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Downloading, Installing, and Running Alice
You can download Alice from the Alice website here. You can also view and download builds here on gitHub from the releases.
- Locate the downloaded Alice 3 installer
- Double-click on the disk image to open the installer
NOTE: Your operating system may display a message that you are attempting to run / launch an unrecognized application. In that case you will need to check how to allow this for your OS.
Windows - For many of the current Windows OS you will be able to select learn more and then select run anyway
Mac - You may be able to right click the installer and select open which will then display the option to run anyway
Using the .deb installer
We recommend using the .deb installer. It will check the system and install java and the required libraries for you. For the Raspberry Pi it will also add Alice 3 to the general launch menu under programming.
Using the .sh installer
The Linux shell script does not start the installer right away. Follow these steps:
Open the Terminal, and go to the directory where you have downloaded Alice
Type chmod +x Alice3_unix_installer_3_6_0_2+build_566.sh
Type ./Alice3_unix_installer_3_6_0_2+build_566.sh
Installation will start in a few seconds
This version will create a desktop shortcut and add the program to the drop down but does install Alice in a non traditional way for accessing in add/remove applications so will require you to use our uninstaller if you chose to remove it.
When using non .deb installers
Our Linux Alice release require the installation of Java. Depending on your OS and other installed applications you may or may not have Java installed. For Alice we recommend Java 17 for the latest Alice 3 build (3.7.0.0) and Java 8 for older builds. You only need the JRE (though our test was using the full JDK).
Install the openjdk version using the following:
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre or sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre
Specific Raspberry Pi 3 requirements:
To run Alice the Pi 3 must be configured with Full KMS. This is needed for JOGL to work. sudo raspi-config Then select: 6 Advanced Options >> A2 GL Driver >> G3 GL (Full KMS)
Specific Raspberry Pi 4 requirements:
For the Raspberry Pi 4 you may need to add an additional library (if you used the .deb installer we will have done this for you). If this is not working correctly you will notice it via certain models including the person builder not functioning (we are working on the best way to integrate this) :
sudo apt install libglu1-mesa
This is a first release so we are looking for people to help us test and determine what our functional minimal specs are. We have tested on a Raspberry Pi 3B and 4B. Our initial test was using an HDMI video output. We would be very interested to find out how it looks and functions using RCA out as we want this roll-out to support an inexpensive and accessible option. We recommend a minimum of a 16 GB SD card to have enough room for the OS and Alice.
Alice comes with an easy to use installer that will guide you through the process of installing Alice. The major components that it will assist you with are deciding weather to update an existing Alice on your system, associating Alice files with the application for easy double click access, and insuring you agree to the terms of use of Alice. The screens you should see as you progress through the Alice installer are:
- Install4j Wizard - You will see the message box "Alice 3 is preparing the install4j Wizard which will guide you through the rest of the setup process." and a progress bar that fills as the installer loads.
- Select the Language - Select the language you would like from the language drop down and click OK to continue. This only applies to installer moving forward not to the language when you start Alice.
- Welcome Screen - this simply lets you know that it is loaded and will guide you through the process
- Update or New Install - If you have an existing version of Alice on your computer this will ask you whether you would like to install over the existing or install this version to a new directory. For most users you will want to overwrite old versions. We did have some issues with this working on older versions of Alice but it should be fine now. If you want to be extra sure you can install the new version to a new location.
- License Agreement - This screen will require you to read and accept the terms of our End User License Agreement. You can view the content of that license here.
- File Associations - This will set files with an extension of .a3p to automatically launch Alice. We chose a file extension that shouldn't conflict with other files on your computer so you should feel safe making this association.
- Select Destination - By default Alice will be set to install in your Applications folder. You may decide to install it into another location especially if you chose not to overwrite an existing Alice install on your computer.
- Installing - A progress bar should show you the installation progressing.
- Finish Screen - Once installation is complete a screen should appear that allows you to select finish to close out the installer wizard.
For school admins we get a lot of requests for help installing Alice over a network or through scripts and computer images etc. Things you should know about Alice:
The installer doesn’t do a lot of things or write files far and wide on the computer. If you run the installer you can easily then take the installed app or app folder and copy it and push it out.
Alice on first run on a new computer will create a project folder and subfolder on the user profile. This may run into permissions issues depending on how the computers are configured and requiring running with Admin privileges on the first run.
We are looking at supporting this and other support through updating our install4j implementation. As of now we do not have official bundles for deployment. As stated above the installer helps set up Alice and insure people using Alice agree to the terms of use. Once installed copying the installed application or adding it to your process should work.
Find the Alice 3 startup icon on your system, and start Alice by double-clicking on it. The first time you try to run Alice on your computer, the security settings of your computer may not recognize Alice and Alice will not run.
Windows- Right click the file icon and select the option to run as an administrator (even if your account has administrative privileges). Once permission is given Alice will run normally.
Mac OS - Right-Click on the icon, and from the menu, select Open. You will then see a dialog box that indicates that Alice is an unrecognized application and will ask you if you still want to open it. Click on Open. Alice will run normally after this first attempt.
You will see the Alice splash screen. This screen will show you the Alice version in the bottom right corner. This information can be helpful if you have problems running Alice when reaching out to us for support. This is not the only place you will be able to see this information as long as Alice fully launches.
When Alice opens, a Welcome dialog box is displayed, as shown below. The Welcome dialog box has four tabs and the Templates tab is automatically selected. Choose any one of the templates or click on one of the other tabs to select a previously written Alice project.
The red X message in the bottom left of the window is a warning message that indicates a template or a previous project must be selected in this window in order to display a scene. If the Cancel button in the dialog box is clicked without selecting a template or a previously written project, Alice will close the Welcome dialog box without displaying the Code editor. To reopen the Welcome dialog box, click File in the menu bar at the top left of the Alice window and select New from the menu.
Upon successful selection of a template, Alice will display the selected template scene in the upper left corner of the Code Editor. You are now ready to start using Alice. Visit Alice.org for lots of resources on how to use Alice.
If you don’t see the above screens or are not able to fully enter Alice it may be a permissions issue. See above for starting Alice as admin or contact us for help in getting you up and running.