Linux (Ubuntu) for engineers...

[neoflight]

Hello people,

I was wondering whether its a good idea to have a good thread on using ubuntu for engineering applications. I learn that there are some discussions on using packages and all, but scattered.

I am in grad school and from a horrible experience while writing thesis on xp, I've decided to make a shift.
-Esp the word processor. I am slowly getting comfi with latex.
-I've had trouble installing the student matlab version but managed to make it after reading some how-to's.
- other applications i would love to try are
-- python, maxima (for maple?).

my school has redhat installed in the labs. but iam not comfortable with that.

what are y'all using for your engineering studies/work? such as 3d modelling?
Any FEM (finite element analysis) software??

Do you think its a good idea to have a section for engineering applications here in this forum?

If that has already been taken care of then please redirect me and repost this appropriately..

thank you...

Neo

[bernardfrancois]

Im studying informatics engineer, so we're not using a lot of programs that have to do anything with other sciences than informatics.

But I latex is great for making a thesis. You can use lyx as a front-end.
You can use dia to make various diagrams (like electrical cuircuits).
The graphviz (http://www.graphviz.org) tools are great to make schemes fastly (you don't need to waste time on drawing or moving nodes since it calculates all node positions).

There are various other tools in the repositories under different categories: electronics, mathematics, science (make sure you have access to the 'universe' repositories).
For example, chemtool allows you to draw chemical structures.

[Hairy_Palms]

i know you can use blender for 3d modelling it works very well, im a studying electronic engineer but i use livewire inside wine for my circuit drawing.

[leech]

I just ran 'apt-cache search engineer' and it came up with quite a nice list.

atlc - Arbitrary Transmission Line Calculator
drawtiming - tool for documenting hardware designs through timing diagrams
ecos - Deeply embedded operating system
elfsh - The ELF shell
gipsc - IP Subnet Calculator for X
gpib-modules-source - kernel modules for various GPIB boards
htag - A tagline/.signature adder for email, news and FidoNet messages.
ipsc - IP Subnet Calculator for console
libalzabo-perl - Data modelling tool and RDBMS-OO mapper
libcoin20 - high-level 3D graphics kit - runtime
libcoin20-dev - high-level 3D graphics kit - development
libcoin20-doc - high-level 3D graphics kit - documentation
libcoin20-runtime - high-level 3D graphics kit - external data files
libelfsh0 - The ELF shell library
libelfsh0-dev - The ELF shell library
libgpib-bin - libgpib support applications and configuration
libgpib-perl - libgpib perl bindings
libgpib0 - C bindings for GPIB (IEEE 488) kernel driver -- headers
libgpib0-dev - C bindings for GPIB (IEEE 488) kernel driver -- headers
linsmith - a tool to generate Smith Charts
maria - reachability analyzer for Algebraic System Nets
php4-gpib - libgpib php bindings
proguard - java class file shrinker, optimizer, and obfuscator
python-gpib - libgpib python bindings (default package)
python-scipy - scientific tools for Python
python-scipy-core - low level utilities for scipy (default python version)
python2.3-gpib - libgpib Python 2.3 bindings
python2.3-scipy - scientific tools for Python 2.3
python2.3-scipy-core - low level utilities for scipy (for python 2.3)
python2.4-gpib - libgpib Python 2.4 bindings
python2.4-scipy - scientific tools for Python 2.4
python2.4-scipy-core - low level utilities for scipy (for python 2.4)
r-cran-fbasics - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fBasics
r-cran-fcalendar - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fCalendar
r-cran-fextremes - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fExtremes
r-cran-fmultivar - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fMultivar
r-cran-foptions - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fOptions
r-cran-fportfolio - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fPortfolio
r-cran-fseries - GNU R package for financial engineering -- fSeries
splat - analyze point-to-point terrestrial RF communication links
tcpreen - Simple TCP re-engineering tool
varkon - A CAD-system with parametric modelling
varkon-programmer-manual - Programmer manual for VARKONs mbs language
varkon-user-manual - User manual for VARKON
graphviz - rich set of graph drawing tools
libbcel-java - Analyze, create, and manipulate (binary) Java class files
libbcel-java-doc - Documentation for Byte Code Engineering Library (BCEL)
esix - PDP-8 Engineering and Scientific Interpreter eXtended

I'm ot an engineer nor going to school for it, but love looking at what sort of stuff is already in the repositories for all sorts of applications :D

Leech

[Mr_Grieves]

A friend of mine studies engineering at the University, and thier school runs matlab on Linux.. it's Java.. but, it seems that it's not working exactly as good as in Windows.

[Spie]

- I use texmaker for LaTeX. It's the somewhat same as Kile but without the qt-libraries.
- I use Matlab. It runs very well on Linux. An open-source effort is Scilab.
- Dia is nice, but it is nothing compared to AutoCad.
- Fluent on Linux is used by the University for CFD.

Overall, Linux makes my life (Almost MSc) a lot easier.

EDIT[line 3] - I mean: QCad is nice, but doesn't have the level of AutoCad, yet.

[bernardfrancois]

- I use texmaker for LaTeX. It's the somewhat same as Kile but without the qt-libraries.
- I use Matlab. It runs very well on Linux. An open-source effort is Scilab.
- Dia is nice, but it is nothing compared to AutoCad.
- Fluent on Linux is used by the University for CFD.


I'll try texmaker.

Dia is not really a program in the same category as Autocad. You won't use autocad to draw diagrams, and you won't use Dia to draw (for example) a 2d view of some object.

I just checked out the site of fluent, it seems to be an interesting program.

[neoflight]

I'll try texmaker.

Dia is not really a program in the same category as Autocad. You won't use autocad to draw diagrams, and you won't use Dia to draw (for example) a 2d view of some object.

I just checked out the site of fluent, it seems to be an interesting program.

i tried texmaker.. but i have had problems linking the same to my latex installation. so i tried gedit and it works ok but i need to compile using latex command and view dvi using xdvi ... no fancy help tho... i liked kile and it had so many problems from linking, and so many errors i cant even finish reading...

i still use matlab...i run that with gui interface at the cluster using ssh.thats much faster and so i wasted my matlab student version so to speak.

i use ansys too...but no opensource to match that....i run it at the clusted too...gui... with ssh -X...

its good to know what kind of applications and solutions engineers/science/other students use as a part of their studies?

any idea what free program available for 3d drawing...

thanks:smile:

[gunksta]

I don't do engineering, but I do work with math a lot in terms of research. If you don't have it install qalculate. It is the greatest "basic" calculator I have ever seen. I use this thing all the time for quick views of data sets, since it can insert .csv files into graphviz for me, and give me a graph is less than time than I can open up gnome-terminal. Seriously, this is a powerful tool. It's hardly matlab, but it doesn't take as long to learn either! You also don't feel silly using it for multiplication. :D

I agree, comparing DIA to Autocad doesn't seem like a fiar comparison. They aren't even the same category of tool. I enojoy looking at the page www.gnomefiles.org. They have some stuff on math and engineering.

I think latex is great, and lyx is certainly a wonderful application. But, it sucks if you are going to have to give you paper to someone who doesn't use latex too. It's just not a very portable file format. True, latex does work on every OS on earth, but how many people have the software to do so. I'm sorry, but it seems to me to be just as easy to let OOo handle my bibliography information. And, I use the paragraph styles, so I can get most of the benefits of latex, and email it to my professor easily.

[Hitchhiker427]

My university uses a program called Mentor Graphics in our Unix labs. Does anyone have any experience running this in Ubuntu? It's circuit design/simulation software. I've tried out a few, and the only one I could get to work right is Oregano, however, this doesn't seem to be very feature-filled, but it'll do for now.

Can anyone recommend any other quality engineering software? I mean, I can always search the repositories, but that doesn't guarantee that the software's any good.

[htoerrin]

Just a couple of programs not mentioned yet:

octave: A matlab clone. I have never used Matlab, so I can't compare, but octave seemes quite useful.

qcad: Seemes to be a quite reasonable 2d cad program.

eagle: (www.cadsoftusa.com) Electronic schematics and layout. Limited free version.

[Peter76]

Have a look at wings3d for ( duh :-) 3d modelling. It's in the repo's

[cb951303]

I reccomend www.octave.org which is a matlab like dev environment by GNU. It's a very complete package.

[cotcot]

If you look for an CAD program "QCAD" will do. I have checked its compatibilty with Autocad and that is quite good.
I am currently learning Blender3D. Nice tool for 3D.
I do not really feel the need for a separate engineers section (although I am a chemical engineer).

[scpike]

Maple runs natively under linux, its pretty cool

[cb951303]

blender3d or wings3d are not good for engineering. A 3d CAD would be more efficient ( maybe at least with some basic physics simulations )
Unfortunatly QCAD is 2d only

[Hitchhiker427]

yeah, that is one thing missing. I haven't been able to find a decent Autodesk Inventor or Solidworks clone yet. Until then, I'll just dual-boot and use the real things in Windows.

[apolyak]

look at:
- bc - An arbitrary precision calculator language. Uses C-like language. Search Google for bc, there are a lot functions written for bc. There is a bug in if - else statement: ad ' \ ' after if closing '}'
if (x < i){
do something;
}\ /* add \ after } */
else{
do something;
}

- gnuplot
- SwitcherCad III -> is a high performance Spice III simulator, schematic capture and waveform viewer with enhancements and models for easing the simulation. http://www.linear.com/company/software.jsp. Runs under wine very well.

[ReverseEngineered]

I'm a fourth-year studying Electrical Engineer, and there are several programs I use.

Latex is quite common, even among our entire university. Rather than distribute the actual source itself, many people convert the dvi's to pdf's, either directly (pdflatex) or using a simple script (dvips and ps2pdf). Our University has made this standard practice for the entire faculty (including giving workshops on how to do it) and the result has been clear, standardize, universally-accessible tests and assignments; definitely a nice touch.

I use Unix versions of both the commercial Matlab and Maple. Aside from their horrible interfaces (as far as I know both use Motif), they function almost identically to their Windows counterparts. There are also open source equivalents of both (Octave and Maxima). I have yet to try Maxima. Octave is nice, but doesn't quite have the same functionality as Matlab (several of the more basic toolboxes either have parts missing or with limited functionality, uses gnuplot for output so can't perform many of the same system-design methods like root locus very well).

Dia works very well for diagrams (such as UML in computer science). Only problems I've ever had is intermixing .dia files between Linux and Cygwin versions (font sizes exploded sporadically). I have yet to see a good Linux equivalent of AutoCAD, though my searches have been limited. Anybody comment on this?

My biggest stumbling block as been in the actual electronics arena. EDA (schematic capture, simulation, PCB layouts, etc) is severely limited. gEDA is in the works, but it's no where near Multisim or CircuitMaker. From what I know CircuitMaker will work under WINE, but last I checked both old (Electronics Workbench) and new (Multisim) versions of the Multisim products don't work properly (load, but the UI has fatal bugs). Eagle is a great program (though REALLY weird to learn at first), but the limited free version is almost useless for anything but the most simple projects, and don't even bother trying to pirate it.

All in all, most anything you need for Engineering can be found under Linux (after all, many scientists write their in-house tools in Unix), though it may not be as refined and as powerful as the commercial Windows offerings. I suppose the old adage is still true--you get what you pay for.

[bernardfrancois]

Dia works very well for diagrams (such as UML in computer science).

For UML diagrams, you can also use umbrello.
I used it to draw an ERD for a database modelling project (though I had to add symbols for primary keys using the gimp).

- SwitcherCad III -> is a high performance Spice III simulator, schematic capture and waveform viewer with enhancements and models for easing the simulation. http://www.linear.com/company/software.jsp. Runs under wine very well.

There are other spice simulators as well. Spice started as a free unix program, later several GUI's were made (there are commercial ones an non-commercial ones, for both unix and windows). I didn't search very far for a good one, since I have only seen the basics of electronics.

[Showan]

hi

is there any chance to run Inventor/autocad/MDT with a Windows Emulator?
Not regarding the fact that some functions need Excell :???:

thanks

[bernardfrancois]

If you really need to run a windows application, I would advice you to run it under windows, if you already have a windows license.

Otherwise, you can check the site of wine. There's a database with information about many windows programs (and how they run emulated using wine).

But this is out of the scope of this thread, maybe there's a thread specific about autocad on these forums, or you could open one (also, more people will give you usefull replies there since the title of the thread will be more to the point).

[adamkat]

I backported the latest taxmaker but am not able to set the paths of each indevidual program.
I am a linux beginner so please explain in detail.
Thanks

[neoflight]

I backported the latest taxmaker but am not able to set the paths of each indevidual program.
I am a linux beginner so please explain in detail.
Thanks


aaaaaahhh ! .... i had the same problem again...

just locate where the latex is installed... and thats the path u need to set in there. everything else seems ok.

which latex are u planning to use? tetex2, tetex3 or texlive2005?

[bernardfrancois]

I backported the latest taxmaker but am not able to set the paths of each indevidual program.
I am a linux beginner so please explain in detail.
Thanks
Please don't do double posting. You already posted the same question at http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=121368 .

But you mentioned a program here that I'm going to try out :)

But please continue the discussion about your specific problem in the other thread.

[phen]

hello y'all!

Please add all scientific/engineering programs you know/like to
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuScientists
we try to get a comprehensive list of available software! it is really helpful, but QCad wasn't there. I found the tip in this thread...

cheers,

kai

[bernardfrancois]

nice job!

[lyly]

For myself I use:
- LateX with emacs/auctex not very wisiwig but evince (document viewer of ubuntu) still crash a lot...
- gnuplot for data rendering. I used it in commande line but I have see plotdrop (not in repo) which seems to be a promising front-end. Unfortunatenly the last version doesnt have an ubuntu package.
- regexxer to manage the text result of experiment.
- octave can fit to replace mathlab, but I dont know any good front end to it, and command line is not very friendly for everydays work...
- wxmaxima a gnome front end to maxima for litteral calculation
- inkscape to make the schemas and figures
- dia for flowchart etc...
- I dont use it but statical calculation the R programm is good (I learned it during my studies)

I miss:
- a CAD program with 3D design and plan making of mechanical parts
- a PCB/Mask designer
- an small and easy 3D drawing program. Everybody say Blender is great, but I feel it is too complicated. I dont need any raytracing feature or big texture rendenring..., but sometime I like too have a little 3D fig just to explain something
- a video editing program. Kino is in ubuntu, but I cannot open my experiment film with it... and I am not sure the conversion to another format dont do any loss of data...
- a program to draw molecules

[jefferbean]

Octave works great, it is virtually the same as Matlab. Make sure to get the octave-forge package as well. It contains 500 additional functions not in the main distro. The one I found most useful was print(), which allows you to save your plots and graphs as variable graphics files including .png.

[htoerrin]

For video editing you might concider cinelerra, http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3

[neoflight]

there is a discussion on this forum on making a specific group for university related stuff...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=142557

raise your voice and a group like that should help searching stuff and getting replies really easy....

[cg_linux]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello...
I need instructions to install and to run Fluent 6.2 in Ubuntu 6.06 for 64-bit(AMD Athlon).

[tower_]

How to install ANSYS V10 (or ANSYS V9) on a Linux 32-bit box with Ubuntu Feisty or Debian Sid:

rtfm then install and follow the instructions from Ansys. At the end of the install process there are some modifications needed:

create an empty file license.log (because it is missing) in

/.../ansys/ansys_inc/shared_files/licensing
(replace "/.../" with your real install path)

then
sudo chmod 755 /.../ansys/ansys_inc/shared_files/licensing/license.log

then copy your license.dat (if there is no license.dat already)
cp license.dat /.../ansys/ansys_inc/shared_files/licensing

and
sudo chmod 755 /.../ansys/ansys_inc/shared_files/licensing/license.dat

now start your licensemanager: /.../shared_files/licensing/lic_admin/anslic_admin.sh

try to start ansys now:
/.../ansys/ansys_inc/v100/ansys/bin/launcher100

when ansys starts it will fail because a link to your relevant libgcc_s.so.1 is needed:

cd /.../ansys_inc/v100/ansys/syslib/linia32
mv libgcc_s.so.1 libgcc_s.so.1.old
ln -s /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 .

now your are ready to go :-)


additional ansys "nice to have" modifications and tuning

make a desktop entry:
create and edit the file "ANSYS.desktop"

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/ANSYS.desktop

then insert the following text into the file "ANSYS.desktop"

[Desktop Entry]
Name=ANSYS
Comment=ANSYS lancher
Exec=/.../ansys_inc/v100/ansys/bin/launcher100
Icon=/.../ansys_inc/v100/ansys/bin/ansysLogo16x16.gif
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Office;

save and exit gedit

to start the ansys flexlm license server when you boot your box:

cd /.../ansys_inc/shared_files/licensing/linia32
sudo cat boot_ansflex >>/etc/init.d/rc.local

to change the ansys fonts:
start ansys then go to

MenuCtrls --> Font selection --> item

go through and change all items as you needed
watch also your entrys in the file /home/user/.ansys/ansys10.0/ansys10.0.reg

and/or:
start ansys by
/.../ansys/ansys_inc/v100/ansys/bin/launcher100 -fontsize 11

if you have dual processors:
sudo gedit /../ansys_inc/v100/ansys/apdl/start100.ans
and insert the following line at the end of the file "start100.ans":

/config,nproc,2

[tower_]

:guitar:

[tower_]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello...
I need instructions to install and to run Fluent 6.2 in Ubuntu 6.06 for 64-bit(AMD Athlon).

what you need exactly?
what problem you noticed?
i installed fluent on debian 32-bit without any problems.

[ricardo.slacker]

I've done a lot of scientific/mathematical programming, and i've found scilab to be a nice clone of matlab, but a very popular alternative to those kind of programs is python. It's used by nasa (http://www.python.org/Quotes.html), and actually used in some high performance (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~luszczek/pubs/plw-200605.pdf) physics applications.
Python is a great choice because it has a natural syntax for engineers, for example the following statement
works with pylab
x=arange(begin,end,increment)
y=sin(x)
plot(x,y)
and will produce an nice looking interactive graph (much prettier than gnuplot).
its that simple to do math in the interactive interpretor, and it scales well. Have you ever tried to connect to a databse in matlab? I'm told it's not easy. In python, the code only takes a few lines.
In matlab's defense, open source doesn't really have anything that can compete with simulink.

I've expiremented with octave and found it somewhat confusing. I would say that for symbolic calculations I would still fall back to maple or even a ti-89 calculator.

[ioakost]

Hello everyboby!

could somebody show me how to install ANSYS_11 on UBUNTU/KUBUNTU 64bit linux?

I appreciate and waiting for your answer!

[monoj]

Hello
I'm trying to make to work Ansys V10 on Feisty (Kubuntu), I followed your explain (Tower_ ) but when I start it by /ansys/ansys_inc/v100/ansys/bin/launcher100 and choice some possibility to run I have this error :

Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Press enter to exit

I tried all to resolve this problem.
Can somebody help me, please?


Thanks a lot.

Bye

[Thingymebob]

Medusa4 Personal from http://www.cad-schroer.com/ looks pretty good, Ihaven't yet got it to run under my ubuntu install, but have in slack and gentoo. Although the interface is a little weird it certainly is full featured cad.

[neoflight]

that link is not working for me !!!:confused:

[dmontalvao]

Hi! I have the same problem with Ansys 11. Also, with Labview 7.1. I heard with later versions of Labview, 8+, it might work, although Ubuntu is not a supported version. We will hv Labview 8.5, so as soon as I get it, I'll try it with Ubuntu 7.04 or 7.10 (if already released).

Anyway, atm, I would like to install Ansys 11... If someone has found a solution to the "Segmentation Fault (Core Dumped)" problem, please help! Maybe Ubuntu is not a supported distribution? OMG!

Thanks!

Oh..., Tower, I am no able to find libcc_s.so.1 in /.../ansys_inc/v110/ansys/syslib/linia32. Since I don't know anything about this, with Ansys11, should I make a link to other library? Which one would it be? You can call me a noob if you like, but please help. hehe. :)

Quoting Tower:

"when ansys starts it will fail because a link to your relevant libgcc_s.so.1 is needed:

cd /.../ansys_inc/v100/ansys/syslib/linia32
mv libgcc_s.so.1 libgcc_s.so.1.old
ln -s /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 ."

[dmontalvao]

OMG!!! I feel so stupid!!!!

After all, everything is ok... The problem is I was choosing as "Simulation Environment" on the launcher "Ansys Workbench" instead of "Ansys". Now I can run Ansys Mechanical on Ubuntu Feisty! Woo hoo!

Well, I just posted this here because I think others might be stuck with this aswell.

(I still don't understand why I can't run Ansys Workbench, but, what the heck!)

Cheers!

[Steph_fr_37]

Hello,
do you finally find something to run workbench, i have the same problem, i can run ansys but i obtain a nice core dumped with WB. I use a french feisty.
thank you

[drmatty]

What are people using for creating/testing circuit diagrams?

When people say that Matlab doesn't run as well on Linux, vs Win, what are the limitations? I'm ony about 75% Ubuntu, and want to complete the switch, but I'm afraid to lose my Matlab. Are people using real-time workshop?

[doogan18]

I'd also love to know what people are using for circuit design and analysis because I am a computer systems engineer student atm. My labs involve using an FPGA, and it looks like we're supposed to use Quartis which is similar to LogicWorks, but I haven't been able to use either of these. I've been searching for some time, and I'd like to see if Ubuntu users have some tools similar to either of those editors.

~Joe

[arkara]

i am on my 3 rd year studing mechanical engineering here in greece.
we have used matlab and fortran so far and there is a linux version for matlab and i am doing just great. because my university is very fond on open source. i was given the matlab linux version and i am doing my job great.
i also used koctave and was very very good.

[dmontalvao]

Scilab is also an excelent clone of Matlab.

[drmatty]

Any open source programs available for circuit diagrams?

[Whiffle]

I use gEDA for circuit diagrams (the actual program that comes with that suite is called gschem), works pretty well.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Kile. Its a frontend for LaTeX and works extremely well.

[drmatty]

Thanks, I'll check geda.

[mocha]

For circuit diagrams, SPICE, etc, you can use Qucs, Oregano, LTspice (in Wine), geda, or KiCad. All work very well. LTspice is probably the easiest SPICE program I have found. It's closed source but freeware and runs perfect in Wine.

[macro182]

Hello!

I've installed Ansys 10, but I have some problem with license file, because I don't managed to understand what's correct hostname and hostid that I would insert in license.dat

For hostname I write "hostname" in shell, but for hostid?

Thanks a lot!

[Slingshot]

3D Parametric solid modeling. Alas, this is one area Windows has it all over any other OS. Linux options seem to be high end costly packages like Pro/Engineer or cheap programs with a poorly designed interface.

Some to keep your eye on are Medusa4, GraphiteOne and VariCAD. Still all rough compared to the likes of Solidworks or Inventor.

[sr_eivel]

A good tool for studying Finite Elements is FreeFEM++. It's a linear 2D FEM application that is just great if you're learning the FEM basics. Fast and nice. Very intuitive coding language in which you, basicly, give the processo the weak form of the PDE and the domain and it solves ti. (Magic!) There is a 3d version currently in development... haven't used it.
Wouldn't recomend it for serious studies. Nonlinear stuff can be done but requires more serious programming. Anyway it's sufficiently modular for one to experiment different things.
Give it a try.

[sfabel]

Maybe not the right thread, but there is a Engineering Linxu Distribution out there, called CAELinux (http://www.caelinux.com). I haven't tried it myself, but there seems to a couple of applications supporting 3D CAD as well.

I personally use Kile or OOo for word processing, MATLAB2007a for numerical stuff and Maxima for symbolic math.

There also was a question further up whether MATLAB is feature complete on Linux. So far, I haven't been able to find one feature that would not work under Linux (unless it is a bug). I have used real-time workshop under Linux before.

Cheers,
Stephan

[woody_green]

When people say that Matlab doesn't run as well on Linux, vs Win, what are the limitations? I'm ony about 75% Ubuntu, and want to complete the switch, but I'm afraid to lose my Matlab. Are people using real-time workshop?


At school, we use Linux, that is why we use Kicad and Hades (a Java-based editor) for circuit diagrams and logic gate-related design respectively. We also use Octave as a substitute for MatLab.I don't know the Linux equivfalent for AutoCAD but I think there's one out there.

[pawn]

Hye there,its nice to be here.
I study mechanical engineering,degree level.
1 question I will always love to ask:
Will there be CAD,CAM or CAE softwares such as Dassault System Catia,Ansys,Matlab, or AutoCAD on ubuntu? I found it is really hard to find the software as good as those in linux(they can run smoothly on Windows).using Wine seems to not be very helpful.
Just asking,coz i need to boot from ubuntu to windows when i'm doing my assignments and projects...really messy...

Another question,will ubuntu(or may be other distros) come out with these type of softwares,and becoming open source?

Just asking,coz i really believe in the power of open source,huhu

[AlexVader]

Hi Tower,
I am experiencing the same problem, when i start the fluent script in Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10, it states something about an incomplete string, the gui doesn't even show up...

It happens with Fluent 6.2.16...

can you give me any hint pls...?

Thanks in advance

Alex

[amd-64]

Hye there,its nice to be here.
I study mechanical engineering,degree level.
1 question I will always love to ask:
Will there be CAD,CAM or CAE softwares such as Dassault System Catia,Ansys,Matlab, or AutoCAD on ubuntu? I found it is really hard to find the software as good as those in linux(they can run smoothly on Windows).using Wine seems to not be very helpful.
Just asking,coz i need to boot from ubuntu to windows when i'm doing my assignments and projects...really messy...

Another question,will ubuntu(or may be other distros) come out with these type of softwares,and becoming open source?

Just asking,coz i really believe in the power of open source,huhu

I stopped dual booting completely. The softwares you mention will run on Virtualbox. It is virtually transparent, provided you are not low on RAM.

[jjgomera]

anybody knows some free alternatives to Chemcad, hysys or Aspen Plus, chemical engineering process simulation?

I can use chemcad with wine without problems, but i'd like to find free alternative

[Mark Bolton]

What I a looking for is a process control program to interface a PC via IO devices such as paralell port buffers and sound cards to run simple process machinery.

The sort of thing I want to do is monitor and record temperatures and switch on pumps and heaters in response to Logical flowcharts I want to implement.

My background is in electronics but I have been out of the field since machine programming on language 8086 uP. I am fairly new to linux and need to figure out where to start.

I dont really want to tinker with things and am more interested in getting the machines going and testing.

THX in anticipation

Mark

[sfabel]

Hi folks,

MATLAB was developed for UNIX before it was developed for Windows so it should run fine (and it does). I used to use Kile for LaTeX editing, now I use XEmacs - I like the features of their preview within the editor - it is almost WYSIWYM.

I also use Eclipse for all the programming efforts I undertake. Sometimes I use Octave or wxMaxima.

There apparently is a full-fledged Linux distribution aimed at Engineering Applications: CAELinux (http://www.caelinux.com/CMS/)

I haven't tried that one out, though.

Cheers,
Stephan

[rajendra]

Hi!

I'm a mechanical engineer. In my office, I use SolidWorks on Windows XP Professional. At home, I tried installing GraphiteOne on Ubuntu 7.10, but ran into problems. (I'm a newbie at Linux).

I think linux needs a good 3D solid modelling software, and I miss it sorely.

[Battalion]

Hi folks,

MATLAB was developed for UNIX before it was developed for Windows so it should run fine (and it does). I used to use Kile for LaTeX editing, now I use XEmacs - I like the features of their preview within the editor - it is almost WYSIWYM.

I also use Eclipse for all the programming efforts I undertake. Sometimes I use Octave or wxMaxima.

There apparently is a full-fledged Linux distribution aimed at Engineering Applications: CAELinux (http://www.caelinux.com/CMS/)

I haven't tried that one out, though.

Cheers,
Stephan

Hi, i'm a mechanical engineer and the two things i can't live without is MATLAB and solidworks (or solidedge). I haven't been able to find out how to install matlab on ubuntu and i'm sure there's no 3d modelling software that can do what i need. These limitations keep me from making a full conversion into linux.

Also an FEA (FEM) modelling and analysis program would be nice. In windows XP i use MSC.patran and other parts of it.

Someone shed some light on me please

[ad_267]

For installing MATLAB have a look here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MATLAB

There's also the open source Octave available as an alternative.

For 3D modelling, PTC Pro/Engineer is available for Linux.

ANSYS can be used for finite element analysis. Their website says they require SuSE or Redhat so they might not support Ubuntu officially but there shouldn't be any problem getting the software to work. http://www.ansys.com/services/ansys-requirements110.htm

If you want something open source and free for FEM have a look at Code_Aster http://www.code-aster.org/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Aster
The brochure looks good: http://www.code-aster.org/V2/spip.php?rubrique18

Code_Aster can be used in conjunction with SALOME: http://www.salome-platform.org/home/presentation/overview/

[qgfreire]

Hello,
I'm doing chemical engineering modelling and simulation. I'm trying to be M$ independent but I've a difficulty;
- Excell Solver add-in.
None of the spreadsheets (OO.. Gnu.. Gno.. )I know have something like it.
What a pity.


Good NEWS!
OOffice spreadsheet have now a solver. It works now with non-linear problems. It's not so good as M$ but it's working ;-)
My thanks to developers!!

[jjgomera]

Hello,
I'm doing chemical engineering modelling and simulation. I'm trying to be M$ independent but I've a difficulty;
- Excell Solver add-in.
None of the spreadsheets (OO.. Gnu.. Gno.. )I know have something like it.
What a pity.
How much have you looked for?

In OO. is in Tools/Solver oh, oh, oh, what a surprise:lolflag:, and work exactly than excel's solver
Although in 7.10 there are a bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/135776), so in 7.10 solver can't be used at all

[lrx]

I have used scilab for my studies and can recommend it as an alternative to matlab. Many of the commands is the same.
Still want to try python.

Tnx

[hardyn]

Hi!

I'm a mechanical engineer. In my office, I use SolidWorks on Windows XP Professional. At home, I tried installing GraphiteOne on Ubuntu 7.10, but ran into problems. (I'm a newbie at Linux).

I think linux needs a good 3D solid modelling software, and I miss it sorely.

There are a few good attempts for linux, but right now, IMO there are no usable linux based 3d (or even 2d) cad applications of the open source verity. i *think* pro-e still has a linux verison, catia has a unix version, but of course is pay-fer software.

alebre, i really think has a shot with linux, but has chosen to ignore it.

there are lots of graphic engines out there, even open source ones, but putting together a good OSS parametric cad solution would be a such an enormous task im not sure anybody would want to take it on. It would be an interesting project, but i don't think i have the mathematics background to contribute even a little.

I am currently dual booting, and i think that it is going to stay like that for some time.

[neoflight]

There are a few good attempts for linux, but right now, IMO there are no usable linux based 3d (or even 2d) cad applications of the open source verity. i *think* pro-e still has a linux verison, catia has a unix version, but of course is pay-fer software.

alebre, i really think has a shot with linux, but has chosen to ignore it.

there are lots of graphic engines out there, even open source ones, but putting together a good OSS parametric cad solution would be a such an enormous task im not sure anybody would want to take it on. It would be an interesting project, but i don't think i have the mathematics background to contribute even a little.

I am currently dual booting, and i think that it is going to stay like that for some time.

i agree...i have to switch back and forth to access my other OS to get the 3D application. There were several projects a couple of years ago...they all seem stagnant now...

[qgfreire]

How much have you looked for?

In OO. is in Tools/Solver oh, oh, oh, what a surprise:lolflag:, and work exactly than excel's solver
Although in 7.10 there are a bug (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/135776), so in 7.10 solver can't be used at all

Hello, thank you. I noticed that in my last actualization of OO. So I even have made a new comment to my last post.
Thank you again.

[parhyang]

You're looking for FEM just like me, may i litle share something i have succesfully installed FTOOL (http://www.tecgraf.puc-rio.br/ftool/ftooleng.html) in HH8.04 it's great for 2d frame structural analysis. I make a bit of try too with 3d FEM CalculiX (www.calculix.de), just moving the executable file to /usr/local/bin/ and it' will be working properly.

[Michael Sams]

Hi,

i am using Ubuntu 8.04 and I want to use ANSYS v11 - but it do not wanna work! :confused:

After the installation and correct set-up of the license manager the launcher starts normally, but if I try to run any application of ANSYS Classic I get this error message:


*** FATAL ***
Invalid language value= English
(specified language directory does not exist)

*** NOTE ***
USAGE: ansys.e110 [-d device name] [-j job name] [-m scratch memory(mb)]
[-f [off|nogrow]] [-b list|nolist]
[-s read|noread] [-g] [-db database(mb)]
[-p product] [-l language]
[-dtm] [-np #] [-cci cciopt]
[-vta] [-dvt] [-dxs]
[-ser port] [-mpi native|mpich|mpich_sh|hpmpi|msmpi|sgimpt|alt]
[-dir working_directory] [-cli IP address]


-if I want to start Workbench, the whole system freezes!

I appreciate every suggestion!!! :KS

Best Regards
Michael

[Frenske]

You better contact Ansys or look in their forums about that! I have used it (long time ago) on Linux without any problems.