Using Psychophysics Toolbox on Fedora

Install Instructions on 64-bit Linux

modified from UsingPsychtoolboxOnUbuntu

linux kernel version:

$ uname -r

2.6.41.1-1.fc15.x86_64

fedora version:

$ less /etc/fedora-release 

Fedora release 15 (Lovelock)

install matlab 64 bit

i used 2011b
alternatively, use octave (everything just works)

sudo yum install octave
sudo yum install octave-devel.x86_64 (if you want to make mex files)
i used latest octave (3.4.3) which PTB warns is "likely not yet compatible", but i haven't found problems
the PTB installer fails at getting the MAC address and calling fileattrib...

after downloading matlab, it needs permissions to install in the default location:

$ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/

$ sudo chmod a+w /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/

then, when trying to activate matlab:

Error 1,714: Unable to activate your machine. The activation process cannot detect a valid Host ID which utilizes the 'eth' naming convention. Please refer to the following solution ID, to help resolve this issue: 1-661QJD

http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-661QJD/index.html?solution=1-661QJD

following mathwork's instructions works:

$ sudo emacs /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules 

change the NAME field to eth0

matlab installs out-of-date libraries that will hide your distro's more up-to-date libraries, which PTB needs. (for details, see http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/psychtoolbox/message/12392, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/psychtoolbox/message/12538)

cd $MATLABROOT/sys/os/glnxa64/

sudo mv libstdc++.so.6.0.10 old_libstdc++.so.6.0.10

sudo mv libstdc++.so.6 old_libstdc++.so.6

cd $MATLABROOT/bin/glnxa64/

sudo mv libdc1394.so.22 old_libdc1394.so.22

sudo mv libdc1394.so.22.1.0 old_libdc1394.so.22.1.0

an alternative might be (set maybe in $MATLABROOT/toolbox/local/matlabrc.m -- anyone know a way to not hardcode /lib64 and /usr/lib64?):

setenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH',['/lib64:/usr/lib64:' getenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH')]) 

setenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH') is enough to get svn working, but not Screen, et al. why? cuz now we're hiding the mex libraries.
adapted from http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/psychtoolbox/message/12405:

 [a b]=system(['ldd ' which('Screen')])

...

    libmx.so => not found

    libmex.so => not found

    libmat.so => not found

...

who usually supplies these? using the original LD_LIBRARY_PATH:

 >> getenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH')

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/os/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/extern/lib/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/runtime/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64/native_threads:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64/server:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64

>> [a b]=system(['ldd ' which('Screen')])

...

libmx.so            => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmx.so (0x00007f1e5f177000)

libmex.so           => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmex.so (0x00007f1e5ef66000)

libmat.so           => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmat.so (0x00007f1e5ed24000)

...

% which is the same directory as:

libdc1394.so.22     => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libdc1394.so.22 (0x00007f1e5fe54000)

% so we can't just preserve $MATLABROOT/bin/glnxa64 in LD_LIBRARY_PATH

% note that only:

libstdc++.so.6      => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/os/glnxa64/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007f1e5ea1d000)

libgcc_s.so.1       => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/os/glnxa64/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007f1e5e1e8000)

% so we can preempt $MATLABROOT/sys/os/glnxa64 to solve the c runtime library problem...

but the plan doesn't work? i can't figure out why, ldd looks good: (same exact results when i add /lib64:/usr/lib64 to LDPATH_PREFIX in $MATLABROOT/R2011b/bin/.matlab7rc.sh)

>> setenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH',['/lib64:/usr/lib64:' getenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH')]) 

>> getenv('LD_LIBRARY_PATH')

/lib64:

/usr/lib64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/os/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/extern/lib/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/runtime/glnxa64:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64/native_threads:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64/server:

/usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/sys/java/jre/glnxa64/jre/lib/amd64

>> Screen

Invalid MEX-file '/home/asl/psychtoolbox/Psychtoolbox/PsychBasic/Screen.mexa64': libraw1394.so.8: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

>> [a b]=system(['ldd ' which('Screen')])

...

    libdc1394.so.22     => /usr/lib64/libdc1394.so.22 (0x00007ffc6f080000)

    libraw1394.so.11    => /usr/lib64/libraw1394.so.11 (0x00007ffc6ee72000)

... 

    libmx.so            => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmx.so (0x00007ffc6e3a3000)

    libmex.so           => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmex.so (0x00007ffc6e192000)

    libmat.so           => /usr/local/MATLAB/R2011b/bin/glnxa64/libmat.so (0x00007ffc6df50000)

... 

    libstdc++.so.6      => /usr/lib64/libstdc++.so.6 (0x00007ffc6dc48000)   

    libgcc_s.so.1       => /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007ffc6d414000)

TODO: how get a clickable icon to launch matlab? (note: PTB often wants you to run matlab as root (sudo matlab) to do fancy driver hacking stuff.

try this: http://bloggezmoy.com/2011/05/17/how-to-add-an-application-to-the-gnome-3-application-launcher/

install PTB

svn is probably already installed (you could get it with yum).
contrary to what's claimed at PsychtoolboxDownload, DownloadPsychtoolbox needs a target directory. however, many things go wrong if the target directory uses '~' -- it creates and installs to a directory called '~' at the current working directory, and adding stuff to the path silently fails. then, fileattrib correctly handles '~' and thinks there is 'No such file or directory'.

so, psychtoolbox should either resolve ~ or check for it and issue an error.

the PTB installer calls svn from within matlab, which will fail without the libstdc fix above.
alternatively, build from scratch http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/psychtoolbox/message/6170
the installer lets you know that you need several libraries to use PTB. i seemed to already have all of them, here are the packages that satisfy the dependencies:

$ yum list installed | grep libusb

libusb.x86_64                       1:0.1.3-9.fc15                      @updates

libusb1.x86_64                      1.0.8-7.fc15                        @anaconda-InstallationRepo-201105131943.x86_64

$ yum list installed | grep 1394

libavc1394.x86_64                   0.5.3-10.fc15                       @anaconda-InstallationRepo-201105131943.x86_64

libdc1394.x86_64                    2.1.2-3.fc12                        @anaconda-InstallationRepo-201105131943.x86_64

libraw1394.x86_64                   2.0.7-1.fc15                        @updates

$ yum list installed | grep glut

freeglut.x86_64                     2.6.0-6.fc15                        @fedora 

$ yum list installed | grep gstreamer

gstreamer.x86_64                    0.10.34-1.fc15                      @updates

gstreamer-plugins-bad-free.x86_64   0.10.22-1.fc15                      @updates

gstreamer-plugins-base.x86_64       0.10.33-1.fc15                      @updates

gstreamer-plugins-good.x86_64       0.10.29-1.fc15                      @updates

gstreamer-python.x86_64             0.10.19-2.fc15                      @anaconda-InstallationRepo-201105131943.x86_64

gstreamer-rtsp.x86_64               0.10.8-1.fc15                       @updates

gstreamer-tools.x86_64              0.10.34-1.fc15                      @updates

Psychtoolbox Wiki : UsingPsychtoolboxOnFedora

Using Psychophysics Toolbox on Fedora

Install Instructions on 64-bit Linux

install matlab 64 bit

install PTB