CAELinux — The Complete Guide: A Free Linux Distribution With the Whole Engineering Simulation Toolbox
CAELinux is a complete operating system, based on Xubuntu, that arrives with the open computational engineering toolbox — installed, configured and working together. You can run it from a USB stick without installing anything on the computer, and try every tool within an hour.
CAELinux
CAELinux Project
A Linux distribution that ships with the whole computational engineering toolbox pre-installed.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Structures and mechanics — Code_Aster, CalculiX and Elmer.
- Flow — OpenFOAM and Code_Saturne.
- Pre- and post-processing — Salome, Gmsh and ParaView.
- CAD — FreeCAD and LibreCAD for geometry and drafting.
- Scientific computing — Python, GNU Octave and R.
What to know
CAELinux’s main value is that it removes the first obstacle in the open CAE world: installation and dependencies. On the other hand, tool versions in the distribution update more slowly than a manual install, and the latest edition is built on an older Ubuntu base. So it is excellent for learning, demonstrations and workshops, and less suited as a long-term working environment.
Related tools
The tools inside are also available to install separately: code_aster with SALOME, OpenFOAM and Elmer.
Code_Aster
EDF
EDF industrial finite element solver — nonlinear, dynamic and thermo-mechanical, open source.
Get it from the vendor
SALOME
CEA / EDF / OPEN CASCADE
Geometry, meshing and post-processing platform for FEA, around external solvers.
Get it from the vendor
OpenFOAM
OpenFOAM Foundation
Comprehensive CFD solvers — flow, turbulence, heat transfer and multiphase. Text-file driven, no GUI.
Get it from the vendor
Elmer FEM
CSC — IT Center for Science, Finland
Multiphysics FEA — solids, flow, heat and electromagnetics — with its own graphical interface.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
CAELinux is the fastest way to meet the whole open simulation world in one place — without a week of installations.