Ganglion should no longer use deprecated 'Hub' connection driver

[wjcroft]

Hi Chris,

Your Github front page notes: "If you want to use BrainBay with the OpenBCI Ganglion, install the OpenBCIHub first - have a look at:..."

In August 2023, Brainflow library and OpenBCI_GUI were updated to automatically detect and decode the new Ganglion v3 decompression algorithm. And also detect earlier firmware and decode it (v2 etc), to maintain backward compatibility.

The original BrainBay Ganglion driver (not Brainflow based), understands none of this. So that should be removed from your menus to avoid user confusion. The 'Hub' methodology has been deprecated and unused since the GUI began using Brainflow. I assume BrainBay continues to support Ganglion via your current Brainflow access method.

Best regards,

William Croft
OpenBCI Forum admin

[wjcroft]

Related Forum post:

https://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/4049/ganglion-firmware-update-and-brainbay-incompatible/

[ChrisVeigl]

Hi William,
thank you for pointing this out! - I am happy to make the suggested changes to the GitHub Front page - and to remove references to the old OpenBCIHub from the Brainbay codebase, eventually.

What I am not sure about: are there people who are still using the old variant - and will it cause problems to them?
When reading the thread linked above it seems so...

I'm not sure if we should remove support for the old "native" Ganglion element if there is no clear and simple process how to successfully switch to the BrainFlow connection with (old and up-to-date) Ganglion devices.... ?

[wjcroft]

Chris, thanks!

If the Brainflow based Ganglion (and Cyton) BrainBay elements work on your end, then you can safely remove the old style elements (Ganglion especially), that used the ancient 'Hub' mechanism.

The Cyton BrainBay element I did years ago does work for the 8 channel mode, but I recall there were aspects I left out mistakenly in the 16 channel mode. So essentially the Brainflow access is the recommended route for all OpenBCI customers and devices.

The Brainflow library automatically adapts to the Ganglion firmware version. On the Cyton side, there have been no firmware changes in many years.

Ganglion owners are under no rush to use / update their firmware. The version change was primarily to address accuracy issues with large amplitude (millivolt level) signals generated by sine wave generator test equipment. It was an issue with the compression algorithm.

Regards,

[ChrisVeigl]

OK - sounds good!
I'll remove the dedicated OpenBCI elements in the next release!