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Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science

Behavioural Testing Laptops

MACCS has purchased four Macbook Pro computers for behavioural testing.

Short term Loans only

One problem we've always had with supplying laptops for testing is that people become very attached to them. To the point where they never return as people are worried they wont be able to pick them up again when they need to test a subject. While the approach works well for whoever gets in first, it doesn't work so well for everyone else.

So these laptops will only be able to be borrowed under the following conditions.

  1. Loans are for no more than two calendar weeks with the last day falling on a business day.
  2. You must be able to return the laptop by the end of business hours on the last day of your booking.
  3. Extensions are possible but may only be made after the current booking has ended and are limited to two calendar weeks (subject to availablity).
  4. Research bookings trump non-research bookings, but only if amended before the non-research loan period begins.

These rules are designed so that everyone has a fair chance of booking a laptop for research use when they need it. The non-availability of a laptop after your booking period should be viewed as a deadline and your research planned accordingly.

The four laptops are identical so if you make an extension or a repeat booking it need not be for the same computer you currently are using.

Where do I pickup/return/store the laptops.

Laptops can be picked up and returned to any members of the MACCS Administrative Team. It is the borrowers responsibility to either organise a collection/dropoff time at least a day in advance or else be flexible enough to find one of the administrative team at some stage on the collection/dropoff day.

While in your custody they are not to be kept in any filing cabinet. They must be securely locked away or taken home with you.

Dual Boot Setup

Each Macbook Pro has Mac OS 10.5 and Windows XP SP3 installed. Each operating system has its own partition on the hard disk of the computer.

By default the computer will boot into Mac OS X, to boot into Windows switch it on and hold down the "option" key on the keyboard until you get a boot menu. Use the menu to select Windows.

Where to store files

Similar to the MACCS desktop testing computers there will be a folder on the desktop of each computer named "ExpPC_Files" where you should save all your scripts and stimuli.

Everytime you return a laptop you should assume your files will not be on it the next time you pick it up.

Moving files from Mac to Windows and vice versa

When you are booted up in Windows XP you will only have access to the C drive (C:\) only. Windows XP cannot access the Mac OS filesystem (HFS+).

When you are booted up in Mac OS X, you will see two disks on the desktop. "Macintosh HD" which is the Mac hard disk and "Untitled" which is the Windows drive. You will only have read-only access to the Windows drive as Mac OS cannot write files to the Windows NTFS filesystem. You will find the Windows XP desktop in the following location on the "Untitled" drive - '/Documents and Settings/maccsuser/Desktop/'

So in summary you can copy files from the Windows drive to the Mac drive when booted into Mac OS X, but in Windows you can only access the Windows drive. To move files from Mac OS to Windows you will need to use an external hard drive, a flash drive or a network file server.

Optimisations for testing

Windows XP is setup with the same optimised hardware profile and software as the MACCS desktop testing computers. It will have no additional application software installed.

Mac OS X will also have MATLAB R2007b with Psychtoolbox 3.0.8 and the run only version of Superlab installed. It will however have no specific optimisations for behavioural testing. It will also have general purpose applications installed such as Microsoft Office, SPSS and Endnote installed.

Experimental Software
Name Version License Detail
DMDX 3.3.0.2  
Presentation® 13.0 USB Key Required
Superlab 4.0.7b Run only
E-Prime 1.2 Run only
MATLAB R2007b (7.5) Network
Psychtoolbox 2.54 / 3.0.8 requires MATLAB

 

System Details
Apple Macbook Pro (Expmac8 -> 11)
Operating System Windows XP SP3 & Mac OS X 10.5
Processor 2.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM 2048MB DDR2
Primary hard disk 250GB SATA
Secondary hard disk None
Optical Drive DVD Writer
Floppy Drive No
Zip Drive No
Monitor Laptop 15" Wide-screen LCD
Video Card Nvidia GeForce 8800M GT
Audio Card Integrated Intel Audio
Button box interface None
Microphone Internal
Other ports USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800