GeekoCFD is coming…

GeekoCFD is a live distribution based on openSUSE 11.3 – 64 bit, whose purpose is to provide easy and immediate access to open-source scientific tools, in particular for computational fluid dynamics.

The live distribution was created with SUSE Studio, whose team was very helpful in the process of solving some small problems during the setup. Almost all the packages provided in the images were prepared by openSUSE developers and community volunteers, to whom most of the merit should go.

The features of the distribution are the following:

• System
  • OpenSUSE 11.3 – 64 bit
  • Kernel 2.6.34
  • gcc 4.5.0
  • KDE 4.4.4
• Scientific software
  • cantor
  • enGrid 1.2.0
  • gmsh 2.4.2
  • grace
  • gsl
  • wxMaxima and Maxima
  • Octave with an almost complete selection of octave-forge packages
  • OpenFOAM^(r) 1.7.x
  • Paraview 3.8.0
  • pyFoam
  • QtOctave
  • R
• Development tools
  • DDD
  • Eclipse Helios with CDT
  • Emacs
  • git
  • kate
  • vim
• Other software
  • Blender
  • Firefox 3.6
  • Gimp
  • ImageMagick
  • OpenOffice (go-oo edition)

Three formats are available:

• Installable Live DVD (.iso)
  • This format allows the system to be tested and eventually installed on physical hardware or inside a virtual machine. The installation procedure is identical to the standard procedure used in openSUSE live images. Instructions on how to prepare a live DVD can be found here.
  • Download size: 1.9GB
• USB/Hard Drive image
  • This format allows permanent images (USB/hard drive) to be created. The procedure to store the image on a USB pendrive, in order to create a booting system is illustrated here.
  • Download size: 2.2GB (compressed image in tar.gz)
  • Expanded size: 10.9GB + 1GB for swap partition
  • The image will expand during the first boot to occupy all the available space on the target disk. It is recommended to use a 16GB pendrive or a larger external hard drive to be able to safely store changes made to the system and data.
• VMware / VirtualBox / KVM (.vmdk) image
  • This format is ideal to be used in virtual environments. Instructions on how to proceed to use this format on various guest operating systems can be found here.
  • Download size: 2.2 GB (Virtual disk size: 16GB – 1GB Virtual RAM)

It is possible to build the same image so that it can be used in a XEN virtual machine, if this is of interest to some user. Please, let me know. I did not build it to save storage

How to download the images?

At the moment the images are hosted on SUSE Studio Gallery and can be downloaded only by registered users of SUSE Studio, since they are still under testing.

What are user name and password?

There are two users pre-configured in the images:

• geeko – password: geekoPassword
• root – password: rootPassword

Note: For security reasons, if you create a permanent image, it is strongly recommended to change both these password.

To change the password of the user “geeko”, simply open a terminal, type “passwd” and insert your new password. To change “root”‘s password, open a terminal, type “su”, insert root’s password, then type “passwd” and insert the new password for root’s account. Finally type “exit” to release the administrative rights.

Why is it called GeekoCFD?

Of course the name is inspired by Geeko, the omnipresent openSUSE chameleon, who powers the distribution and made it easy to build these images together with his friend Dister, SUSE Studio robot. 😉

Disclaimer

Images are provided “as is”, without any form of support, and without any warranty of suitability to any purpose. Users are subject to the license of each package contained in the distribution, which is implicitly accepted when using the images. For further information, please refer to the openSUSE license and to the license of each of the packages included in the distribution.

However, even if no support is due, if you find the images useful, and you encounter a problem, any feedback is appreciated.

All trademarks belong to their respective owners. This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, the producer of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM®  and OpenCFD®  trade marks.