BrainVoyager 20.6 for Linux

BrainVoyager 20 is our flagship product that provides a comprehensive, fast and elegant way to perform advanced neuroimaging data analysis and to create stunning visualizations. For more information, read the BrainVoyager 20 release blog post.

Installing the software-licensed version
. BrainVoyager uses a software-based licensing system and will not run without a valid single computer or floating network license. In order to install BrainVoyager for evaluation or to update from an older version please use the following link.
bv_v20.6.2_lnx64_u14.04_installer.run (317 MB)

You can ask for a time-limited trial license to evaluate BrainVoyager with your own data. A trial license unlocks most features of a full license lacking only some optional components (no scripting and plugins). You need to accept the license agreement during installation.
Make sure that the downloaded installer file has read and executable permissions. On most modern Linux systems, this can be done by right clicking the file, selecting "Properties" (or similar) and then setting the appropriate permissions. Alternatively you can issue the following shell command (“[distro]” must be replaced with the downloaded version, e.g. “u14.04”):

$ chmod 755 bv_v20.6.2_lnx64_[distro]_installer.run

You can now start the installation by clicking (or double-clicking) on the ".run" file from your Desktop environment or by launching the installer directly from the command line with:

$ ./bv_v20.6.2_lnx64_[distro]_installer.run

After launching the installer, follow the instructions of the installation wizard (see image sequence on the right). In case you have an older version of BrainVoyager, close any running instance prior to installation. We also recommend to deinstall the older version of BrainVoyager by running the "uninstall" executable, which is located in the "BrainVoyager" folder. It is recommended to run the installer as a regular user (not as "root" or superuser) since this will install the program in your home directory (default: "/home/[user]/BrainVoyager" as suggested by the installer; also extensions (plugins and scripts used by the full version) will be installed in “Documents/BVExtensions” within your home directory. The installer usually places a BrainVoyager icon on the desktop (on GNOME and KDE).
If you have already a valid software license, you can continue to use BrainVoyager as before after installation and enjoy its new features. If you do not have a license, you will see a licensing screen after starting the software. To activate (unlock) a time-limited trial version, you need to send an email to “licensing [at] brainvoyager [dot] com” containing the displayed “Hardware-ID” and additional information for registration (name, institute/lab, mail address). Such an email is prepared automatically by clicking the “Prepare Email” button in the displayed "License Activation" dialog. Usually within 1-3 days you will receive a license key and a license name/ID (e.g. TSKF307BC88-PETER-SUGAR). After entering this information in the licensing dialog, the software will be activated and it is ready to use for 30 days. More details about the licensing and activation process can be found on the page BrainVoyager Software Licensing.
In order to get the full version of BrainVoyager (after evaluating the trial version), please send an email to “sales [at] brainvoyager [dot] com” to purchase a license. The full version enables some features that are disabled in the trial version, including scripting and plugins. If you purchase the full version of BrainVoyager, you will get a key that unlocks all licensed features and the software can be used as long as requested in the purchased license. There is also a floating network license available allowing to use a licensed maximum number of computers concurrently from computers in a local (e.g. lab) network. For details send an email to licensing [at] brainvoyager [dot] com.

Installing the hardware-licensed version. During a transition time (20.X versions), the old hardware-based licensing system (Hasp dongle) will be available, but we strongly advice existing users to move over to the new software licensing. In case you have a dongle-based (Hasp) license that is valid for BrainVoyager QX 3.X, you can download a copy of BrainVoyager QX 3.6 (= BrainVoyager 20.6) below.
bvqx_v3.6.2_lnx64_u14.04_installer.run (283 MB)

Note that the hardware-licensed version of BrainVoyager works only in combination with the HASP licensing system, i.e. you need either a HASP dongle for a single user license or a HASP floating network license. If you use a single-user license, a device driver has to be installed in order to access the local HASP dongle. The device driver script ("dinst") must be run with root or superuser privileges. You can start the driver installation script after logging in as root or by temporarily gaining root privileges (recommended, e.g. by entering "sudo .dinst ." in the shell); for details, consult the "readme_USB_installation.txt" text file located in the "HaspDriver_Linux_sysfs" subfolder within the "BrainVoyager" folder. If you are using BrainVoyager as a client in the context of a floating network license, the installation of a local HASP driver is not necessary. For more information on local and network-wide driver installation, check the originally shipped documentation or write to "support at brainvoyager dot com".

System requirements
Version 20.6 of BrainVoyager (= v3.6 of BrainVoyager QX) is compatible with most 64 bit Linux distributions using a 3.x or newer kernel running on recent Intel/AMD machines. The provided download versions have been compiled on Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit) but they also work on newer Ubuntu versions as well as recent versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Fedora as well as most other distributions. In case you get a "Untrusted application launcher" dialog box when launching BrainVoyager the first time from its desktop icon on Ubuntu, simply click the "Mark as Trusted" button and re-start the program. If the program does not run on your 64-bit Linux distribution, send an email to "support [at] BrainVoyager [dot] com"
Note. Since the ALT key is usually assigned to move windows on Linux, use the CTRL and SHIFT keys together when the User's Guide describes an ALT key related function (e.g. when selecting regions for the "Zoom View" panel).

While many operations of BrainVoyager run with modest working memory demands, a minimum of 2 GB is required and 4 or more GB are recommended. If you are using an NVIDIA or ATI graphics board, make sure that you install the latest accelerated OpenGL driver using the software installation tool of your distribution or by downloading the driver directly from the NVIDIA or ATI web site. Since version 20.4, BrainVoyager supports OpenCL acceleration on Linux. Downloading the latest OpenGL/OpenCL graphic card drivers will ensure best performance for hardware accelerated volume and surface rendering as well as GPU acceleration for several compute-intensive operations.
Note. OpenCL acceleration is turned off as default in the "Settings" dialog and should be turned on, if supported on your system (see topic "Exploiting the Power of GP-GPUs" in chapter "Additional Documentation" of the User's Guide).
Documentation
The User's Guide (available locally as well as online) provides general information and can be easily invoked by clicking the "User's Guide" icon in the main toolbar or by clicking the "User's Guide" item (or "User’s Guide (Web)" item) in the "Help" menu. The BrainVoyager 20.6 User's Guide is also available as an e-book.
Several PDF files introducing various topics are also placed in the "~/BrainVoyager" folder after installation, including the "Getting Started Guide". If you are upgrading BrainVoyager, you may want to check out the "News" section of the User's Guide. We highly recommend to read the release notes (see "Help" menu) to learn about new features, enhancements and bug fixes. Release notes are available for the current as well as previous releases. Documentation is also available on this web page, including the e-book version of the User's Guide. If you have any questions, suggestions or bug reports, please send an email to "support [at] BrainVoyager [dot] com".
Sample data
If you want to learn basic and advanced features of BrainVoyager, it may be useful to start with example data sets, which are also used in our BrainVoyager Training Courses. The installer on this page does not contain sample data. To download example data sets, click the "Sample Data Web Page" item in the "Help" menu of BrainVoyager or visit the example data sets page with your Browser. The analysis of the "Objects" data set is described in detail in the BrainVoyager Getting Started Guide