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Mac OS X Quantum Simulations

Posted by pudge on from the computers-can-do-that dept.

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.

29 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Celestia by Nexum · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:Celestia by Igor47 · · Score: 4, Informative

      celestia works perfectly fine in windows, too. haven't tried the *nix version, but its there. everyone needs to download this. its amazing!!!

      --
      I am Igor!
    2. Re:Celestia by Tseran · · Score: 5, Funny

      My God, Its full of stars!

      --
      .sig: It's what's for dinner.
  2. Great article, this one. by torpor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!

    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 ... great for us armchair (or, in my case, tiBook) astronauts.

    Incidentally, if you like 'odd software thats just cool for being cool' then you ought to know about sweetcode.org ... so many gems on this site.

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  3. Desktp Cray by Satchel+Buddah · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Desktp Cray by hcdejong · · Score: 3, Funny

      The only thing missing are the Blinkenlights.

  4. Caution warranted? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  5. did you....R E A D M E by djupedal · · Score: 2, Informative

    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 :)

  6. modules & security, etc. by djupedal · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  7. So which is it? by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:So which is it? by davesag · · Score: 3, Informative
      the Windows version is actually in better shape than the OS X version

      untrue. the windows version does not contain as many object as far as I can tell - try looking for the Mars Odyssey for example - it's not there in windows, but it it in osx.

      --
      I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
  8. ohhh Sneakers! by ihatewinXP · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:ohhh Sneakers! by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Informative

      ASTRONOMERS, not astrologists. An "astrologist" is, like an astrologer (the more usual form), someone who believes in horoscopes.

  9. Mind-bending visual bug by korpiq · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.
    1. Re:Mind-bending visual bug by kalidasa · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's because your vid card can't handle the hi-res Earth. My iBook does the same thing if I have the settings wrong. Change the settings on Celestia for lower res and the earth should reappear.

  10. You said it! by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Funny
    I've been playing around w/ Celestia ever since Slashdot ran an artical about making a CD of Open Source Software for Windows awhile back (I think it was an Ask Slashdot...I'm lazy and drunk so feel free to do a search). Celestia was mentioned in the comments of that story and I thought I would check for a MacOS X version and...DAAAAAAAMMMMMNNNN!!!!

    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
    1. Re:You said it! by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ah, nothing's better than having Celestia and XEphem running on my iBook, now that I can't see the damned stars anymore thanks to the smog and light pollution.

  11. Desktop Cray? by phoenix_orb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Desktop Cray? by Erik+K.+Veland · · Score: 2, Funny

      My experiences have been good. Watch out for quantum fluxuations though.

      --
      "I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
    2. Re:Desktop Cray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The app is a hoax. http://www.macmerc.com/article.php?sid=536

    3. Re:Desktop Cray? by overbom · · Score: 2, Funny

      My experiences have also been great. In addition to Erik's quantum fluctuations, I've heard a smattering of reports concerning vector continuum flanging. As always, check the freem drive before you start it up.

      hth,

      mike overbo

  12. Re:Celestia on Debian? by Teancom · · Score: 2, Informative

    It wants to install the new libfam0c102 (g++ 3.2.2), which conflicts with your existing libfam, compiled with 2.95.3. Wait a couple more days, and 3.1 will finish being transitioned into sid (kdelibs, kdebase, arts, and qt are all there already). Then they will coexist peacefully.

    Btw, this is all assuming that you are using sid, and probably a third-party KDE.

    HTH.

  13. Where have you been? by droleary · · Score: 2, Funny

    DasBlinkenLights

  14. A bit out of date? by Greedo · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  15. breve by jeffehobbs · · Score: 4, Informative


    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

  16. cerebella...? by girl_geek_antinomy · · Score: 3, Funny

    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...

  17. Re:did you....R E A D M E by djupedal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And for the record, my box locked up about 30 minutes later....I had to come in from another box and reboot.

  18. well their CEO is called Romeus Y. Arcy by davesag · · Score: 4, Informative
    and Romeus Y. Arcy is a pretty obvious anagram for Seymore Cray. I downloaded it, ran it and was amused for about 3 seconds by dablinkenlights. Funnier is their forums with people actually claiming this thing does make their mac run faster. hats-off to a well conceived prank. - best thing is the icon imho.

    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
  19. Re:did you....R E A D M E by golo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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?