- NEST Users - NEST Initiative Mail

NEST 3.9 released
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 25 Sep '25

25 Sep '25

Dear NEST Users, It is a great pleasure to annouce the release of NEST 3.9 which brings numerous improvements contributed by 24 developers through over 1200 commits to the NEST code base. Key enhancements include * Enhanced e-prop plasticity with biologically inspired features<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3207> * Re-organised tripartite connectivity generation to support multiple primary connection rules<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3204> * Windows docker instructions for installation<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3521> * Updates built-in timer documentation<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3490> * Extended detailed neuron documentation<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3448> * Enhanced gunicorn options in NEST Server<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3380> * Support for per-thread timers and timing MPI synchronization<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3378> * A logger for nest-server-mpi<https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3365> and many bug fixes and code maintenance. I’d like to thank all who have contributed to making NEST 3.9 possible, in particular Jessica Mitchell who joined Dennis Terhorst in our release team and saw the completion of NEST 3.9—thanks a lot! Enjoy NEST 3.9! Hans Ekkehard -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Research Committee Chair, Faculty of Science and Technology Head, Department of Data Science Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

1 0

Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday August 25, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200)
by Dennis Terhorst 22 Sep '25

22 Sep '25

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next fortnightly Open NEST Developer Video Conference today *Monday August 25, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200).* As usual, in the Project team round, a contact person of each team will give a short statement summarizing ongoing and planned work in the team and highlight cross-cutting points that need discussion among the teams. The remainder of the meeting we would go into a more in-depth discussion of topics that came up on the mailing list or that are suggested by the teams. Feel free to join the meeting also if it’s just to bring your own quick questions for direct discussion in the in-depth section. Agenda * Welcome * Review of NEST User Mailing List * Project team round * In-depth discussion The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-08-25-Open-NEST-Developer-… <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-08-25-Open-NEST-Developer-…> Looking forward to seeing you soon! Cheers, Dennis Terhorst Log-in information We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN <https://www.dfn.de/en/> (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 <https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800> * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you’re in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase “Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten”, just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. * Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): |vc.dfn.net##97938800| or |194.95.240.2##97938800| * Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de <mailto:97938800@vc.dfn.de> * By telephone: |+49-30-200-97938800| For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4 <http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4> -- Dipl.-Phys. Dennis Terhorst Coordinator Software Development Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & JARA-Institute Brain Structure-Function Relationships (INM-10) Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine Jülich Research Center, Member of the Helmholz Association 52425 Jülich, Germany http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Jülich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Düren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Stefan Müller Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht (Vorsitzende), Dr. Stephanie Bauer (stellvertretende Vorsitzende), Prof. Dr. Ir. Pieter Jansens, Prof. Dr. Laurens Kuipers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 2

NEST Developers, please merge master to open PRs — Testsuite fix
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 09 Sep '25

09 Sep '25

Dear NEST Developers, I have just merged PR #3569, which fixes slight glitches in the NEST testsuite. Please pull the newest master into all your open branches for pull requests to ensure that all test run. Note that PRs moving test from SLI to Py will from now on need to reduce the lower bound for the corresponding type of test (unit, regression, mpi) in testsuite/summarize_tests.py. Happy hacking! Hans Ekkehard -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Research Committee Chair, Faculty of Science and Technology Head, Department of Data Science Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

1 0

Re: Colored Noise
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 25 Aug '25

25 Aug '25

Dear Hauke, Apologies for the late reply. Colored noise is not yet available in NEST master, but there is a recent pull request adding an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise generator: https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/pull/3541 If you want to test it, you need to check out FinnBurkhardt’s add_ou_generator branch (https://github.com/FinnBurkhardt/nest-simulator-sp/tree/add_ou_generator). It would be great if you then could contribute to the review of the pull request with your experience. Best, Hans Ekkehard ------- Dear Nest Community, I was wondering how I can inject pink noise instead of the white noise from a noise generator. Or if there is a neat way to drive a neural population with pink noise anyway? Thank for the help in advance! Hauke -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Research Committee Chair, Faculty of Science and Technology Head, Department of Data Science Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

1 0

Colored Noise
by Hauke Ole Wernecke 15 Aug '25

15 Aug '25

Dear Nest Community, I was wondering how I can inject pink noise instead of the white noise from a noise generator. Or if there is a neat way to drive a neural population with pink noise anyway? Thank for the help in advance! Hauke

1 0

Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday August 11, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200)
by Dennis Terhorst 11 Aug '25

11 Aug '25

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next fortnightly Open NEST Developer Video Conference today *Monday August 11, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200).* As usual, in the Project team round, a contact person of each team will give a short statement summarizing ongoing and planned work in the team and highlight cross-cutting points that need discussion among the teams. The remainder of the meeting we would go into a more in-depth discussion of topics that came up on the mailing list or that are suggested by the teams. Feel free to join the meeting also if it’s just to bring your own quick questions for direct discussion in the in-depth section. Agenda * Welcome * Review of NEST User Mailing List * Project team round * In-depth discussion The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-08-11-Open-NEST-Developer-… <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-08-11-Open-NEST-Developer-…> Looking forward to seeing you soon! Cheers, Dennis Terhorst Log-in information We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN <https://www.dfn.de/en/> (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 <https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800> * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you’re in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase “Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten”, just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. * Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): |vc.dfn.net##97938800| or |194.95.240.2##97938800| * Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de <mailto:97938800@vc.dfn.de> * By telephone: |+49-30-200-97938800| For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4 <http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4> -- Dipl.-Phys. Dennis Terhorst Coordinator Software Development Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & JARA-Institute Brain Structure-Function Relationships (INM-10) Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine Jülich Research Center, Member of the Helmholz Association 52425 Jülich, Germany http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Jülich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Düren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Stefan Müller Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht (Vorsitzende), Dr. Stephanie Bauer (stellvertretende Vorsitzende), Prof. Dr. Ir. Pieter Jansens, Prof. Dr. Laurens Kuipers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday July 28, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200)
by Dennis Terhorst 28 Jul '25

28 Jul '25

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next fortnightly Open NEST Developer Video Conference today *Monday July 28, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200).* As usual, in the Project team round, a contact person of each team will give a short statement summarizing ongoing and planned work in the team and highlight cross-cutting points that need discussion among the teams. The remainder of the meeting we would go into a more in-depth discussion of topics that came up on the mailing list or that are suggested by the teams. Feel free to join the meeting also if it’s just to bring your own quick questions for direct discussion in the in-depth section. Agenda * Welcome * Review of NEST User Mailing List * Project team round * In-depth discussion The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-07-28-Open-NEST-Developer-… <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-07-28-Open-NEST-Developer-…> Looking forward to seeing you soon! Cheers, Dennis Terhorst Log-in information We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN <https://www.dfn.de/en/> (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 <https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800> * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you’re in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase “Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten”, just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. * Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): |vc.dfn.net##97938800| or |194.95.240.2##97938800| * Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de <mailto:97938800@vc.dfn.de> * By telephone: |+49-30-200-97938800| For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4 <http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4> -- Dipl.-Phys. Dennis Terhorst Coordinator Software Development Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & JARA-Institute Brain Structure-Function Relationships (INM-10) Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine Jülich Research Center, Member of the Helmholz Association 52425 Jülich, Germany http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Jülich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Düren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Stefan Müller Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht (Vorsitzende), Dr. Stephanie Bauer (stellvertretende Vorsitzende), Prof. Dr. Ir. Pieter Jansens, Prof. Dr. Laurens Kuipers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday July 14, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200)
by Dennis Terhorst 14 Jul '25

14 Jul '25

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next fortnightly Open NEST Developer Video Conference today *Monday July 14, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200).* As usual, in the Project team round, a contact person of each team will give a short statement summarizing ongoing and planned work in the team and highlight cross-cutting points that need discussion among the teams. The remainder of the meeting we would go into a more in-depth discussion of topics that came up on the mailing list or that are suggested by the teams. Feel free to join the meeting also if it’s just to bring your own quick questions for direct discussion in the in-depth section. Agenda * Welcome * Review of NEST User Mailing List * Project team round * In-depth discussion o nest.disconnect() (issue #3489, pr #3533, issue #3532) The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-07-14-Open-NEST-Developer-… <https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-07-14-Open-NEST-Developer-…> Looking forward to seeing you soon! Cheers, Dennis Terhorst Log-in information We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN <https://www.dfn.de/en/> (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 <https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800> * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you’re in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase “Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten”, just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. * Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): |vc.dfn.net##97938800| or |194.95.240.2##97938800| * Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de <mailto:97938800@vc.dfn.de> * By telephone: |+49-30-200-97938800| For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4 <http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4> -- Dipl.-Phys. Dennis Terhorst Coordinator Software Development Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & JARA-Institute Brain Structure-Function Relationships (INM-10) Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine Jülich Research Center, Member of the Helmholz Association 52425 Jülich, Germany http://www.csn.fz-juelich.de/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Jülich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Düren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Stefan Müller Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht (Vorsitzende), Dr. Stephanie Bauer (stellvertretende Vorsitzende), Prof. Dr. Ir. Pieter Jansens, Prof. Dr. Laurens Kuipers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Open NEST Developer Video Conference Monday 30 June 2025, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200)
by Hans Ekkehard Plesser 27 Jun '25

27 Jun '25

Dear NEST Users & Developers! I would like to invite you to our next fortnightly Open NEST Developer Video Conference on Monday 30 June 2025, at 11:30 CEST (UTC+0200). Feel free to join the meeting also if it’s just to bring your own quick questions for direct discussion in the in-depth section. Agenda * Welcome * Review of NEST User Mailing List * NEST software development status * In-depth discussion Instead of the project team round, we will directly look at open PRs and issues to get closer to the actual development progress of NEST Simulator, NESTML and other NEST software. The agenda for this meeting is also available online, see https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator/wiki/2025-06-30-Open-NEST-Developer-…. Looking forward to seeing you on Monday! Hans Ekkehard Plesser Log-in information We use a virtual conference room provided by DFN<https://www.dfn.de/en/> (Deutsches Forschungsnetz). You can use the web client to connect. We however encourage everyone to use a headset for better audio quality or even a proper video conferencing system (see below) or software when available. Web client * Visit https://conf.dfn.de/webapp/conference/97938800 * Enter your name and allow your browser to use camera and microphone * The conference does not need a PIN to join, just click join and you’re in. In case you see a dfnconf logo and the phrase “Auf den Meetingveranstalter warten”, just be patient, the meeting host needs to join first (a voice will tell you). VC system/software How to log in with a video conferencing system, depends on you VC system or software. * Using the H.323 protocol (eg Polycom): vc.dfn.net##97938800 or 194.95.240.2##97938800 * Using the SIP protocol:97938800@vc.dfn.de<mailto:97938800@vc.dfn.de> * By telephone: +49-30-200-97938800<tel:+493020097938800> For those who do not have a video conference system or suitable software, Polycom provides a pretty good free app for iOS and Android, so you can join from your tablet (Polycom RealPresence Mobile, available from AppStore/PlayStore). Note that firewalls may interfere with videoconferencing in various and sometimes confusing ways. For more technical information on logging in from various VC systems, please see http://vcc.zih.tu-dresden.de/index.php?linkid=1.1.3.4 -- Prof. Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Research Committee Chair, Faculty of Science and Technology Head, Department of Data Science Department of Data Science Faculty of Science and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway Phone +47 6723 1560 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser(a)nmbu.no<mailto:hans.ekkehard.plesser@nmbu.no> Home http://arken.nmbu.no/~plesser

1 0

MacOS Homebrew installation issues
by Дарья Снеговская 16 Jun '25

16 Jun '25

Dear all, I met struggles while trying to install NEST on my MacOS Sonoma v. 14.7.6 (Intel). First issue is that I cannot install NEST with PyNEST as it is described in the manual ( https://nest-simulator.readthedocs.io/en/v2.18.0/installation/mac_install.h…) as I get an "Error: invalid option: --with-python". And the second one is that even when I try to install NEST as it is, without PyNEST, then, after a seemingly successful installation I cannot launch neither 'helpindex' nor 'helpdesk' commands. In the first case I get an error message "<path-to-nest>/nest/help/helpindex.hlp: No such file or directory", and in the second, respectively, "<path-to-nest>/nest/index.html does not exist". I guess that occurs because the installation goes wrong at some stage, but I have no idea what to check and how to fix it. Would be grateful for any information, Sincerely yours, Daria.

2 1

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

NEST Users