1 · Python 3.10 or newer

Check what you have:

python3 --version

Anything from 3.10 upward is fine. On Windows, install from python.org and tick Add Python to PATH.

2 · A virtual environment

Keep the fest's packages away from the rest of your system:

python3 -m venv qff
# macOS / Linux
source qff/bin/activate
# Windows PowerShell
qff\Scripts\Activate.ps1

3 · Qiskit and friends

With the environment active:

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install qiskit "qiskit[visualization]" \
    qiskit-aer qiskit-ibm-runtime \
    matplotlib jupyter ipykernel

Or use the pinned list: materials/requirements.txt.

4 · Check it works

This should print a two-line dictionary of counts:

from qiskit import QuantumCircuit
from qiskit_aer import AerSimulator

qc = QuantumCircuit(2, 2)
qc.h(0); qc.cx(0, 1); qc.measure([0, 1], [0, 1])
print(AerSimulator().run(qc, shots=1024).result().get_counts())

Roughly half 00 and half 11 means you have just made your first entangled pair.