NEURON 3.0 has two executable forms

  1. "neuron.exe" starts NEURON. When it is followed with a space and a filename with a ".hoc" extension, it opens and performs the operations (e.g opening sessions) called for in that hoc file. It is designed to be initiated along with a particular application program such as "patch.hoc" shown in the nrnmgr.htm file..
  2. "mos2nrn.exe" is the version of NEURON 3.0 was developed to function over the internet with network browsers. This version, which downloads and runs application programs over the internet, works equally well on a local machine. It performs the following operations:
    1. makes a new sub-directory in c:\temp
    2. puts the named file with a ".nrn" extension in this new directory
    3. unzips the compressed .nrn file
    4. looks at the mosinit.hoc file which names which of the unzipped ".hoc" files (it is possible to concatenate several in the file.nrn) is to be loaded and run first.

    The "mos" acronyms used above dates back to the days when Mosaic was the only generally available internet browser; we have decided to keep this in memory of the start of the "Browser Age".