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Setting Up with an iPac

The iPac controls multiple behavioral cages from one workstation. Inside the box there is a master computer running four (iPac4), six (iPac6), or eight (iPac8) virtual machines. Each virtual machine runs a full Windows® operating system with TDT's Synapse software, and has a direct USB connection to the integrated RZ3 processor inside an iConZ. The RZ3 processor includes two DSP cores optimized for real-time behavioral control.

Software is already installed

The iPac ships with USB 3 interface cards factory installed, and with its software (iPacConsole on the master and SynCon on each node) already set up. You can skip Install the TDT Drivers entirely.

Steps

  1. Unpack the iPac, its keyboard, mouse and monitor.
  2. Connect the monitor, keyboard and mouse.
  3. Connect your iConZ devices to the Node ports.
  4. Power on the iPac.
  5. Log in and launch iPacConsole.

Connect the Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse

The iPac has four Mini DisplayPort outputs and comes with a 34" ultra-wide monitor.

The provided mouse and keyboard connect to the USB ports on the back panel reserved for them. Two USB extension cables are included so the keyboard and mouse can be farther away from the iPac.

The extension cables are for the keyboard and mouse only

The supplied USB extension cables are not compatible with iConZ devices. Use them only for the mouse and keyboard.

Back Panel Connections

1. AC Power Cord Input 5. iConZ USB links
2. On/Off Switch 6. Mini DisplayPort Video Output
3. USB ports for mouse/keyboard 7. Covered DVI Port, do not use
4. Ethernet ports

The iPac also includes one front panel USB 3.1 port for data transfer, four USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the back for mouse, keyboard and other USB devices, and Gigabit Ethernet ports for external networking.

Connect the iConZ Devices

Use the provided USB type C to A cables to connect the TDT iConZ devices to the iPac USB ports labeled Node-1 to Node-8. Multiple iConZ connections should be placed in order, starting with Node-1 at the top.

Use only the Node ports for iConZ

iConZ devices should only be connected to the USB ports labeled Node-1 to Node-8. Do not connect them to the mouse/keyboard USB ports, and do not use the supplied USB extension cables.

See the iPac Multi-Node Behavioral Controller page in the System 3 Manual for the connection diagram.

Power On the iPac

The power supply is auto-switching for 110 V or 220 V. Soft on/off buttons for the master computer are on the front panel, and a hard power cutoff switch is on the back panel.

  1. Connect the AC power cord and set the back panel cutoff switch on.
  2. Press the Master power button on the front panel. This powers on the master computer and all nodes.

  3. A black Proxmox login page is displayed first and logs in automatically after a short period. No input is needed here. Wait for the standard Windows login page and log in as user iPacMaster (the default password is tdt).

    Boot takes a while

    It is normal for the screen to remain black, or on the Proxmox login screen, for 5–10 minutes during boot. The iPac is continuing the startup process in the background. No user input is needed until the Windows login screen appears.

  4. Launch iPacConsole after logging in. The nodes will begin connecting one by one.

Each node can then be used like a standalone Windows computer connected to an iConZ.

Shutting Down

Safely shut down the entire system by briefly pressing (<1 second) the Master power button. This initiates a standard Windows shutdown on all nodes and the master.

Warning

Do not use the Windows start menu to shut down or restart; this will not turn off the hardware.

Next Steps

Operating the iPac (iPacConsole layouts, experiment clusters, SynCon, data locations and sharing experiments between nodes) is covered in the iPac Multi-Node Behavioral Controller page of the System 3 Manual.