What's new in Linux astronomy programs?

Buzzygirl · Post by **Buzzygirl** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:43 pm

Hi,

I recently installed Ubuntu 4.04 on a spare computer I picked up from work (the most recent version is 6.06-- I've got it ordered, but it's not here yet) and I'm checking around to see what's new for astronomy programs that run under Gnome. The more I install programs under Linux, the more I realize how weak my command of the bash shell is right now. Sigh... I'll get it... eventually... I'd like to go beyond Gnome to dig into the command line stuff eventually.

Are others out there using a Linux OS on their primary computer? If so, which distribution(s) do you use, and which astronomy software do you run on Linux? I don't think there is a lot of astronomy software out there for Linux compared to Intel/Mac.

I'm thinking I might just hold off on any real customization until I get the CD containing the most recent distribution of Ubuntu... that's the "Dapper Drake" version... I'm still running "Warty Warthog" here. You gotta love the names of some of these Linux distributions!

If you're not familiar with it, Ubuntu is basically Debian at its core, but it's more user-friendly to us pathetic noobs.

Jon Hickman · Post by **Jon Hickman** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:54 am

I've run Red Hat on an old cumputer here for years, but I use it mostly as a network drive. No astro stuff on it at all, or much in the way of any software at all!

lolife · Post by **lolife** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:49 pm

Most of these:

http://www.eso.org/science/scisoft/Scis ... tents.html

...can probably be run under Ubuntu. I only really use ds9, IRAF and Xephem in the GUI and cfitsio, wcstools and other command-line stuff.

Buzzygirl · Post by **Buzzygirl** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:53 pm

Cool... thanks, Michael; that is a *very* useful link!

I've used XEphem and kstars in the past, but lately I've been a bit out of the Linux loop where it concerns astronomy-related computer stuff. XEphem is an excellent program, with very good star charting and Solar System plotting capabilities... it was good when I used it last, so I'll bet it's evolved for the better since I used it several years ago.

Right now, I'm dealing with an outdated version of Ubuntu (4.-something) on my spare home computer, but I'm planning to update to the latest version of Ubuntu that uses the KDE interface ("Kubuntu") as soon as the CD arrives. Seems there are more astronomy apps available for the KDE interface than in GNOME.

Appreciate the input!