[solved] SR-box port problem in OpenSesame 0.27.1 under winXP and win7

neon

Hi folks,

I'm getting a perculiar error with my PST SR-boxes using 0.27.1 tested so far under both winXP and win7 (haven't had time to test under linux yet).
The lights appear to work, but there appears to be no collection of button-presses. The device just acts as if nothing has been pressed. When I change it so that a 'dummy' SR box is used, it works fine (i.e. I can press the keyboard buttons 1 to 5 and it works fine), so I'm thinking its not my script set-up. Also, the lights work as expected - I can program which ones to come on.
The strange thing is that, my computer is using com3 and com4 for the two com ports. it doesnt matter which physical port I use, or which port I specify; the lights come on either way! So, one sr-box object configured to use com4, and switch on light 4 will switch on light 4, but also an sr-box object (within the same experiment) configured to use com5 and switch on light 5 will also do this within the same program and with the box connected to the same (either) serial port.
Anyone else had this problem, or got any idea whats going on? I've tried different SR boxes, plus other stuff I haven't mentioned.
Really grateful for any thoughts.

Best wishes,

NS

sebastiaan

The lights appear to work, but there appears to be no collection of button-presses. The device just acts as if nothing has been pressed.

One thing that comes to mind is that you are controlling the SR Box in an inline_script, and have not called exp.srbox.start(). This is necessary, because the SR Box doesn't normally send the button status. Also, it's best to call exp.srbox.stop() after the response has been collected, to avoid a buffer overflow.

• http://osdoc.cogsci.nl/devices/srbox/#libsrbox.start

Could that be it?

The strange thing is that, my computer is using com3 and com4 for the two com ports. it doesnt matter which physical port I use, or which port I specify; the lights come on either way!

That is very odd indeed. As soon as I have an SR Box to test with, I'll see if I can reproduce this.

Cheers!

gary

Hi neon

I have been trying to test the latencies of PST SRB200A and Cedrus RB-X30 using the latest version of Opensesame (0.27.2) but couldn't get them to work. The only way that I could test these units was by downloading an older versions (0.25) zip file, and extracting all files and then double clicking on the opensesame.exe in this folder.

Have the plug-ins changed?

Regards

Gary

sebastiaan

Hi Gary (the Swansea technician?),

I have been trying to test the latencies of PST SRB200A and Cedrus RB-X30 using the latest version of Opensesame (0.27.2) but couldn't get them to work.

In what sense did they fail to work? Did you receive an error message?

Have the plug-ins changed?

Not really, I can't see any significant changes in the srbox plug-in history for a long time. That being said, maybe there's some small change that unexpectedly causes problems. What happens if you replace the 0.27.2 version of the plug-in with the 0.25 version (i.e. just replace the plug-in folder)? Does this fix the issue?

Cheers!
Sebastiaan

gary

Hi sebastiaan

the Swansea technician?

Yes,

In what sense did they fail to work? Did you receive an error message?

Basically the presence and absence of a SR Box was detected, but key presses were not. The only way to exit was control alt del. No error messages.

Not really, I can't see any significant changes in the srbox plug-in history for a long time. That being said, maybe there's some small change that unexpectedly causes problems. What happens if you replace the 0.27.2 version of the plug-in with the 0.25 version (i.e. just replace the plug-in folder)? Does this fix the issue?

I will try replacing the plug-in either today or tomorrow and will late you know.

Thanks

Gary

gary

Hi

Just tried swapping the plug-in, get the error message Failed load plugin 'srbox'

This error message is the same for using old srbox plugin with new opensesame and new plugin with old opensesame.

Gary

sebastiaan

Hi Gary and Neon,

I just tried it myself, and indeed: No response from the SR Box. I was initially puzzled, but it turns out that I accidentally removed a crucial line as part of some code clean-up. I committed a fix, which should address the problem (but if not, please let me know). To use the patched plug-in immediately, simply download the latest OpenSesame snapshot from GitHub and replace the plugins/srbox folder of your own installation by the plugins/srbox folder from the code snapshot.

Direct download link:

• https://github.com/smathot/OpenSesame/archive/master.zip

Thanks for pointing this out!

Cheers,
Sebastiaan

gary

Hi Sebastian

that I accidentally removed a crucial line as part of some code clean-up

Been there, done that

Glad to say that your update works, thanks for that.

Gary

neon

Sebastiaan, Gary,

Indeed, cleaning up code has left me in trouble many a time...
Anyway, thanks very much Sebastiaan - it is now working, so happy for this issue to be marked as closed. Alas, I've found another issue with the PST box, but will start another thread.

Best wishes,

Neale