[Eeglablist] Getting to run AMICA15 on windows 10 64bits - solving packaging problem with binary file

[Jonas Chatel-Goldman]

Hi all,

This is to share some work-around I went through when trying (and finally
managing) to run AMICA on my setup (windows 10 64bits, Matlab R2015a).

First I downloaded the latest version on Jason's website (
http://sccn.ucsd.edu/~jason/amica_web.html) and tested the binary file
'amica15mkl.exe'. This failed outputing error that two lib files are
missing: libiomp5md.dll and fmpich2.dll.

Then I browsed the net and found Jason's GitHub (
https://github.com/japalmer29/amica) with source code in Fortran. Jason
gives some suggestions to compile it so as to create our own binary file...
well, the least I can say is that for a naive user like me the whole
process is not straightforward! It requires installing the costly Intel
Fortran compiler. Though it exists in a free student version (
https://software.intel.com/en-us/qualify-for-free-software/student), this
is a huge software (>3Gb). Compiling the binary also requires installing
mpich2 (http://www.mpich.org/downloads/), for which no simple windows
installer is provided in the last versions.

I wondered if I could find a simpler approach? Instead of recompiling
everything, I tried to simply get the two missing lib file. I could obtain
a proper libiomp5md.dll on some library repository website after having
downloaded a few corrupted ones. Regarding fmpich2.dll, browsing internet
and mpich website I could find a .msi windows installer for an older mpich2
version (http://www.mpich.org/static/downloads/1.4/). Installing this is
straightforward and provides fmpich2.dll. Finally, putting the two lib
files in the same folder as amica binary and I could run everything
smoothly!

Voilà, I hope this can help future windows users. If needed, I can provide
the lib files directly.

Few suggestions and remarks:
- first of all big thanks for the hard work and dedication in providing and
sharing code for these advanced signal processing tools!
- available info and files regarding AMICA are scattered in multiple
websites with different information. For instance, Jason's website has the
latest version but lacks necessary file 'loadmodout12.m'; the Amica plugin
is not available from download within EEGlab; only GitHub has all necessary
files but without precompiled binaries; lib files necessary to run amica
(at least on windows) are not provided anywhere. This makes it not so
straightforward  to get to run AMICA...

cheers,

*Jonas*
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