Posted by: Peter Willendrup in software, simulation, Scandinavia, open source, neutron, Monte Carlo, McStas, Internet, denmark, computer on
Jul 19, 2010
The McStas developer team is happy to report that the 1.12b release of our software is finally out.
You can get the installer packages from our download page
McStas 1.12b is mostly a bugfix release, but some new components and example instruments have been included. McStas 1.12b will be the VERY last release in the 1.x series.
Part of the reason for McStas 1.12b and its late arrival is our delay in releasing the next major version, McStas 2.0.
McStas 2.0 will be released late 2010 / early 2011 and will introduce new features that could break ceartain backward compatibility, hence we move from the 1.x series. We are also considering a replacement of the GUI and plotting tools for McStas 2.0.
For a complete list of changes in McStas 1.12b, see our CHANGES document.
The new relase was tested on these platforms:
- Mac OS 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard (but should work on 10.4 and 10.3 also). Both 32 and 64 bit, Intel and PPC systems are supported.
- Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala and 10.04 Lucid Lynx, 32 and 64 bit .deb's are provided. Note: Do not expect these debs to work on earlier releases or other distributions, e.g. Debian
- Windows XP, Vista and 7, 32 and 64 bit. We only provide 32bit executables, but they are tested to run OK on 64 bit
- On other systems, feel free to try our source distributions
The McStas and VITESS teams are happy to announce the joint
*** McStas / VITESS user training workshop 2010 ***
To take place at Backafallsbyn in the Swedish island of Ven, May 17th-21st.
The workshop is a school in order to train technical staff and instrument scientists in using Monte-Carlo code to design better neutron devices and instruments. The programme is split into sessions dedicated to different parts (optics, sample environment, detectors, ...). If you work in one of these areas, and feel like simulating it, then this school is for you, especially if you've never done so before.
Neutron scattering does not only enable important research to be carried out, which helps us to understand materials and life a bit more, but also brings people to nice countries. Being part of the ESS Scandinavia team, I'm based at ILL in Grenoble, the capital of the French Alps. I'm preparing for the future, working with world-class leading scientists from all over Europe in the fields of materials science and neutron instrumentation.
Today was an "Analyzing data day" at ILL. Numbercrunching you might say. Digging too much into data made my senses continue analysing even on my way home to our place in the outskirts of Grenoble. I, as always, had first to face the stochastic motions - the origin of quasielastic scattering for a neutron freak - in French traffic. By this I mean a more or less "amorphous" behaviour in car-driving here, where red lights and parking spots appear to serve only as guides for strangers like me. However, the opposite (the ordered structure) exists as well - here in France you need to fill in loads of papers and they may even ask you about your shoe size if you, for example, are about to buy a radio. These are just some of my observations of everyday life in France - and I like to make the comparison to Sweden, where you probably can buy a castle without signing a single paper and without telling the seller who you are.
Passing by the grocery store on my way home, I purchased the essentials for this weekend's activity, walking. My skis were stolen a few weeks ago, but the scenery is nevertheless magnificent on foot! So what did I buy? - Baguettes, cheese, wine and yoghurt of course!!! I'm still amazed about the thousands of different kinds of yoghurt you find here!. But then again a foreigner in Sweden would marvel at the hundreds of different kinds of milk we seem to need to survive. Does anyone know what "långfil" is for example...
