Discern version of BCI2000 from parameter files?

[gphilips]

I am reverse engineering/rebuilding a system that was developed by a team at another university (before a professor moved here with the equipment). The system was not well documented.

I have found several BCI2000 parameter (parm) files that were used with the system previously, and am trying to decipher how they were used and/or use them with the rebuilt system.

I am concerned that the system (which was last used at least a few years ago) used an older version of BCI2000, and that this might cause problems/confusion between the old parameter files and the new version of BCI2000. Is there any way of discerning which version of BCI2000 was used to generate these parameter files by looking at the files themselves? I haven't seen any specific parameters that indicate the version.

I have also noticed that some parameters in the old files (such as "UsrTask:TTask int TargetDuration= 80 0 0 0 // Duration of Target in cursor update units") are not found in files generated by the current version (which has no "UsrTask" parameters, only lines like "Application:Sequencing:FeedbackTask float PreFeedbackDuration= 2s 2s 0 % // duration of target display prior to feedback"). The new files were generated using the CursorTask and StimulusPresentation batch and parm files mentioned in the Mu Rhythm Tutorial, as I believe that the old system used those or something similar (the old batch files that I have found run "StimulusPresentation.exe", "CursorTask.exe", or "CursorTaskStim.exe"). Does this provide a clue as to the BCI2000 version?

If these are from two different, incompatible versions of BCI2000, is there a way to relate or convert the old parameter files into ones that are compatible with the current version?

[gschalk]

What you describe appears to be parameter files from BCI2000 V1.0. This was a version that was replaced by BCI2000 V2.0 about 5 years ago. (We are now at BCI2000 V3.0.) In this transition, most of the functionality was kept, but we consolidated the naming of some of the parameters. These changes are documented at

http://www.bci2000.org/wiki/index.php/U ... _Version_2

You should be able to reconstruct the functionality of the "old" system by finding out which modules were used (from the documentation above), use a BCI2000 configuration that uses the corresponding new modules, and transfer the parameters over to the new format. I would probably start with an existing parameter file, and not simply load one of the old parameter files, as you will get parameters in the "old" sections/tabs, which would at the very least be inconsistent with current documentation.

Also, newer versions of BCI2000 have parameters that specify exactly which modules and which versions of the modules were used. BCI2000 v1.0 did not document this in parameter files.

Gerv

[gphilips]

Thanks very much for the quick response! This is exactly what I needed!

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