Software Setup for BioAI — Spring 2026

The instructions below will take you step by step through the process. Important: you must perform these steps from an Administrator-enabled user account on your computer.


Install Miniconda3

  1. Download and run the appropriate installer file for your system:
  2. Open a new Terminal window (close and re-open if already opened). Windows: use the Anaconda Prompt program (available through the Start menu) to open a new Command window.

  3. Test: in Terminal window, type: conda list

  4. Windows only: run the command conda install pywin32. If you are on a Mac or Linux, skip this step.

  5. conda create --name ai python=3.12

  6. conda activate ai

  7. conda info

    Email me the output of the above command.

  8. Delete the Miniconda3 installer file, which is no longer needed.


Run IDLE

On a Mac or Linux:

   conda activate ai
   idle3

On Windows:

   conda activate ai
   idle

Install Numpy and Matplotlib

conda activate ai
python -m pip install numpy
python -m pip install matplotlib

To test the installation, start a Python session and run the following Python commands to plot a simple graph:

>>> import numpy as np
>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
>>> x = np.arange(0, 10, 0.2)
>>> plt.plot(x, x**2)
>>> plt.show()

Install Tensorflow

Mac:

conda activate ai
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install tensorflow==2.18
python -m pip install tensorflow-metal

Windows/Linux:

conda activate ai
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install tensorflow==2.18
python -m pip install tensorflow[and-cuda]

Verify TensorFlow:

To verify TensorFlow, run the following commands in Python:

>>> import tensorflow as tf
>>> print(tf.__version__)
>>> for x in tf.config.list_physical_devices(): print(x)
>>> print(tf.reduce_sum(tf.random.normal([1000, 1000])))

Install JupyterLab

conda activate ai
python -m pip install jupyterlab

You should now be able to start Jupyter Lab by typing  jupyter lab  at the command prompt.