Software Requirements

This resource is to supply the list of needed software by workshop participants

It has come to our attention that some people have computers which are locked by their institutions so that only system administrators may install new software.  If your computer is under such restrictions, please contact your admin and ask them to install the following software.  

Some software used by iPlant is better supported on Mac OS X and Linux operating systems.  While such software may exist for Windows users, there are additional complexities for both running and using said software.  When such software is used, iPlant trainings will be using Mac OS X operating systems.  We apologize that most standard Windows users will not be able to use these methods.

• Web-browsers (might be best to install both just in case there are problems with one):

  • Firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/

  • Chrome: http://google.com/chrome

• Java: This is needed for some of the web-tools in the Discovery Environment and for running iDrop

  • http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp

  • Test that java is working in your web-browser: http://www.java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp

    • When running java programs from a web-page, you may get a notification from your browser asking if you would like to run the java program.  This will be shown at the top of the web-page.

  • Enabling Java plugins:

    • Firefox: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-java-plugin-to-view-interactive-content

    • Chrome: http://java.com/en/download/faq/chrome.xml

• iDrop:  This is a stand-alone client for high-performance data transfers.  Requires Java

  •  (Unofficial beta-release; tested on Mac OS X)

  • Double-click to run.  If it works, you will see a screen asking for a variety of information to log into an iDrop data grid.  Just hit cancel and the program will quit.

• i-commands:  These are command line programs for high-performance data transfers.

  • NOTE:  These work well on Linux and Max OS X.  There are many difficulties getting these to work and be functionally useful on Windows operating systems.  In workshops, we teach Linux and OS X only (and our apologies to Windows Users).

  • Downloads

• RealVNC: This is a client for accessing Atmosphere (cloud computing) instances

  • http://www.realvnc.com/download/vnc/latest/

  • Note: This is commercial software and you will want to install their free client.  During the install process, it may default to a server install, which requires a license, and give you the option of buying a license.  Do not buy a license.