[nmag-announce] update of 0.1 beta release (5531)
Hans Fangohr
we have released an update of nmag 0.1 beta (5531) at
http://nmag.soton.ac.uk.
Bug fixes/Improvements/New Features
-----------------------------------
* The current release, distribution mode, svn release number and
location of the nmag-python libraries are provided (to stdout and
logfile) when a simulation object is created.
* Re-designed and implemented calculation of the Jacobi matrix: The
new approach
- slightly more computation time is spent during the main simulation
whenever the Jacobian needs to be re-computed
- the setup phase takes (notably) less time.
- simulations with the new approach need about 30% less memory
* Matrix setup is now parallised.
* Documented the use of MPI in the manual to carry out parallel runs.
* Bugfix: Code now working with MPICH2.
* Bugfix: The compilation from source works (again) for Mac OS X.
* Switched to pvode (the parallel solver for time integration) by default.
Updated timestepper tolerances section accordingly.
* Feature enhancement: can save spatially resolved fields using the
save_data command in any order (previsouly, it was possible to stick
to the same set of saved fields for every saved timestep).
* Update of manual in several places (including recommendation how to
cite nmag in FAQ).
* A number of (smaller) bugfixes.
Interface changes
-----------------
* The use of ``row`` for the analyses of nmag's ``_dat.h5`` data files
has been superseeded with the use of ``id``s (see explanation in
manual).
This has the following side effect: the nmagpp command labels vtk
file using the mask NAME-00XX.vtk where XX is an increasing
number. This used to be the 'row' number for saved fields. Because
it is now possible to save any fields in any order, the value of XX
is now replaced with the unique id of a saved configuration. This
also allows easier identification of a saved configuration with an
entry in the ndt file (via the id).
* nmagpp used to have a switch ``--field`` which allowed to choose
*one* field that should be dumped (``--dump``) or converted to vtk
files (``--vtk``). The functionality has now been extended so that
*a list of fields* can be given, such as ``nmagpp --fields
m,phi,H_demag --vtk myvtkfiles.vtk
mysimulation_dat.h5``. Consequently, the switch has been renamed
from ``--field`` to ``--fields``.
As always, we welcome any feedback and bug reports (by email to
nm...@soton.ac.uk, or in the mailing list nmag-...@lists.soton.ac.uk).
Finally, if you use nmag for work that you publish, could we ask everybody to be so kind to
(i) cite nmag (see http://nmag.soton.ac.uk/nmag/current/manual/html/manual.html#how-should-i-cite-nmag)
and
(ii) send us the reference once the paper/proceeding has been published.
This will help in securing future funding for the nmag project, and
thus improve the support and future development that we can provide.
Many thanks,
Hans (on behalf of the nmag team)
--
Hans Fangohr
School of Engineering Sciences
University of Southampton
Phone: +44 (0) 238059 8345