ACQ4 Neurophysiology Acquisition and Analysis System
Electrophysiology - Photostimulation - Fluorescence Imaging
Frequently Asked Questions


Does ACQ4 work on 64-bit operating systems?
Yes! For Windows systems, many of the required python dependencies may be downloaded here: http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/. See the installation documentation for more information. Note: for MultiClamp users: the MultiClamp commander software currently only runs in 32-bit mode. We may write a workaround for this at some point, but in the meantime it doesn't hurt to pester Molecular Devices about updating their drivers.
Can I use cygwin packages instead of downloading all the windows libraries?
In theory this is possible, but you will find that most python packages have precompiled windows binaries that are not compatible with cygwin's python. This means that if you need a package that's not in the cygwin repository, you'll probably have to compile it yourself.
Can I use setuptools easy_install instead of downloading all the windows libraries?
We have not been able to make this work. In particular: numpy, scipy, and pyqt are all packaged improperly for this to work correctly.
Can I use the Enthought python distribution instead of downloading all the windows libraries?
Maybe so! We haven't tried it, but they seem to include everything except pyqt, which could probably be installed separately.
What parts of ACQ4 will work on OSX or Linux?
The short answer is that everything should work on any platform as long as you can install the hardware drivers. In practice, this means that you can do data management and analysis on any platform, but most acquisition hardware (NiDAQ and serial devices being the only exceptions) will only work on Windows.
Python complains it can't find the PyQt4 library, even though I installed it.
This commonly happens when you have more than one version of Python installed on your system. Many software packages ship with their own version of Python (cygwin, for instance). To avoid this issue, you must be certain that 1) the libraries required by ACQ4 are installed under the correct version of Python (most library installers will ask which Python to install under) and 2) you are executing the correct python when you start ACQ4.