The day has finally arrived! The Official Release of FDS and Smokeview is upon us.
The new website is back at the old and familiar URL of http://fire.nist.gov/fds so update all your bookmarks. Take a look around the new site as there are some new features and added content to make the website and the FDS-SMV applications even easier to use than before. So go there today and get your self a fresh copy of FDS and Smokeview, hot off the compilers.
Note for windows users... You must uninstall the previous RC versions through 'add/remove programs' to get rid of all the stuff in the start menus, etc. Then run the new installer.
I want to give a big Thank You to all the Release Candidate Testers who helped us through the long and sometimes painful testing phase, you may notice your names in the User Guide as a thank you and acknowledgment of your contributions. If you helped us during testing and do not see your name in there, then please email myself or Kevin and let us know we will add it to the next revision of the manual.
This Major Release of FDS and Smokeview does not close the door on the collaboration or the development process. We intend for FDS and Smokeview to be living applications that will continue to evolve through all of our work and community feedback. So, please keep the Discussion Group alive and report bugs and problems you run across to the Issue Tracker.
Keep your eye out for the email from Kevin announcing the official release and we hope that the wait for FDS and Smokeview Version 5 will be worth it.
Best Regards,
Bryan Klein
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Latest news for FDS-SMV development...
It has been too long since my last post. For that I apologize, as we have been very busy behind the scenes getting everything ready for the Official release of FDS and Smokeview version 5.
This month has been very productive and we have finally conquered the last big bugs in the RC releases. What does this mean to you? Well, in short, it means that we are now putting the finishing touches on the FDS_5 package before official release. Yes, that's right... the next release will be the official one! We are probably more excited than you are. :^)
In the meantime, if there are things you would like to see added to the user's guide, or example's of certain functionality added to the Verification Suite, please submit the request to the Issue Tracker.
One last thing... The Official FDS-SMV website will be moving to a .gov top level domain name soon. The fds-smv.net domain will still be used for the Google Code site, the Discussion Group and the Weblog. But the website will not be www.fds-smv.net much longer. Hopefully this is the last change to the website URLs. For the curious, it is because I maintain the site in an official capacity and is part of our mission and therefore must be .gov. It will look a little different, yet familiar, as I am taking this as an opportunity to add in a few special features.
Best Regards,
Bryan Klein
This month has been very productive and we have finally conquered the last big bugs in the RC releases. What does this mean to you? Well, in short, it means that we are now putting the finishing touches on the FDS_5 package before official release. Yes, that's right... the next release will be the official one! We are probably more excited than you are. :^)
In the meantime, if there are things you would like to see added to the user's guide, or example's of certain functionality added to the Verification Suite, please submit the request to the Issue Tracker.
One last thing... The Official FDS-SMV website will be moving to a .gov top level domain name soon. The fds-smv.net domain will still be used for the Google Code site, the Discussion Group and the Weblog. But the website will not be www.fds-smv.net much longer. Hopefully this is the last change to the website URLs. For the curious, it is because I maintain the site in an official capacity and is part of our mission and therefore must be .gov. It will look a little different, yet familiar, as I am taking this as an opportunity to add in a few special features.
Best Regards,
Bryan Klein
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
FDS-SMV Website Statistics...
As you can see from the new International Resources page on the website, there is a lot of interest around the world in FDS and Smokeview. I am happy to see that people are willing to help each other make FDS and Smokeview more accessible to others.
But, just how much international interest is there you ask...?
Well, I have been using Google Analytics to track website activity and have just posted a nice PDF summary of the visitors from 77+ Countries visiting the website. The report covers the time from April 26th, 2007 (when I enabled the tracking), until yesterday July 2rd, 2007.
Here is the link to the PDF report: http://www.fds-smv.net/VisitorsByCountry.pdf
It is interesting to see where visitors are coming from, how long they stay, what pages they are spending the most time on, etc. I will be using some of this information to further enhance the quality and quantity of information on the site.
As a side note, you will notice a fairly high bounce rate. This is basically when someone leaves the site from the same page they started on. On the FDS-SMV website. this is by design. We are trying to make pages that are on topic and complete so that a visitor can get to any information they need on the page they visit (typically the homepage) and can move on from the site in less than 2 clicks. My goal is to have a visitor come to the site, find what they need quickly and then go get some real work done. From these initial statistics, it seems that my plan might be working.
Finally, I want to take a second to recognize all our our international visitors, and thank you for being a part of the FDS-SMV community, your presence and support is welcome.
-Bryan
But, just how much international interest is there you ask...?
Well, I have been using Google Analytics to track website activity and have just posted a nice PDF summary of the visitors from 77+ Countries visiting the website. The report covers the time from April 26th, 2007 (when I enabled the tracking), until yesterday July 2rd, 2007.
Here is the link to the PDF report: http://www.fds-smv.net/VisitorsByCountry.pdf
It is interesting to see where visitors are coming from, how long they stay, what pages they are spending the most time on, etc. I will be using some of this information to further enhance the quality and quantity of information on the site.
As a side note, you will notice a fairly high bounce rate. This is basically when someone leaves the site from the same page they started on. On the FDS-SMV website. this is by design. We are trying to make pages that are on topic and complete so that a visitor can get to any information they need on the page they visit (typically the homepage) and can move on from the site in less than 2 clicks. My goal is to have a visitor come to the site, find what they need quickly and then go get some real work done. From these initial statistics, it seems that my plan might be working.
Finally, I want to take a second to recognize all our our international visitors, and thank you for being a part of the FDS-SMV community, your presence and support is welcome.
-Bryan
New International Resources Page on FDS_SMV Website.
A few weeks ago, I made a call out to the FDS-SMV user community for translators and the response has been impressive and very much appreciated.
There is now a new page on the FDS-SMV website with links to email addresses and websites/documents that these generous people have provided. There is a link under User Support on the Homepage and here is the direct link.
See: http://www.fds-smv.net/internationalresources
If you would like your name added to the page, to assist with helping users in a language you are fluent in, please email me your name, email address and if you have any documents or web sites specific to FDS-SMV in that language, include them as well.
Thank you again to all of you who generously offered your time and support.
-Bryan
There is now a new page on the FDS-SMV website with links to email addresses and websites/documents that these generous people have provided. There is a link under User Support on the Homepage and here is the direct link.
See: http://www.fds-smv.net/internationalresources
If you would like your name added to the page, to assist with helping users in a language you are fluent in, please email me your name, email address and if you have any documents or web sites specific to FDS-SMV in that language, include them as well.
Thank you again to all of you who generously offered your time and support.
-Bryan
Monday, July 2, 2007
PPC XLF compiler now working for OS X 10.4!
Well, I finally got it to work!!! In hindsight, is was not hard at all. Basically a small change in the xlf.cfg file and an updated environment variable. Not as difficult as some websites would like you to believe. :)
The good news is that there are some nice improvements in performance on the G5 platform.
But, as you can see, my Intel MacBook Pro laptop is significantly faster than both the Absoft and IBM compiled versions of FDS5_RC6 on the Dual G5.
I ran the room_fire.fds Verification case long enough to develop a trend then stopped it.
I don't expect different results if I run the case to completion.
== G5 ABSOFT Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 17:14:45
----------------------------------------------
The good news is that there are some nice improvements in performance on the G5 platform.
But, as you can see, my Intel MacBook Pro laptop is significantly faster than both the Absoft and IBM compiled versions of FDS5_RC6 on the Dual G5.
I ran the room_fire.fds Verification case long enough to develop a trend then stopped it.
I don't expect different results if I run the case to completion.
== G5 ABSOFT Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 17:14:45
----------------------------------------------
CPU/step: 1.154 s, Total CPU: 1.88 min
Time step: 0.03403 s, Total time: 3.91 s
Max CFL number: 0.85E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.16E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 50
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.214 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.622 kW
== G5 XLF Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 16:57:27
----------------------------------------------
CPU/step: 0.629 s, Total CPU: 1.02 min
Time step: 0.03394 s, Total time: 3.91 s
Max CFL number: 0.85E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.15E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 52
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.173 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.611 kW
== Intel MacBook Pro Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 16:33:51
----------------------------------------------
CPU/step: 0.303 s, Total CPU: 29.13 s
Time step: 0.03375 s, Total time: 3.88 s
Max CFL number: 0.84E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.14E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 47
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.238 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.631 kW
So far it looks like the XLF compiled version of RC6 is almost twice as fast as the Absoft version. But, the Intel compiler on the Intel Mac spanks them both with twice the speed of the XLF version and almost four times the speed of the Absoft version.
At least this confirms that I need to switch to XLF for G5 builds and it also means that Glenn should be able to build G4/G5 versions of Smokeview again. :)
-Bryan
Time step: 0.03403 s, Total time: 3.91 s
Max CFL number: 0.85E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.16E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 50
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.214 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.622 kW
== G5 XLF Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 16:57:27
------------------------------
CPU/step: 0.629 s, Total CPU: 1.02 min
Time step: 0.03394 s, Total time: 3.91 s
Max CFL number: 0.85E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.15E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 52
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.173 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.611 kW
== Intel MacBook Pro Results at Iteration 100 ==
Time Step 100 July 2, 2007 16:33:51
------------------------------
CPU/step: 0.303 s, Total CPU: 29.13 s
Time step: 0.03375 s, Total time: 3.88 s
Max CFL number: 0.84E+00 at ( 26, 52, 12)
Max divergence: 0.25E+01 at ( 26, 52, 8)
Min divergence: -0.14E+01 at ( 26, 52, 12)
No. of Lagrangian Particles: 47
Total Heat Release Rate: 10.238 kW
Radiation Loss to Boundaries: 3.631 kW
So far it looks like the XLF compiled version of RC6 is almost twice as fast as the Absoft version. But, the Intel compiler on the Intel Mac spanks them both with twice the speed of the XLF version and almost four times the speed of the Absoft version.
At least this confirms that I need to switch to XLF for G5 builds and it also means that Glenn should be able to build G4/G5 versions of Smokeview again. :)
-Bryan
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