It is recommended that you use a prebundled distribution if you are running Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. But if you have a different operating system, or wish to customize your Java Runtime installation, follow these instructions instead.

First, install the Java Runtime Environment v1.4.2 or later for your platform (unless you are running Mac OS X, in which case it comes preinstalled).

If you want support for 3D, you'll also need to install Java3D for your platform (unless you are running Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger," in which case it comes preinstalled).

Next, download the following distribution.

On Unix-based systems, the included "visbio" script launches VisBio. Just type "./visbio" at the command line.