08-27-2020, 04:16 PM
The typical EyeLink system setup uses two computers: The Host PC and the Display PC. The EyeLink Host PC connects directly to the EyeLink camera and is dedicated to data collection and control of the EyeLink system. The Host PC will be included with all EyeLink systems. The Host PC will communicate in real-time with the Display PC via a peer-to-peer ethernet connection. The Display PC is a second PC that is dedicated to stimulus presentation to the participant. Almost any modern computer can serve as a Display PC (Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux), however you stimulus presentation software will dictate the operating system and other specifications you may want to consider when selecting a Display PC.
- Display PC Requirements
The exact specifications for the Display PC will depend to some extent on the type of experimental tasks that will be run. For example, gaze-contingent paradigms generally require more computing power and may require higher-end video hardware than simple cognitive paradigms because the computer display needs to be updated at higher refresh rates. Similarly, video and audio intensive experiments may need faster hard disks /external audio cards to support the transfer of large video file data to the computer / present audio in a timely manner. For the vast majority of tasks, any reasonably recent computer should work perfectly well as a Display PC.
Please see this post for Experiment Builder hardware requirements. For other 3rd party stimulus-presentation software please refer to their own websites / user manuals.
- Software Installation
The software that needs to be installed on the Display PC depends on which software / programming environment is used for stimulus presentation.- Experiment Builder: If using Experiment Builder for stimulus presentation, then the installers for Windows and Mac at the following link:
Hasp USB License Key Driver Installation: Any time an Experiment Builder experiment is created, edited, or deployed, a Hasp USB License Key is needed. To use the USB License Key, a Hasp driver must be first installed. Note, the USB License Key is not required to run deployed Experiment Builder experiment (i.e. not needed for data collection).
For more information on programming with Experiment Builder, please see Getting Started with Experiment Builder.
- Third party software / programming environment: If a third party experimental programming packages (including Psychtoolbox in Matlab or Octave, E-Prime, NBS Presentation, PsychoPy, Inquisit, LabView, Monkey Logic, and Open Sesame) is used to program the experiment or if interfacing with the Host PC / eye tracker using a programming language (including C#, C, C++, Python, JAVA, Visual Basic, or the COM interface), then the EyeLink Developers Kit needs to be install on the Display PC. The EyeLink Developers Kit contains the Application Programming Interface (API) that allows these programming packages / languages to interface with the Host PC and the EyeLink eye tracer. You can get it at the following link:
For more information on interfacing with the Host PC and the EyeLink eye tracker using specific third party programming packages, please see Getting Started with Experimental Programming.
- Closed applications, Websites and PDF: If your task involved recording eye movements while participants view and interact with websites, closed source computer software, live events (e.g., puppet show tasks), gaming consoles, tablets, and mobile phones, and other dynamic media such as videos and pdf documents. It is ideal for usability testing, HCI research, and many other scenarios for which standard stimulus presentation software solutions such as Experiment Builder are not appropriate. You can get it at the following link:
For more information on programming with WebLink please see our WebLink video tutorials.
- Data Viewer: If the Display PC is also used for data analysis, then also install Data Viewer. You can get the installer from the following link:
For more information on data analysis options, please see Getting Started with Data Viewer.
- Experiment Builder: If using Experiment Builder for stimulus presentation, then the installers for Windows and Mac at the following link:
Hasp USB License Key Driver Installation: Any time an Experiment Builder experiment is created, edited, or deployed, a Hasp USB License Key is needed. To use the USB License Key, a Hasp driver must be first installed. Note, the USB License Key is not required to run deployed Experiment Builder experiment (i.e. not needed for data collection).
- IP Address Configuration
The Display PC and the Host PC communicate via a direct ethernet connection between the two PCs. In order for Experiment Builder and other third party programming packages / languages to use this connection, a static IP address is used for the ethernet port that is connected to the Host PC. This static IP should be:- IP Address: 100.1.1.2
- Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
- IP Address: 100.1.1.2