Download
Please read this page carefully before you download, use, or redistribute PsyToolkit.PsyToolkit can be easily installed on any Linux system, and the following packages are available:
- Debian format (for Ubuntu, Debian, Mint and others)
- Arch Linux format
- RPM format (for Fedora and others)
- Source package with easy to use command line installer
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The advantage of the Debian/RPM/Arch Linux packages is that they install all the software PsyToolkit requires on your system. The current version package management has been tested on Arch, Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora. For others, the source package is recommended.
The advantage of the Debian/RPM/Arch Linux packages is that they install all the software PsyToolkit requires on your system. The current version package management has been tested on Arch, Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora. For others, the source package is recommended.
User Agreement
If you want to use PsyToolkit, please make sure you agree with the licence: PsyToolkit is FREE SOFTWARE, and is released under the GPLv3 license, as detailed here.General
Before you can install PsyToolkit, you need to install Linux. Maybe you already use Linux. In that case, you just need to choose one of the different install packages. There are install packages for various types of distributions. If you are new to Linux, I recommend an easy to install Linux with the http://www.xfce.org/ desktop, for example xubuntu.org.Download and installation for Ubuntu (apt-get based systems)
Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distribution. Ubuntu uses the Debian package format, and PsyToolkit's architecture independent Debian package can be downloaded here:PsyToolkit for Ubuntu and Debian based systems.
How to install the Ubuntu/Debian package
If the link above does not automatically open, you can download the package and type (replace package name with the name of the RPM file you save on your hard drive): sudo gdebi-gtk packagename
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This Debian package is architecture independent. That means, it does not matter what processor you have, it will work!
This Debian package is architecture independent. That means, it does not matter what processor you have, it will work!
Download and installation for Arch Linux
I assume that if you want to install for Arch, you know how to deal with AUR. Just look for PsyToolkit on AUR.TIP:
If you like the Arch Linux distribution of PsyToolkit, please vote for it on AUR.
If you like the Arch Linux distribution of PsyToolkit, please vote for it on AUR.
Download and installation for RPM based systems (RedHat/Fedora)
PsyToolkit has been tested on Fedora. It might work on other RPM based systems, but unfortunately, they do not always describe dependencies similarly. Even if you want to install on Fedora, it is essential that you make sure the smpeg-devel library package is installed. It is available at PKGS.ORG, and follow their instructions to add the correct repository to your software repositories.TIP:
This RPM package is architecture independent. That means, it does not matter what processor you have, it will work!
This RPM package is architecture independent. That means, it does not matter what processor you have, it will work!
You can download an architecture independent RPM here: (NOTE: Currently RPM is not available)
PsyToolkit for RPM based systems.
How to install the RPM package
If the link above does not automatically open, you can download the package and type (replace package name with the name of the RPM file you save on your hard drive): sudo yum install psytoolkit-1.9.4-1.noarch.rpm
Alternatively, you can just install the source package after you have installed all the dependencies. How todo this is described in the file fedora_install.txt, which is in source package.
Note for OpenSUSE users: It is best to install the dependencies manually and install from source.
Download and installation for other systems
The latest version of the source packages is here (still easy to install):Download this file.
Save this file (or another one from the archives) to disk, for example in your home directory or in /tmp. Then type in the same directory (everything following # is a comment).
I keep an archive of older versions. You can access this here: Directory of versions
Installation
You need administrator rights to install PsyToolkit. Further, the installation process will help you to find out if some dependencies are missing (i.e., packages that PsyToolkit needs).How to install the source package:
# everything starting with hash mark are comments! tar -xzf psytoolkit.src.latest.tar.gz # might be different, if you download an older version cd psytoolkit_src # go to the source directory cat README # read helpful hints! sudo ./install.sh
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Once installed, PsyToolkit uses a safety lock. This means that all experiments run in a safe way. This is great for testing whether you are content with PsyToolkit. If you want to seriously collect data and run full screen experiments, you can remove the safety lock from the system configuration file /etc/psytoolkit.conf. Further: The safety lock might not be compatible with Cedrus keyboards, unless the Cedrus drivers are user accessible.
Once installed, PsyToolkit uses a safety lock. This means that all experiments run in a safe way. This is great for testing whether you are content with PsyToolkit. If you want to seriously collect data and run full screen experiments, you can remove the safety lock from the system configuration file /etc/psytoolkit.conf. Further: The safety lock might not be compatible with Cedrus keyboards, unless the Cedrus drivers are user accessible.
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PsyToolkit uses only three binaries. These are: psycc, psyquest, and psyquestcollect. These come with man pages (psyquest and psyquestcollect have the same man page). All three can be called with the option -h to get more help. The -s option gives a more extensive syntax.
PsyToolkit uses only three binaries. These are: psycc, psyquest, and psyquestcollect. These come with man pages (psyquest and psyquestcollect have the same man page). All three can be called with the option -h to get more help. The -s option gives a more extensive syntax.
Get various types of help from the command line (do not type the $ sign):
$ man psycc $ man psyquest $ psycc -h $ psycc -s $ psyquest -h $ psyquest -s $ psyquestcollect -h
Further considerations for installing and running PsyToolkit
Hardware requirements
The software runs in principle on any Linux system, but it has been developed on AMD and Intel desktop computers. If you are new to Linux, you might be interested in an easy Linux installer for Windows computers: Linux on Windows installer.Software Requirements
PsyToolkit depends on other programmes and libraries (such as the SDL libraries which come standard with many Linux distributions. You need not only the libraries themselves, but also the C code of these libraries, which have the "dev" part in the package name). The install script will give you information about these (see the README file there).System settings
If you run an experiment with critical timing, you need to make sure no other big programs run on your computer. For example, if you computer starts to update the hard-disk information (slocate), your computer will slow down considerably. It is also a good idea to switch off the network, although this does not seem critical in tests I did. There are rare cases that if the network crashes, your computer will start to protest and spend considerable resources on that. Switch off all services not essential to the experiment, including anacron, crontab, slocate and all email related programs.I am still not entirely sure whether it is really necessary to switch off all tasks mentioned in the list below, but if you want to be on the safe side, you want to check this list.
Things you might check:
- Make sure the user programming experiments has sudo rights
- Make sure no other services are running (like mail server, web server)
- Switch network off. It may run fine with a network, but without network you are on the safer side regarding timing.
- Switch off running applets from panels.