installing NEURON

• download the OS installer for Mac
• to get nrn to run, I also had to install X11 as described on their website

compiling mod files

• the files in the mechanism directory must be compiled before they are usable
• to do this on mac, drag the entire mechanism directory into the mknrndll function in Applications
  • this results in the creation of an x86_64 subfolder in the mechanism folder

running

• to run, cd into the mechanism directory
• running nrngui run_act.hoc should open the NEURON gui and display a plot of an action potential with the current settings
• run_main.hoc has more complicated settings