Download & install PKBugs

You can download the full version of the PKBugs software by clicking here. (All documentation is packaged as part of the software.) Installation instructions are given below.

Please note that you first need to install WinBUGS Version 1.3. We strongly recommend that you register this version so that it can be used to its full potential (there is no charge for registration). There are two main advantages to this: first, WinBUGS is a very general piece of software that can handle arbitrarily complex models, and can therefore be used for almost any type of statistical problem; second, while some aspects of PKBugs will work with an unregistered version of WinBUGS, others will not.

Installation instructions

1. First you will need to install WinBUGS Version 1.3. You can download this from here. What you get is an "educational" version of the software that can be used for numerous example problems (packaged as part of the software) for evaluation purposes. Currently, however, there is no charge to upgrade to the full version -- you simply need to register and you will be sent the appropriate upgrade patch. Some aspects of PKBugs will work with an unregistered version of WinBUGS, but others will not.
   
   
2. Once WinBUGS has been installed, you should download the PKBugs patch from here (or above). Save this anywhere you like on your hard-drive and then start WinBUGS by double-clicking on the WinBUGS icon. In WinBUGS, select Open... from the File menu and locate the saved PKBugs patch (pkbugs11.odc) in the Open dialogue box. Double-click on the file to open it: it should begin with "StdCoder.Decode .." and appear to be full of gibberish.
   
   
3. Now select Decode from the Tools menu -- a dialogue box named "Decode" should appear. Click on the Decode All command button. WinBUGS will then decode the PKBugs patch; it should prompt you several times to create various directories within the WinBUGS directory -- click on "OK" at each prompt.
   
   
4. The PKBugs installation is completed by closing down WinBUGS. PKBugs is simply an interface to WinBUGS and is thus accessed via WinBUGS, by double-clicking on the WinBUGS icon.
   
   
5. The WinBUGS and PKBugs manuals can be obtained from within WinBUGS via the Help and PKHelp menus respectively. Alternatively, you can open the WinBUGS manual by pressing F1 or the PKBugs manual by pressing F2. This documentation is "on-line" and contains hypertext (in blue) for your convenience -- simply click on any blue portion of the text and the appropriate section of the document will be located for you. These manuals can of course be printed to obtain hard-copies. However, they contain folds, where notes or large pieces of information are 'hidden' behind clickable arrows. You may wish to 'expand' all of these folds before printing, to obtain maximum benefit.
   
   Note that the example data sets provided with the software can be accessed easily either via the documentation or by selecting PKBugs Examples from the PKHelp menu.

Last Updated   December 2004