Installation

Software Installation

Users without Python installed:

Download and install Anaconda for Python 3.6+.

It’s usually good habit to create a new environment for new projects. At the command line:

conda create --name pysightenv python=3 -c conda-forge
source activate pysightenv
pip install pysight

Users who already installed Python

In a virtual environment simply install PySight:

pip install pysight

Note for Windows users: PySight uses Cython to compile C extensions. If this is the first time you’re using Cython, you’ll have to download the Visual Studio C++ Build Tools and install them before you’ll be able to pip install pysight.

The “Usage” page provides more details on the operation of PySight.

Hardware Installation

While PySight can parse any time-tagged list of photon arrival times, it will usually be paired with a FAST ComTec MCS6A Multiscaler. Thus, installing and running the multiscaler is a prerequisite before running PySight. This is a link to the official multiscaler handbook, with its quite simple installation instructions.

After you’ve managed to run a simple multiscaler experiment, you can use one of the settings files we supply with PySight, located at the mcs6a_settings_files folder in the main repo, to see how a typical Multiscaler + PySight experiment looks like, settings-wise.

The installation step will probably involve re-routing the scanning elements synchronization signals into the multiscaler. You can consult the ScanImage manual (if you’re using ScanImage) for the specific ports in question. For example, a standard resonant-galvo setup will need to feed the its line signal, taken from PFI6 at the respective breakbox, into one of the multiscaler analog inputs (STOP1, for example).

If you’re unsure of the exact wiring for your specific scope, don’t hesitate to contact the package authors.