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Linux

If it's not clear already, the GUI was developed primarily on Linux machines. If it's all possible, we recommend doing your development with Linux.

To get the software running on Ubuntu 10.10, the following is necessary:

  1. Install the Juce dependencies (freeglut3-dev, libfreetype6-dev, libxinerama-dev, libxcursor-dev, libasound2-dev), as well as libFTDI.
  2. cd to the /Builds/Linux folder and type make at the bash cursor

There may be other dependencies on other distros. Please let us know if you discover any.

If you just want to use the GUI on Linux, but not develop it, you can download an executable here. We currently only have binaries for 64-bit Linux, but 32-bit ones are on the way. Note that this software is still in the testing phase and is likely to crash without warning or explanation. Just so you know.

Notes on distributions

  • 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.

Problems with audio hardware

If the GUI won't start on Linux, it's likely due to problems communicating with the audio hardware. Your computer's sound card it 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.
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