Cross-platform SD card workflow (macOS support)

[mbreiser]

Summary

Enable SD card preparation on macOS. Currently prepare_sd_card.m uses Windows-specific path handling, preventing develop-on-Mac, run-on-Windows workflow.

Tasks

• Research macOS FAT32 formatting tools
• Test prepare_sd_card.m on macOS (identify path handling issues)
• Update path handling for cross-platform compatibility
• Consider if git-based experiment organization reduces need for cross-platform SD copying

Context

We develop/test on Mac but always run experiments on Windows. FAT32 directory entry behavior may differ across platforms.

Related

• Issue Update experiment creation to use prepare_sd_card #7 (Update experiment creation to use prepare_sd_card)

[taylorlm88]

There is a file under maDisplayTools/testing called prepare_sd_card_crossplatform.m that I created to make it possible to test the other sd related code I'd written on my mac, but critically I was not using an SD card so compatibility issues with the format or saving of the patterns onto the SD card itself are likely not addressed in it. Another issue that might pop up is Mac saving hidden files on the SD card that might mess up the indexing.

[taylorlm88]

If it's helpful to you, I went back to the claude chat that made the original changes to make prepare_sd_card.m work on my mac and had it implement updates that deals with the actual formatting of the sd card, hidden files, and other mac issues that might occur in real life implementation. Attached is a document discussing these issues that might be useful to you.

CROSSPLATFORM_UPDATES.md