Brainstorm Training Workshop at MIT

General information

• When: Saturday, April 28, 2012 (9am - 5pm)

• Where: MIT Building 32 (Stata Center) Room 141

• Requirements:

  • Bring your own laptop with Brainstorm installed (minimum version: April 18th), and the sample dataset.

  • Power plugs are available at each desk.
  • We ask participants to visit one of our "laptop clinics" prior to the Brainstorm session (see: Troubleshooting)

Installation instructions

Before coming to the workshop, you need to download the software and the tutorial dataset from the Brainstorm website (approximately 400Mb). It requires a free registration. To streamline troubleshooting and workshop procedures, we ask the attendees to store all the downloaded files on their desktops.

1. Go to the ?Download page, create an account (quick and free registration process)

2. From the download page, download the following files to your desktop:

   • Brainstorm software: brainstorm_YYMMDD.zip (45 Mb)

   • Example dataset: sample_workshop.zip

   • Matlab Component Runtime: ONLY if you do not have Matlab installed on your computer

3. Note: if you already have Brainstorm installed, make sure that the version you use was released after April 18th.

4. Unzip all the zip files
5. If you are using the stand-alone version (no Matlab): Install the MCR library

   • Windows: Double-click on the .exe and follow the instructions

   • Linux: From a terminal, unzip .zip, then run ./install

   • MacOS: Click on the zip file to unzip it, then click on "InstallForMacOSX"

6. Delete the zip files / the installation files

7. Create a folder "brainstorm_db" on your desktop

8. Final check: you should have three folders on your desktop:

   • brainstorm3: Program folder, with the Matlab source code and the compiled executable

   • brainstorm_db: Folder to store the Brainstorm database (empty for now)

   • sample_workshop: Example dataset used during the workshop

Running Brainstorm for the first time

With Matlab

1. Start Matlab

2. Do NOT add brainstorm3 folder to your path: this will be done by Brainstorm itself

3. Go to the brainstorm3 folder
4. Type "brainstorm" in the command window
5. When asked for the location of the Brainstorm database folder, pick the folder "brainstorm_db" you have just created on the desktop

6. We recommend you visit the ?Tutorials pages and follow at least the

Without Matlab

1. Install the MCR:
2. Run the program in brainstorm3/bin/R2012a/

   • Windows: Double-click on brainstorm3.bat

   • Linux: From a terminal, cd brainstorm3/bin/R2012a/

     • Make sure that the file "brainstorm.command" is executable:
       => chmod a+x brainstorm.command

     • run ./brainstorm.command

   • MacOS: Double-click on brainstorm.command

3. When you start Brainstorm for the first start on Linux or MacOS, you will be prompted to select the folder where you installed the MCR
4. When asked for the location of the Brainstorm database folder, pick the folder "brainstorm_db" you have just created

5. Visit the Tutorials section to learn how to use most features of the software.

Getting ready for the workshop

In order to make sure that Brainstorm works properly, and to get more familiar with the software, we recommend that you follow at least the first half of the the basic online tutorials:

• ?0. Brainstorm architecture

• ?1. First steps

• ?2. Importing individual anatomy

• ?3. Importing MEG recordings

• ?4. Exploring the recordings

Troubleshooting

For any technical problems, please contact Francois Tadel ( francois.tadel@mcgill.ca )

For those who need help prior to the meeting, please come to our laptop clinics:

• April 27 / all day: MIT Bldg 46 Atrium (3rd floor) during the McGovern Institute Annual Symposium

• April 28 @ 8am: MIT Bldg 32, outside room 141