.. _conda_forge_install:

Conda forge install
===================

.. admonition:: osx-arm64: missing random number generators

   Due to a cross-compiling issue in the conda NEST package, some random number 
   generators are not available if you are using macOS arm64 architecture. 
   The available generators are the Mersenne Twister generators `mt19937` and `mt19937_64`.

.. note::

   If you encounter problems installing the NEST conda package and
   environment, we recommend using Mamba (https://mamba.readthedocs.io).
   Mamba has the advantage of installing conda packages and
   environments more quickly and can be used as a complete drop-in replacement for conda.

1. To keep your conda setup tidy, we recommend that you install NEST into
   a separate `conda environment <https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html>`_
   together with Python packages that you will use when working with NEST;
   see also our :ref:`conda_tips`.

   To install the latest version of NEST in a new environment called ``ENVNAME``, just run

   .. code-block:: sh

      conda create --name ENVNAME -c conda-forge nest-simulator

   To install additional packages into the environment, just list them together with ``nest-simulator``.

   .. code-block:: sh

      conda create --name ENVNAME -c conda-forge nest-simulator jupyterlab seaborn

#. To see all NEST versions available via conda, either run

   .. code-block:: sh

      conda search -c conda-forge nest-simulator

   or browse the `conda forge file list
   <https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/nest-simulator/files>`_ (note
   there are multiple pages). To install, e.g., NEST 2.18.0, run

   .. code-block:: sh

      conda create --name nest_2_18_0 -c conda-forge nest-simulator=2.18.0=*

   The syntax for this install follows the pattern: ``nest-simulator=<version>=<build_string>``.

#. Activate your environment:

   .. code-block:: sh

      conda activate ENVNAME

#. Note the following:

   - We currently provide NEST with thread-based parallelization on conda. This should suffice for most
     uses on personal computers.