How to install and test NEURON

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Installing NEURON

Two steps.

1. Windows users: first install Python. Anaconda will do nicely. Mac and Linux users can skip this step because they already have Python.

2. Then install NEURON by following the instructions at nrn.readthedocs.io

If all you want to do is install, you're done.

To verify that NEURON is working

Open a terminal (Windows users: open the NEURON program group and double click on the bash icon. That will open a terminal.)

In the terminal, execute the command
neurondemo

That should spawn a bunch of panels ("windows") arranged vertically. From top to bottom they are
NEURON Demonstrations
Temperature
RunControl
VariableTimeStep
And to the left of the NEURON Demonstrations panel you will see the
NEURON Main Menu
toolbar.

In the NEURON Demonstrations panel click on the radio button next to "Release".

More windows will appear.
In the RunControl panel click on "Init & Run". The graphs to the right will now show the time courses of several variables.

You can exit NEURON by typing ^D (control-D) in the terminal at NEURON's oc> prompt. Or, if you prefer, click on
File / Quit
in the NEURON Main Menu panel

To verify that Python can use NEURON as a module

Linux and Mac users: open a terminal. Windows users: start Anaconda Prompt.

In this terminal execute
python

At the python prompt (i.e. >>>) execute
from neuron import h, gui

If the NEURON Main Menu toolbar appears, python is able to use NEURON as a module.