Installation and getting started

To install ViXeN, you first need to know the platform you will be running it on. ViXeN binaries are available for Linux (64 bit), Mac (64 bit), and Windows (32 and 64 bit). You can install ViXeN in a Python environment easily too but this is not necessary if you do not use Python.

In order to use ViXeN you will need to have a working browser. See the Dependencies section for more information on the dependencies. Installing ViXeN is relatively straight-forward. Please see the instructions for installing ViXeN in the relevant sections below.

Dependencies

Core dependencies

Please make sure you have a recent, functional browser such as: - Mozilla Firefox (any recent version) - Google Chrome (any recent version) - Internet Explorer (IE 9 and above)

ViXeN is tested to work best on Firefox and Chrome.

Optional dependencies

The optional dependencies are:

This is only needed if you wish to use ffmpeg to convert any of your video media.

Installing ViXeN on GNU/Linux

On GNU/Linux systems one may install the dependencies by following three very simple steps:

  • Download the Linux binary from the ViXeN releases.
  • Unpack the vixen*.tgz file.
  • Run the application inside the unpacked directory.

More detailed instructions are given below.

Using Nautilus

  1. Download the ViXen binary file (say vixen-1.0-linux64.tgz) from ViXeN releases to your preferred directory.
  2. Right click and select ‘Extract Here’ or ‘Open With Archive Manager’. A ViXeN folder will appear in the directory you have selected (in this case the folder will be vixen-1.0).
  3. Open the directory and double click the ViXeN file (the file is ViXeN.desktop). The ViXeN application will open on the browser.
  4. If the above did not work you can try to run the vixen file. This will run if Nautilus supports running executables. If it does not, run the command shown in Using the Command Line.

Using the Command Line

After downloading and unpacking ViXen either Using Nautilus, run the following commands on the terminal:

$ cd vixen-1.0

Where vixen-1.0 is the extracted ViXeN binary. Suppose you downloaded and unpacked the vixen-1.0-linux64.tgz file in a folder named Software in your home directory, then this command will be:

$ cd Software/vixen-1.0

Then run the application using:

$ ./vixen

Installing ViXeN on Mac OS X

  1. On OS X, download the ZIP file from the ViXeN releases page.
  2. Unpack it.
  3. Run the resulting ViXeN.dmg file by double clicking it.

You may move this dmg file anywhere you like or move it to your Applications folder if you wish to.

Installing ViXeN on Windows

  1. On Windows, download the ZIP file for your platform from ViXeN releases.
  2. Unpack the ZIP file.
  3. Inside the unpacked directory is a vixen.bat script or a vixen.lnk shortcut that you can use to run the application.

The application will open in your default browser window.

Installing using pip

If you have no idea what pip is, then you should look above for suitable instructions. If you are familiar with Python and wish to install ViXeN in your own Python environment, you can simply run:

$ pip install vixen

The requirements for ViXeN are fairly modest.

Otherwise, if you wish to install the development version, you can clone the ViXeN git repository at https://github.com/vixen-project/vixen and then do the following:

$ cd vixen
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ python setup.py install

If you want to stay up-to-date and not have to re-install each time you update the git repository, you could instead do:

$ python setup.py develop

Once installed you can start the application by:

$ vixen

To see any command line options try this:

$ vixen -h

That’s about it.

Troubleshooting

If the application fails to run or you have any problems, please look at the log file vixen.log located inside the .vixen folder in your home directory.

  • On Linux this is typically in the directory /home/username/.vixen.
  • On OS X this is in /Users/username/.vixen.
  • On Windows this may be C:\Users\username\.vixen.

The log file should also be accessible once the ViXeN UI launches, it is available on the top bar next to the “Home” and “Help” links on the top left.

The log file is a text file and if you see any sensitive information there, you can feel free to edit it before you send it.

You may e-mail your log file to the developers or the mailing list.

The ViXeN mailing list is available at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/vixen