In article <HUNTER.93Feb18144818 at work.nlm.nih.gov> Hunter at nlm.nih.gov writes:
>>Francis Burton asks:
>> On behalf of a colleague, I am looking for software that can be used to
> simulate large networks of connected neurons.
>>Well, there are many public domain (or nearly so) neural network simulators
>out there that can do arbitrary topologies and update rules, at least with a
>little bit of programming. IMHO, by far the best, both in terms of what
>comes with the system and how easy it is to program to meet specific needs,
>is the Xerion system from University of Toronto. It has wonderful graphical
>interfaces (X windows) and runs on practically any Unix/X platform. It is
>originally designed for use in machine learning and on artificial neural
>nets, but I think it offers a good possibility for adaptation to natural
>neural network simulation.
The original posting asked for something to run "on a PC." This sounds
unlikely to run on a PC even if it were running an X server.
However, if you can get a hold of a UNIX based workstation, (Sparc,
SGI, HP, IBM, etc), you might want to check out the Caltech Neurosimulator
called "GENESIS". GENESIS also sports a very nice X-windows based
front-end called "XODUS" (what else :).
Unlike Xerion which was primarily designed for "non-biological"
neural networks (i.e. back-propagation, etc.), GENESIS was
designed from the beginning to model REAL neurons. In fact GENESIS
has a group of commands that generates "sheets of neurons"
and synaptically connects them to other sheets. Real HHK action
potentials, Calcium channels, dendrtitic spines, etc, etc...
I'm at home so I don't have all the details here, but if any
one is interested, they can contact me by E-Mail.
Again this program MUST be run on a UNIX box that supports
X-Windows. If all you have is a PC, then this isn't for you.
--
David M. Senseman, Ph.D. | Imagine the Creator as a low
(senseman at lonestar.utsa.edu) | comedian, and at once the world
Life Sciences Visualization Lab | becomes explicable.
University of Texas at San Antonio | H.L. Mencken
