Notes on distributions

• Linux Mint 17 / Ubuntu 14.04 - use the ubuntu14.04 branch or install HDF5 from source. Otherwise no problems. 
• Linux Mint 13 Maya, Olivia - everything compiles and runs without issues, although installing the distro in the first place can result in nasty problems with NVIDIA drivers.
• Ubuntu 10.10 and lower - the software will run, but there are problems loading the Opal Kelly DLL, apparently related to the version of gcc. Upgrading gcc won't fix the problem, so we currently don't recommend using older versions of Ubuntu if you want to use the Open Ephys acquisition board.
• Ubuntu 12.10 and higher - the software seems to run fine.
• CentOS 6.5 and higher - everything works after commenting out the "@hooks" section of the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf file (see discussion here). If you're planning to use the Rhythm FPGA module, make sure you use the CentOS-specific version of the Opal Kelly DLL (found in Resources/DLLs)
• Debian 7 - You can use the Ubuntu ZeroMQ PPA, just replace wheezy with trusty in the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/chris-lea-zeromq-wheezy.list. If you have an issue with libc being too old, you can do a partial upgrade to Debian 8 by editing /etc/apt/sources.list and replace all instances of wheezy with jessie. Then sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade.

Common problems

If the GUI won't start on Linux, it's likely due to problems communicating with the audio hardware. Your computer's sound card is what generates the callbacks that drive data acquisition, so the GUI can't run unless it establishes proper communication with your audio device.

If you're running the software inside of gdb (which is recommended, at least until all the kinks are worked out), you may see the message "Program received signal SIGSEGV ... juce_String.cpp:203" after printing "Got audio device." With certain hardware, you'll get a segfault before this point is reached. Either you have the wrong drivers (or no drivers) installed, or (more commonly) the audio hardware is in use by another application.

How to troubleshoot:

• As a first step, try exiting all other applications. If the audio hardware is being used by another program, the GUI might not be able to communicate with it.
• Type sudo alsa force-reload in a terminal; this will refresh the sound server, and may fix your problem.
• Check to see if your audio server (ALSA or PulseAudio) is the latest version. This may require downloading the latest source code and building them from scratch if the package hasn't been updated recently. For more details, check out this discussion.

If you're using the Intan EVAL board, replace the RHD2000.bit file in the GUI source with main.bit from the Intan Open-Source RHD2000 Interface Software code.