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== Getting started with CAELinux ==
 
== Getting started with CAELinux ==
J.Cugnoni, [www.caelinux.com www.caelinux.com], 2006
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J.Cugnoni, [http://www.caelinux.com www.caelinux.com], 2006
  
  

Revision as of 15:31, 22 October 2006

Getting started with CAELinux

J.Cugnoni, www.caelinux.com, 2006


Content:

  1. Welcome & Licence terms
  2. Introduction tutorial
  3. Softwares included in CAELinux Beta 3
  4. Installing & upgrading CAELinux

Welcome & Licence terms:

First of all, we would like to thank you for your interest in CAELinux which we hope will fullfill your needs in Computer Aided Engineering. This Linux distribution is based on the excellent PCLinuxOS system and includes an allways increasing number of open source modelling, simulation & design softwares. Most of the content (99%) of CAELinux is provided under the well known GPL  or  LGPL  (Gnu Public Licence) which allows you to freely use and redistribute these softwares but a small number of packages have their own licencing terms (GraphiteOne for example). If you intend to use this distribution for commercial work, it is your responsibility to verify the licencing terms of the softwares that you are using. The authors of the distribution are not responsible for these licencing aspects and this distribution and all the included softwares are provided without any warranty.


Introduction tutorial

For a very quick introduction to CAELinux capabilities, you should follow our Introduction Tutorial here:

file:///opt/helpers/docs/tutorials/IntroductionTutorial1.pdf


Softwares included in CAELinux Beta 3

Here is a non exhaustive list of CAE software packages included in CAELinux as well as some key informations to get started. Some of the softwares can be started from Desktop shortcuts or from the CAE start menu, but most of the console based tools will require that you use our special shell called 'Command line tools' (in CAE start menu).

Software Use How to start Installation
directory
Documentation
Salome v3.2.1 3D CAD,

Meshing

Post Processing
Salome shortcut on desktop & in CAE start menu /opt/salome - HTML doc accessible inside the application
- Tutorials in /opt/helpers/docs
Code Aster STA8.3 multiphysics FE analysis Create a new FE analysis from templates with New FE Study shortcut on Desktop or directly use the interface called ASTK  /opt/aster - French documentation available from EFICAS.

- English doc (automatic translations) in /opt/helpers/docs/CodeAsterEnDoc, use SearchHelp.py from this directory to search for keywords in the English docs.

- Tutorials in /opt/helpers/docs

- Examples in /opt/aster/STA8.3/astest
Impact explicit FE  dynamics use shortcut in CAE start menu or start /opt/Impact.sh /opt/impact - Documentation available from the interface
- Examples in installation directory
OpenFOAM
v1.2
multipurpose CFD oriented solvers use 'Command line tools' from CAE start menu or start FoamX interface from CAE menu or /opt/FoamX.sh /opt/OpenFOAM - Examples & tutorials in /opt/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.2
Elmer v4.0 multiphysics FE package use the shortcut from CAE start menu or start 'ElmerFront' from CAE 'Command line tools' console /opt/elmer - Documentation in /opt/elmer

- Examples in /opt/elmer/ELMER4.0

- mesh converter from Salome: 

/opt/helpers/unv2ElmerUNV.py
Calculix pre-post & FE solver, Abaqus-like
syntax
from CAE 'Command line tools': start 'ccx' for Calculix solver & 'cgx' for pre-post GUI /opt/calculix - Documentation in /opt/calculix/doc

- Examples in /opt/calculix/example

- mesh converter from Salome:

/opt/helpers/unv2abaqus.py
GMSH Scriptable & general purpose geometry modelling, meshing and post processing use shortcut on desktop & start menu, or type 'gmsh' from 'Command line tools console' /opt/aster/outils/
gmsh
- tutorials & demos in installation directory
Gerris flow solver 2D / 3D  CFD solvers based on automatic octree mesh refinement use from 'Command line tools' console:
gerris2D, gerris3D, gfsview2D, gfsview3D etc..
/opt/gerris - examples & tests in installation directory
GraphiteOne 2D & 3D CAD system start 'graphiteone' from a console /usr/bin Free for personnal use, but not an 100% open-source package !!
BRL-CAD 2D / 3D CAD start 'mged' from 'Command line tools' console /usr/brlcad - Documentation & examples in installation directory
MBDyn multibody dynamics  from 'Command line tools' console: start 'mbdyn'  /opt/mbdyn - Documentation & examples in installation directory
- use 'mbdyn2easyanim.sh' & 'EasyAnimx' for visualization
Tochnog statics & dynamics FE solver  from 'Command line tools' console: start 'tochnog' /opt/tochnog - Documentation & examples in installation directory
OpenFlower 3D CFD solver  from 'Command line tools' console: start interface 'OpenFlowerGUI'
or solver 'OpenFlower'
/opt/openflower - Documentation & examples in installation directory
GetDP general PDE solver  from 'Command line tools' console: start solver 'getdp' /opt/getdp - Documentation & examples in installation directory
- can be started from GMSH
Octave MATLAB compatible mathematical programming from shortcuts on desktop or CAE menu, or type 'octave' in any console /usr/bin - Help available from within the octave shell, with the 'help' command
Scilab Matlab/Simulink-like mathematical programming environment from shortcuts on desktop or CAE menu, or type 'scilab' in any console /usr/bin - Help, examples, demos available from within the Scilab GUI
XMaxima Maple like symbolic computing environment from shortcuts on desktop or CAE menu, or type 'xmaxima' in any console /usr/bin - Help, examples, demos available from within the XMaxima GUI
Paraview general purpose 3D visualization software from 'Command line tools' console: start '/opt/paraview.sh'  or 'paraFoam' for OpenFOAM specific post pro /opt/OpenFOAM/linux/
paraview-2.2.0
- Help in OpenFOAM documentation
QCAD 2D CAD program from Office/Graphs menu or type 'qcad' from any console /usr/bin
other usefull tools Several usefull tools, documents and examples are provided in /opt/helpers directory:

- CreateJob.py : GUI to create a Code-Aster FE analysis from template & Salome MED mesh
- Unv2X, unv2abaqus, ...: a set of python scripts to facilitate mesh conversion from UNV (Salome for example) to other solvers like Calculix, Elmer or OpenFOAM.
- GenEnsightCase.py: a python script to generate an Ensight .case file from an Ensight ouput directory generated by Code-Aster.
- /opt/helpers/docs/CodeAsterEnDoc/SearchHelp.py: a simple GUI to search for strings in the English Doc of Code Aster
- /opt/helpers/docs/tutorials and /opt/helpers/docs/examples contains some interesting tutorials on combined use of Salome & Code-Aster


Installing & upgrading CAELinux

Thanks to the very simple PCLinuxOS installer, you can very quickly turn your LiveDVD based CAELinux environment to a full featured hard disk install which will let you customize and update your system as you may want. We will not detail the installation steps here, but we highly recommend that you read the documentation on the PCLinuxOS Wiki section at http://www.pclinuxos.com. To install CAELinux Beta 3 on hard disk, you will need at least 10Gb of free space on an ext3 partition and preferably 1Gb on a Linux Swap partition (use PCLinuxOS disk partitionning tool to resize or create your partitions & BACKUP your data FIRST).


After installation, you will be able to customize your OS, install new packages & update your system (kernel, 3D drivers etc...) with the very efficient PCLinuxOS Control Center (in Menu->Configuration). From there, you will be able to configure all the aspects of the system and directly install & update softwares from Internet with the Synaptics software package manager.


For more information about the OS, drivers, kernel, etc.. please visit http://www.pclinuxos.com

For any other question regarding CAELinux or one of the included software, you can visit our forums at http://www.caelinux.com