dimstim is custom written, open source, cross-platform, visual stimulus software. It was written by Martin Spacek in Python, and uses Andrew Straw‘s Vision Egg Python graphics library. Vision Egg itself does all drawing to screen via OpenGL.
dimstim has precise frame-by-frame control of what happens on screen, and has been tested on 200 Hz monitors with 5 ms frame times. It allows for permutation and covariation of a wide variety of stimulus parameters, depending on stimulus type. Stimuli include manual and drifting bars and gratings, flashed bars and gratings, sparse noise, and artificial and natural scene movies. Stimulus parameters include spatial location, orientation, speed, duration, size, contrast, brightness, and spatial and temporal frequencies. Spatial parameters are specified in degrees of spatial angle, given the distance to the screen.
Stimulus parameters can be communicated on a frame-by-frame basis to an acquisition computer via a Data Translations digital output board, for simultaneous recording of stimulus timing and neuronal responses.
Note that recent versions have only been tested in Windows. They should be possible to run in other OSes, but perhaps not with the same degree of temporal accuracy.
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The latest version, along with its truncated history, is now available on GitHub.