FDS_5.1.0 and SMV_5.0.7 are now available.

First Minor Update for FDS has been made available.
Please update to the latest versions of FDS and Smokeview and report any problems that you encounter. Keep an eye out for the "Official" announcement tomorrow 01/09/08.

-Bryan

FDS-SMV Website Update...

I have added links on the Sidebar and on the Documentation page to the listing of FDS-SMV Wiki pages. Take a look at the updated Documentation page for a little note on the purpose of the Wiki pages. These have been available on the project site for some time, but now it will be a little easier for new and existing users to find them.

Also, we are in the process of building another bundle for FDS and Smokeview. This will be the first bundle release since FDS_5.0.0. More news on that soon... This is also a good time to take a look at any outstanding Issue Tracker posts you may have open and see if they have been resolved to your satisfaction.

-Bryan

fds_5.0.2 Released for All Operating Systems.

I finally had a chance to catch up with the FDS tags and builds for OS X today. So, now there is fds_5.0.2 available for all supported platforms. For those of you who build FDS for yourself, I have added tags, 'fds_5.0.1_m' and 'fds_5.0.2_m' in the repository. The 'm' at the end of the tag name stands for Maintenance Release. For reference fds_5.0.1 is based on repository revision 836 and fds_5.0.2 is based on revision 977. You can update to those revisions, or else switch to the tags I have created, either way you get the same thing. See the FDS Release Notes Wiki for information on the changes between each release.

Enjoy,
-Bryan

FDS_5.0.0-SMV_5.0.1 is Released!!!

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

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

New FDS-SMV Release, RC6

Fresh from the compilers... FDS and Smokeview 5 RC6!

http://www.fds-smv.net/downloads

Come and get'em while they last...
-Bryan

FDS_5_RC5 and SMV_5_RC4 Released today...

Hello everyone!

The latest release candidates for FDS and Smokeview are now available.
Please go to the Download page on http://www.fds-smv.net for more information.
You can also go to: http://download.fds-smv.net to find the download for your system.

There have been some changes to the Pyrolysis Model input parameters, so check the User Guide Chapter 8 on Boundary Conditions for more detail on the new parameters. Especially information on Reference Temperature, Ignition Temperature and Boiling Temperature.

Please keep in mind that we need your feedback on if the User Guide makes sense, or if it requires more clarification in certain areas. We have been trying to take all of your suggestions and work them into the guides somewhere.

If you have outstanding support issues please rerun your cases with the new version. We found some good bugs in RC4 that should address many of the problems people have noted.

Thank you for your continued support during this time of testing and review.

Enjoy,
-Bryan

FDS_5_RC4 and SMV_5_RC3 are ready for Download...

Hello Everyone!

I am happy to announce that the new release candidate (RC4) of FDS and Smokeview (RC3) are bundled up and ready for download. (I see that around 40 people found them already!)

Please make sure that once you have RC4 that you rerun your cases. If you had issue reports for RC3, please make sure that RC4 fixed them and report the result to the tracker or group where you reported the problem.

There will be a mass mail later this morning, informing everyone on the mailing list of the new release. But I wanted to give the readers of the FDS-SMV Weblog and via the blog, the readers of the Discussion Group a head start on the Downloads.

To download the latest version from the Google Code, Project Host go to: http://download.fds-smv.net

Or, go to the Download Options page on the http://www.fds-smv.net homepage.

Thank you for your continued support of FDS and Smokeview!
One step closer to FDS_5 Official Release,
-Bryan

PS. Keep an eye out for the mass mail later today.

Release Candidate 3 Beta and a New Web Site...

Hello everyone, Bryan Klein here...

I am filling in for Kevin today as he is off having fun giving a talk today to IAAI in Canada... Lucky.

We have been receiving some great feedback from those of you who have been testing the new releases.
I hope that you all keep it up on this new release RC3, and those of you who are not testing yet, please take this opportunity to give it a try.

We have been listening to your feedback about the Sourceforge websites and have decided to make a major shift from SourceForge to Google Services.
This move was to address many of the comments stating that although many of the features of the SourceForge site were great, the actual navigation and usability was lacking. The demand was for more simple and easy to use site, without loosing any of the nice features that SourceForge offered the community.
I think we were able to accommodate these requests.

Introducing the new FDS and Smokeview Website...

http://www.fds-smv.net

This URL is all I will give you, as I hope that you will go to the site and see for yourself how easy it is to navigate and find what you are looking for.

This new site now integrates the following features:
Direct Download links,
Discussion Group,
Support Issue tracker (easier to use and more flexible),
Community Event Calendar,
Weblog / Journal,
Subversion (SVN) repository,
and more...

The site is new and still under construction, but most of the most important stuff should be there.
Remember, this testing phase is more than just testing FDS and Smokeview...
Feel free to comment on the site, what you would like to see there, what is unnecessary, etc.

Ok, one more link...
To those of you who want to build from source nightly or whenever you feel like it, Jason Floyd made a short How-To page for accessing the SVN repository and synchronizing it with a local folder on your machine. Take a look and tell us what you think in the discussion group.
http://code.google.com/p/fds-smv/wiki/AccessingSubversionRepository

I will leave you with that, and again, get a free copy of FDS and Smokeview while they last...

Best Regards,
Bryan Klein
bryan.klein@nist.gov

National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 8663
Gaithersburg MD 20899
Phone: 301 975 5171
Fax: 301 975 4052