, programmed, and tested. The other issue DenisPolygalov raised is the software being unstable and showing the "red screen of death." In our experience the main source of this issue is a damaged coax cable or problems with the soldering of the coax cable on one or both ends. Usually careful resoldering of a new coax cable fixes this issue. Better handling of intermittent dropped connection would definitely be the ideal solution in the hardware/software but we haven't gotten around to doing so.

Hope this helps.

[DenisPolygalov]

In our experience the main source of this issue is a damaged coax cable or problems with the soldering of the coax cable on one or both ends.

Sure, if 10 years of developing and soldering electronic curcuits from scratch in commercial company is not enough to properly solder that coax cable, then... I have nothing to say :)

[fxpena]

Thank you for the advice. I placed an order for a laptop with an i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and 1 TB SSD. Also, it has thunderbolt 3 ports so I will use an adapter for the USB connection. It seems that all new laptops are phasing out regular USB ports for thunderbolt ports.

[daharoni]

Sounds like that laptop should handle things nicely. Make sure to get a decent USB3 to thunderbolt adapter.