Running PsychoPy v2024.2.1 on Ubuntu 22.04.4 (using the power of Steam)

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I’ve tried and failed to install a working version (especially the builder) on my Ubuntu PC. I’ve followed some of the guides but they all didn’t work for me.

Because of this, I went a completely different route. I used the fact that the video game platform Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/) allows you to run Windows application on Linux systems. Obviously their focus is video games but it also works for other .exe files.

I mainly plan to use this set-up to create not run experiments. I will report back what kind of errors I experience but so far I am pretty proud. I was able to use the builder and run the “Hello World” example. Honestly for my fellow Linux users, this is an underrated way of using Windows applications on Linux in general. You should check it out.

Screenshot from 2024-08-09 14-26-19
Screenshot from 2024-08-09 14-26-191920×1543 123 KB

Here is how I got it to work:

  1. Install steam on computer.
  2. Install PsychoPy StandalonePsychoPy-2024.2.1-win64-py3.10.exe on Windows installation and copy the resulting folder on to Ubuntu installation.
  3. Go to Library > Add a Game (left bottom corner) > Add Non-Steam Game > Browse ... and add the pythonw.exe file to it. Then you need to click on Add selected Programs.
  4. Right click on pythonw.exe in your library and got to Properties > Compatibility and check Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool. Proton Experimental works fine for me.
  5. Still in the properties window go the shortcut tab and add something like this for the target "/home/alex/Desktop/PsychoPy/pythonw.exe" "/home/alex/Desktop/PsychoPy/Lib/site-packages/psychopy/app/psychopyApp.py" --runner. This obviously depends on where you have copied the PsychoPy folder to.

At first this seems more cumbersome then the other guides but it’s really relatively easy and might as I’ve said work for other Windows tools, so it is worth a try.

I would love to hear from other people and see if that works? What could be a problem with this? I haven’t used PsychoPy that much yet so I am curious. I will keep this post updated while I try creating some experiments with this set-up.

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