Opennovation Ubuntu Repository

This little archive contains "backports" of certain engineering packages such as OpenCASCADE, libMesh, deal.II, PETSc, Babel and Elmer for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hardy Heron" and 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope". There is also a repository for Debian here.

To use the repository (in an already functioning Ubuntu system), first click to download and save the Opennovation signing key, which is the same as Opennovation Principal Adam Powell's key. (If you wish, you can verify this key by comparing it to Powell's key the Debian keyring, or check its verification fingerprint which is all over the internet.)

Then run Synaptic from the System menu -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Open the Repositories dialog from the Settings menu, and do the following:

After closing the Repositories dialog and clicking Reload, you should now have Synaptic access to the packages for OpenCASCADE, libMesh version 0.6.2, and their dependencies. To download the packages directly, open the package pool.

In the near future, the "contrib" section, which includes free software with non-free dependencies, will have a new package which will download, compile and install ATAT. That is also where FreeCAD and Salomé will go.

For those new to Ubuntu...

Ubuntu Linux from Canonical Software provides a complete operating system on a CD, which you can download, purchase, or have them ship to you for free. Software which does not fit on the CD is available for download from the Internet via Synaptic and other package managers.

Using Ubuntu: You do not need to install the operating system in order to use it: as a "live CD" distribution, you can boot from the CD and run entirely in your computer's memory. This is true also for package downloads; when running as a live CD, new packages install into a virtual file system in memory. If you choose to install it on your hard drive, you can either partition the drive and install it on a partition, or use the "WUBI" installer which puts the entire operating system in a single file in an existing Windows NTFS partition.

Ubuntu Releases: Ubuntu provides new operating system releases every six months, with the version number corresponding to the month and year of release. For example, version 8.04 LTS was released in April 2008, and the next version 8.10 is due out in October 2008. One in four releases, including the 8.04 release, is designated "Long-Term Service" (LTS), indicating that Canonical Software will provide security and new hardware updates for three years after the release date. Canonical plans to make the next LTS release in April 2010.

Ubuntu and Debian: Ubuntu is based on the Debian GNU/Linux operating system maintained by over one thousand volunteer maintainers around the world, including Adam Powell. Debian is known for its advanced software package management, system stability, and a vast archive with about 23,000 software packages. Debian provides a continually evolving "unstable" base of packages, with a quality control procedure which allows packages without significant bugs into "testing", and every 2-3 years brings these together in a "stable" release. Ubuntu adds live CD technology and release polish in its six-month cycle, and contributes all system changes back upstream to Debian.


All of the content and formatting on this page is Copyright 2008 Opennovation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.


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