www.neuron.yale.edu

Hi,
Does it make sense to run Neuron models under Linux rather than Windows to increase speed? As written in "Neuron Book", Windows is "a second-class OS" - does it also mean Neuron in Windows runs slower? What about batch mode? I use Win XP.

Not appreciably, at least not since Win2K. The only real _performance_ issues I have encountered with Win2K, WinXP, or Win7 have been with graphs that contain literally thousands and thousands of plotted points, applications like git that generate and read/write hundreds and hundreds of files, or compiling files under cygwin. Mere program execution is not a problem.

That said, I use Linux for most purposes because it offers more of what I want or need to accomplish the tasks that I face. Also it doesn't lock me into proprietary file formats or tools that do not work under other operating systems.

I started using Linux about midway through the lifespan of WinNT, mostly because of the difficulty that OS had when running multiple applications at the same time, e.g. when trying to use NEURON, Word, and a graphics program at the same time. That was no problem at all for Linux. By the time Win2K was available, I had mostly switched to Linux. The transition took several years, during which Linux itself became progressively more convenient to use.

vladimirov wrote:What about batch mode?

I would open an rxvt terminal and execute a shell script under cygwin. Alternatively, to just grind out a series of simulations with different parameters, I would just use a for loop in hoc that iterates over a series of parameter values and calls run().

Ok, then I keep on Win XP for now, and reduce the amount of graphical output during my simulations. Thank you!

Regardless of OS, the more screen updating that must be done, the slower a simulation will run. Hiding graphs (click the "Hide" buttons) will eliminate most screen updates (or all of them, depending on what else is displayed).

Thank you, I did not know this option. I follow you advice and use the NetCon record() to visualize network activity _after_ simulation is done.