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Mac OS X Quantum Simulations
Jeremy Lee writes "There are some 'educational' apps that transcend the merely interesting, and expand you mind with the force of a crowbar in the cerebellum. Celestia is one. Atom in a box is another. I keep it handy on my new iBook to blow the minds of chemist friends. It only runs on PowerPC Macs, but it's almost a justification for getting one. It should be used in schools to teach chemistry." Celestia is also great (and available for other platforms) ... I couldn't download it from the main link on the page, but was able to get it from SF.net. But if you really want to amaze your friends, turn your Mac into a Desktop Cray.
My God,
I thought the CosmoSaver screensaver was good but Celestia is amazing - if you have OSX, or a friend with OSX, or if you are anywhere near an Apple store go get a look at it. When the camera zoomed out from Earth and showed the entire Galaxy for the first time my jaw dropped...
-Nex
This sig has been deprecated.
Anyone know why "apt-get celestia" wants to remove all kde-related material from my system?
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I really like it when /. posts stuff that's "just cool". Politics and religion are one thing. Cool code that someone wrote just coz is another thing entirely. Really makes my weekend to find stuff like this!
... great for us armchair (or, in my case, tiBook) astronauts.
... so many gems on this site.
Celestia is fantastic.
X-Plane, also (if you can get it all together and all running), is really great. I'd love to see the two merge, somehow, heh heh
Incidentally, if you like 'odd software thats just cool for being cool' then you ought to know about sweetcode.org
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I must say that the Desktop Cray app is very impressive. After a few minutes spent on finding the correct presets the result was spectacular.
Perhaps coincidence, but after trying Desktop Cray and Celestia (in that order) got my very first kernel panic... I've been running OS X since 10.0 and have never had one 'til now.
What part of 'Alpha software' (Celestia) was overlooked during your tests? You do know you're testing, right?
:)
"This is a preliminary version of Celestia 1.2.5 for MacOS X. Use it at your own risk!"
So far, neither has acted foul for me. Knock on wood. I think the 1gb RAM I've got onboard helps
I ran some duct work (dang carbon fiber everywhere now) in from the cryogenic chamber in the lab...switched over to external cooling, and scripted a module for it. So far, so good. If the core temp (X4 r2) remains stable until morning, I'll post a link to the module, if anyone's interested. Does anyone know a good security service? I'd like to post a roving guard until I can get an insurance rider/coverage, etc. Do NOT take this stuf to No. Korea.
Is Celestia mindblowing or just great (and availible on other platforms)?
"I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
maybe im just a little too young but what does that funny bench from the movie Sneakers have to do with anything? -
honestly though Celestial is an amazing program (esp for an alpha release) and is quite accessible and interesting to non-astrologists, like myself
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
Is this the future of Earth?!
http://kato.iki.fi/htraEwolloF.jpg
On MacOSX 10.1.5, Celestia apparently wraps a realtime mirror image around us. Does not apply on any other planets.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
In fact I did NOT see that. Teaches me to read /. before I'm fully awake.... ;-)
For the record: 400 MHz AGP (Sawtooth), OS X 10.2.3, 768MB RAM...
There is something to be said about zipping to objects on the other side of the universe in just a few seconds. And it runs surprisingly well, even on my Late 2001 iBook (600MHz w/ 384MB of RAM and 8MB VRAM). This program is the ultimate for armchair (or bar-top as my case would be at the moment...gotta love wireless internet in Japan) astronomers. It does seem to have problems rendering Earth (as someone else mentioned the mirror effect somewhere in the comments of this story) but everything else is just amazing.
If you haven't downloaded this software yet, then the terrorists have already won...err...no, that isn't right. But seriously, get it and get it like now...as in yesterday! It is AWESOME.
BTW, on a side note, has anyone had any success compiling Celestia from source. I tried but failed (unfortunately, don't remember why). No particular reason to compile from source, but I wanted to try and see if it would be a bit more optimized. Anyway, I had difficulty. Anyone else?
Cheers. :)
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
What is it?
I have looked in the forums and the homepage, and it almost seems as if it is a joke.
Does it work?
Does it actually make a speed improvement?
How does it work?
With software that possibly emulates a 512bit integer processor (or so I gathered from the website) I would assume a massive slowdown from emulation.
Before I actually try this software, would someone let me know of their experiences with it?
Blah Blah Blah.
Hey, you won't find me complaining about the lack of spyware, clip art collections, and shareware puzzle games for Mac OS X. What else does Windows have that Mac doesn't?
~97% and climbing? Heh. Does Bill Gates feed you opium for breakfast EVERY day, or just on Fridays? Just curious, since if you'll actually check the stats, the market share for Windows is going the OPPOSITE direction. Why else would Billy Boy be quaking in his boots so much that he's now starting ANOTHER attempt at a Windows Switcher campaign. Wonder where they're going to get their stock footage from? Better, yet, who's the poor marketing schmuck who'll have to voice-over with lies what the person is actually saying. ;-)
Jared
DasBlinkenLights
I read this article and just installed it. Wow.
However, I'm I the only one who still sees Skylab orbiting the earth? Shouldn't it be in a geostationary orbit, approximately 0km above Australia?
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
I'd have to say that breve:
http://www.spiderland.org/breve/
is one of the coolest scientific apps out for OS X right now. It takes some time to wrap your head around it, but with a little work, you can be writing your own 3D OpenGL simulations...!
~jeff
Maybe this makes me a biology pedant, but...
with the force of a crowbar to the Cerebellum?
You want the cerebral cortex. That's where the thinking happens. The cerebellum is a funny little bit in the old middle bit of your brain that keeps your balance working. Applying a crowbar to it would merely have a simmilar effect to many pints of beer...
And for the record, my box locked up about 30 minutes later....I had to come in from another box and reboot.
The-emperor-has-no-clothes-ware.
incedentally there is a real Cray YMP in the Science Museum in London bearing a plaque with a quote from Seymore Cray claiming that when he heard that Apple had bought a Cray to help design the new Mac he replied that was funny, cos he was using a Mac to design the next Cray.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
My copy seems to be broken -- I can't find the Planet of the Apes!
I was talking about Apple's continuously declining market share - see virtually any sales, web hit, or other statistic for the incredibly shrinking platform. I'm sure that's just part of some big MS conspiracy, though. But worry not, valliant mac user, your terrible reading comprehension will be a great asset for the Jobsian RDF. :)
Nothing like watching a peaceful realtime virtual sunrise for the International Space Station to make you feel better after the unfortunate space-related event recently. Happens every ~90 minutes. Just type "ISS" in the Go To Object window.
Yeah, but they should at last mention that a kernel panic is a common risk. :-)
At any rate, first time ever and even for a kernel panic Apple's got a classy screen
I used 'starry night' for OS9 and I saw that they now have a OS X version out, has anybody tried it?
If there were anyone to be Believers, it would be users of OS X :)
You must be referring to the infamous BSOD.
Blue Screen Of Death.
All Hail Bill.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...