Salome Meca 2024.1 on WSL2 ready to use distribution

cskn

I do not have a dedicated Linux machine. Will this work on an Ubuntu desktop installed in a PC which I access while booting? If yes, any specific steps to be followed?

cskn

cskn
Today I got a desktop pc to test the Linux version of Salome_Meca. I downloaded the 9 Jan 2025 version from Code_aster.org site and installed it. Geometry and Mesh modules were working as expected. However, though the AsterStudy module was launched as the Stable Version, it was never loading. Ignoring this warning, I tried to set up a study using the assistant and it crashed while selecting the output file save location.
Has anyone did successful installation and run of the latest singularity version. Linux distribution is Ubuntu-22.04.
**Perplexity says:
Possible Causes:-
AsterStudy’s Detection Mechanism:
AsterStudy may be looking for Code_Aster in specific directories or expecting a certain configuration, and may not recognize /usr/local/bin/as_run as valid.
Container Environment:
The environment inside the container may not be set up in a way that AsterStudy expects, or some required environment variables or configuration files are missing.
Permissions or Path Issues:
AsterStudy may not have access to the necessary directories or may not be able to execute as_run due to permissions.
Configuration Errors:
The configuration for the localhost server may be missing or incorrect.

guilh_pq

Good morning, everyone!

I am getting an error when I try to open the CodeAster postprocessor or Paraview on an old case study that I reopen. I have seen in the forum that other people with the same problem, but I do not know if there is any fix available. Below you can see the errors that I get on the console before the crash.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

P.D. Thank you very much for all the work done on the windows installation version.

k_zurawski

Could you download Salome 9.14 standalone for Windows and check if the same thing happens? I had a lot of SIGSEGV errors on S_M 2024 WSL.

guilh_pq

k_zurawski

The problem I showed earlier occurred when I attempted to use the Codeaster postprocessor, as well as when I tried to activate the Paraview module in the WSL version. However, if I open a new Salome study and only import the previous results (.med file) into Paraview (without using any other modules), it works, even in the WSL version. I do not know if there is a solution to keep using the same Salome study, whether it is with the CodeAster postprocessor (preferred) or the Paraview module. If you still need me to try it with Salome 9.14 Standalone, please tell me.

k_zurawski

guilh_pq
I don't need you to do anything. Sadly, I can't help with AsterStudy post processing and Paravis. I briefly tested them while this WSL package was shared. I had stability issues (crashes) and SIGSEGV errors. I'm using Salome Platform v9.14 and Paraview 6.0. Both standalone, Windows versions. I'm running studies manually in terminal using this WSL port of Salome_Meca.

k_zurawski

Hi. I've been using the distro since January. Now the "VM" is reaching 250GB on my drive. Is there a way to decrease the size to what it was before?

If not, is there a way to have only Code_Aster solver instead of all it comes with in container?

basile-simvia

Hi @k_zurawski

If you're using WSL (which seems likely if you're referring to a “VM”), it's common for the virtual disk to grow over time but not shrink automatically. Fortunately, you can recover a lot of space by compacting the WSL disk manually. Here's how:

First, shut down WSL completely:

  wsl --shutdown

Then open a Windows terminal (PowerShell or CMD) as administrator and run:

  diskpart

Inside diskpart, run:

  select vdisk file="C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Local\Packages\<your WSL distro>\LocalState\ext4.vhdx"
  attach vdisk readonly
  compact vdisk
  detach vdisk
  exit

(Be sure to adjust the path to match your actual WSL distribution.)

This operation can free up several GBs by trimming unused space.

Concerning a minimal code_aster only solution.

At Simvia, we're currently preparing a collection of minimal Docker images for code_aster, including only code_aster without any extra, i.e. without salome.
These should be published next week — if I work hard enough 😄.

k_zurawski

basile-simvia
Sorry for not answering sooner, I was on a sort of "holiday".
Thank you, I'll definitely try to decrease the size of my wsl instance of Salome-Meca. Could you tell me where can I find the minimal docker container of code_aster?

Again, thank you.

k_zurawski

basile-simvia I managed to retrieve 200 of 250GB. Thank you.

Apollo

Bonjour tous le monde, hello;

I am new to Salome, and got confused with the Salome vs. Salome-Meca designation or naming scheme..
I did install Salome 9.14 on my Windows 11 PC and couldn't find the Code-Aster icon in the GUI to experiment with thermal simulation, so I gave up for a while, until I decided, month later, I would look deeper into it,
The distinction between Salome and Salome-Meca isn't explicitly implicit so it leads to confusion, especially when it seems advertising the Code-Aster is part of Salome. (I am confused on this one). This needs particular attention on this one.
Anyway, today I decided to explore the WSL install process which I have some marginal experience (having wsl 2 applications installed already).
I have WSL 2 setup on my PC, and was able to install Salome-Meca V2024.1.0.
From this point on, I have been following the "Heat Case Transient Thermal Simulation" from Cyprien Rusu on
https://www.youtube.com/@Feaforall/playlists
Some of my comments bellow:
Using Youtube to support tutorials is great, but not ideal when it comes to following step by step processes.
As such, I am downloading the tutorial video and use some open source video editer such as Blender to precisely replay, follow and reproduce the steps required to perform thermal analysis steps from the tutorial video.
I was able to perform most of the steps in the tutorial successfuly up to the "Analysis" part which failed on me.

Here are my comments so far:
Prior to running the WSL version, I was able to install the latest Windows Salome version, being 9.14.0 and tried to follow Cyprien's tutorial up the the part where I needed to use Code-Aster. The same applies to accessing Homard. Overall, its was more or less a pointless exercise.

Now, running Salome-Meca (I had to spend some significant time getting the nuance about it) on WSL, I am faced with the following issues:

Salome-Meca is a magnitude slower in rendering 3D display as well as user GUI interaction.
Trying to follow the tutorial from Cyprien, Salome-Meca display inconsistent menu and drop down list.
I have Salome-Meca GUI set to use (by default) English, while the drop down list appear in French. This makes following step by step instruction from tutorial a bit confusing. However, the overlay mouse cursor hint does provide the original French naming function in parenthesis. So having a frame by frame view of the tutorial video is quite helpful.

I haven't been able to successfuly step through the entire tutorial, but I will try to do so as I have a few project in needs of thermal analysis, so I will most likely keep at it.

Some of the questions I have are as follow:
Can I use Salome (non Meca) 9.14.0 with Code-Aster? If it is possible, knowing I have better performance with Salome 9.14.0 on my Windows 11 PC (work station), what would be the procedure to follow to make use of them?

PS. I wanted to add, that I have a three 4K monitor system, and I found popup dialogs would show up on one of my other monitors (different form where Salome-Meca is being displayed) which made me believe at first the application crashed or remained frozen as I wasn't able to interract with it, such as requesting performing a delete action on a object within the project.

basile-simvia

Apollo

Salome vs. Salome-Meca vs. Code_Aster

Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback – many new users face the same confusion, so you're not alone!

Salome

Salome is a GUI platform with pre/post-processing tools like:

GEOM / SHAPER for geometry
SMESH for meshing
PARAVIS for visualization

code_aster

Code_Aster is a finite element solver (no GUI). It runs simulations based on .comm files written in a Python-based syntax.

Salome-Meca

Salome-Meca = Salome + the AsterStudy module, which provides a GUI for writing .comm files and running Code_Aster directly from the interface.

Using Salome (without Salome-Meca) with Code_Aster

Yes, it’s possible!

Use Salome to generate a mesh.
Right-click the mesh → Export MED.
Write a .comm file manually or based on an example.
Create an .export file defining the input/output files.
Run the simulation with:

run_aster my_case.export

k_zurawski

Apollo
There are few people, including me, on the forum which use only Salome standalone and Code_Aster standalone also. If you have any troubles, address me as well, I'll try to help you out.

basile-simvia

Hello k_zurawski

code_aster docker images are available here

Apollo

k_zurawski
Hi Krzysztof,

I have been evaluating the various Salome-meca distribution for Windows, I have tried installing Salome-meca using VirtualBox on Windows with Ubuntu VM but I couldn't make it run in HW mode as I can't share my GPU (no passthrough). I have tried running a fresh install on Ubuntu (non VM) without success due to dependency issues (documentation on Code-Aster is outdated).
So far, I have been able to successfully run thermal analysis with Salome-meca Windows version 2024.1.
I have Salome-meca 9.12 installed under WSL2 and this one is not as stable as the Windows version.
Salome-meca under WSL2 crashes when opening the result file for Post-processing. However, as per previous post, I am able to load the result .rmed file from a clean instance of Salome-meca.
When I try to rotate the view in ParaVis, the rendering is somewhat choppy and I can see my CPU is doing most off the leg work using about 10-11 threads. However I do not see drastic use on the GPU side.
This seems to indicate ParaVis doesn't make use of GPU acceleration.
Maybe this explains it:

===============================================================================
    __         _
   / _\  __ _ | |  ___   _ __ ___    ___    /\/\    ___   ___  __ _
   \ \  / _` || | / _ \ | '_ ` _ \  / _ \  /    \  / _ \ / __|/ _` |
   _\ \| (_| || || (_) || | | | | ||  __/ / /\/\ \|  __/| (__| (_| |
   \__/ \__,_||_| \___/ |_| |_| |_| \___| \/    \/ \___| \___|\__,_|
                               EDF R&D / ERMES           V2024.1.0
===============================================================================
Vendor: Mesa/X.org (0xffffffff)
[ INFO    ] Graphics are properly configured...
[         ]     Display:0
[         ]      Vendor: Mesa/X.org (0xffffffff)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ParseXmlFiles Warning, two resources with the same name were found, taking the first declaration : localhost

Though, I am running on a RTX2080.

During certain tasks, related to Mesh creation/assignment, my system starts experiencing slowdown and lack of responsiveness.
I am in the process of building a more capable workstation. It is going to be a few weeks before I get all the parts in.

I have read that Salome-meca on WSL2 doesn't have support for Multi Core/Threads (MPI) for solving with Code-Aster.
Is there a way to enable/implement this option?

k_zurawski

basile-simvia
Thank you.
Why Docker, if I may ask?

k_zurawski

I just spent like an hour trying to run docker desktop with wsl2 with your stable image. I have not succeeded. I'm tired of jumping between versions, systems, images, docers, singularities.
I give up.

basile-simvia

k_zurawski

If you want to avoid Docker Desktop, just install Docker inside WSL as if it was a normal Linux. Use the official Docker repo to get the latest version:

sudo apt remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc

# Setup repo
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce 

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Once that’s done, just follow the instructions on the DockerHub page of simvia/code_aster.

k_zurawski

Apollo, what may I only advise is using Salome standalone for Windows, v9.14 currently, preparing input decks in Notepad++ or similar and running studies by hand in terminal using the above distribution under WSL. This was mentioned above by Basile-Simvia.
I've been working this way for a while now. There are still some issues with vtkMEDreader that Salome team will hopefully address in nearest future (OR NOT). That's all there is, and it is what it is...

My first attempt to Code_Aster was in 2010. I went through the same route as you have. VMs, WSL, dual boot, standalone PC with different Linux distros. The best and most stable release was Salome-Meca 2020. This was the last one before they introduced containerized version. I ran it on Ubuntu 18.04LTS.

Sad thing is, we have the best solver available for free, but unstable, buggy and not easy to use software for pre/post. I was willing to pay for some commercial pre/post, but there's nothing there capable to interact with Code_Aster. Salome team is either not interested in solving the issues we experience with the pre/post or are tight on the budget.

I have read that Salome-meca on WSL2 doesn't have support for Multi Core/Threads (MPI) for solving with Code-Aster.
Is there a way to enable/implement this option?

I don't know, I just use the software.

k_zurawski

k_zurawski maybe try running only Code_Aster in VM or on a separate machine. pre/post you may do under Windows.

k_zurawski

basile-simvia Thank you. I'll check it. Since you are developing the software, please always keep in mind, that we want to focus on simulation only and the less hassle is with the software, the better for us.

...and I don't mind if someone treats me as an idiot when it comes to programming 😉 Just not my cup of tea.

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