How to install and run MXCuBE with Qt4 graphics

MXCuBE is organized as a subset of several git submodules that are needed to run MXCuBE. In this page a sequence how to get software code, install dependencies and execute software is described.

MXCuBE has been tested with:

• Linux: Ubuntu 10, 12, 14 (with gnome and kde) and Centos
• Macos.

Getting code from git

MXCuBE is organized in three submodules. To get whole code execute:

git clone https://github.com/mxcube/mxcube.git mxcube-2
cd mxcube-2
git checkout <latest_tag>
git submodule init
git submodule update

Python dependecies

• Python (>= 2.6)
• [Qt4] (http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/) and [PyQt] (https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro)
• louie (pydispatcher)
• gevent >= 1.0RC2
• PyChooch
• PyMca
• jsonpickle
• [scipy stack] (http://www.scipy.org/install.html)

If Ubuntu/Debian used then dependencies can be obtained with command:

sudo apt-get install python-qt4, python-gevent, python-louie, python-jsonpickle, python-numpy, python-scipy, python-matplotlib, python-suds, pymca 

Running code

Edit run_mxcube.csh script located in bin directory to run MXCuBE with default parameters:

PATH_TO_MXCUBE/bin/mxcube --hardwareRepository=PATH_TO_MXCUBE/ExampleFiles/HardwareObjects.xml -qt4

In this case MXCuBE will start in Qt4 mode with GUI definition file Qt4_example_mxcube.gui. It is possible to adjust script by defining gui configuration file, additional directories for bricks and hardware objects. For example:

PATH_TO_MXCUBE/bin/mxcube PATH_TO_GUI_FILE --hardwareRepository=PATH_TO_XML_FILES  --hardwareObjectsDirs=PATHs_TO_ADDITIONAL_HARDWARE_OBJECTS --bricksDirs=PATHS_TO_ADDITIONAL_BRICKS -qt4

GUI builder

To launch gui builder add -d before -qt4 argument. For example:

PATH_TO_MXCUBE/bin/mxcube --hardwareRepository=PATH_TO_MXCUBE/ExampleFiles/HardwareObjects.xml -d -qt4

In gui builder it is possible to add, edit or remove bricks. Change brick parameters, edit signals and slots between bricks. More about gui builder you can find here:

User manual