eduActiv8 is written in python which is an interpreted language therefore in most cases it can be run from source after installing some required software. If running from source is not your thing, there are packages already created for Windows, MacOS, Android and Linux (packaging for various Linux distributions has been moved to OpenSuse Build Service - see available eduActiv8 packages).
To run a compiled package there is no installation required as such (except for Android). All you need to do is download the correct version of eduActiv8 for your operating system, unpack and double click on the executable: eduactiv8.exe on Windows or eduactiv8.app on MacOS. When it comes to Linux please follow the instructions at software.opensuse.org since these will very likely be different for each distribution.
The eduActiv8 project is available for Android but has not been published on the Play Store (due to a requirement for 64-bit build which is currently not possible). It is available as an apk package which, after downloading, may require allowing "Unknown sources" before being able to install. In the newest Android versions tapping "Install anyway" when the Play Protect message pops up is enough to get through to installation. Due to the 32-bit nature of the Android app if your device only supports 64-bit apps, this will not work.
If you happen to have an executable version of the eduActiv8 program there's not a lot you need to worry about other than unpacking the file and double clicking on an executable file, installation is not required. If you, however, wish to run it from source there are some dependencies you will need to install. The eduActiv8 was developed in Python and uses the Pygame library for Graphical User Interface. It also uses eSpeak which is an open-source text-to-speech engine - this allows a computer to speak - it will read text within activities and enables listening exercises recently added to the project. To run eduActiv8 from source on desktop computers you need all 3 of them installed on your system (eSpeak is somewhat optional but certain activities will not be shown if not installed). Pygame version needs to be compatible with the version of Python installed on a target device.
Operating System:
The latest version should work on modern versions of Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Python versions supported:
python 2.7+ (including python 3+)
Hardware requirements:
To run eduActiv8 from source you will have to install the required software manually.
The installation instructions below were tested on Windows XP, 7 and 8 (the order of installation is important).
python
from: https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7.15/ download and install: "Windows x86 MSI Installer (2.7.15)"
pygame
from: http://www.pygame.org/download.shtml download and install: pygame-1.9.2a0.win32-py2.7.msi
eduActiv8
Finally, download the latest version of the eduActiv8 source, unpack it somewhere.
eSpeak (optional but useful)
In case of Windows, it is a little bit more complicated to get eSpeak to work with eduActiv8. The following was tested on Windows 8 and Windows XP:
from: http://espeak.sourceforge.net/download.html download and install the latest version of eSpeak (compiled for Windows)
Whilst installing, copy or remember the location of where eSpeak is being installed, in Windows 8 it will most likely be at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak\ and in Windows XP at: C:\Program Files\eSpeak\
To enable eduActiv8 to use eSpeak as a command line tool you need to add the location of its command line program to the system PATH. Basically, if your eSpeak has been installed in the default location you need to append the following line at the end of what is already there (otherwise add command_line at the end of what you have copied, remember about the semicolon and don't enter any spaces before or after the text):
Windows 8:
;C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak\command_line
Windows XP:
;C:\Program Files\eSpeak\command_line
This How-To Geek post presents quite nicely how to go about adding a folder to system path in latest versions of Windows.
If everything went OK you should see an additional icon in eduActiv8 allowing you to enable eSpeak and use its text-to-speech capabilities.
You will need to install some dependencies first:
python
It is already installed.
pygame
Open Terminal and install pip:
sudo easy_install pip
then using pip install pygame
sudo -H pip install pygame
eduActiv8
Finally, download the latest version of the eduActiv8 source, unpack it somewhere by double-clicking on the downloaded *.zip file.
eSpeak (optional but useful)
You may need to install Homebrew before you can install eSpeak
In Terminal:
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"
brew install espeak
Finally to run eduActiv8 from Terminal:
python path/to/the/app/eduactiv8.py
You will need to install some dependencies before being able to run the program.
python
It should already be installed.
pygame
On Debian based distributions - open Terminal and run:
sudo apt-get install python-pygame
on other distros, you may need to use a different set of instructions to install packages.
eduActiv8
Finally, download the latest version of the eduActiv8 source and unpack it somewhere.
eSpeak (optional but useful)
eduActiv8 is designed to read some texts in games via text-to-speech engine called eSpeak. To make use of this feature you need to have it installed as well.
It is possible eSpeak is pre-installed, to check it, run: espeak --version. If you get "No command 'espeak' found." you will have to install it. As with previous dependencies, it is likely you will find it in the repo, but the alternative option would be to get it from: http://espeak.sourceforge.net/download.html
Finally to run eduActiv8 from Terminal:
python path/to/the/app/eduactiv8.py